This legislation creates the Board of Community Supervision to oversee the newly created Department of Community Supervision (DCS) and the Governor's Office of Transition, Support, and Reentry. All offender supervision activities will transfer from the Board of Pardons and Parole and the Department of Corrections to the new DCS. This legislation also transfers the County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council, the agency tasked with registration and oversight of private misdemeanor probation providers and governmental misdemeanor probation providers to DCS. The bill also includes requirements for increased transparency and financial reporting by the misdemeanor probation providers to the counties of fine collections, which was an ACCG priority. A county commissioner or manager is included as a mandatory board member for the new department. The Board will adopt rules and regulations governing the management and treatment of probationers and parolees, and the operation of misdemeanor probation supervision.

Probation  and Parole Offices will combine, some counties currently provide space to these entities, and these offices collect fine revenue from probationers to be processed and sent back to local governments.  Misdemeanor probation providers (county and private) will be required to submit an annual report to the county commission that contains the amount of fines and fees collected and the nature of such fees, including probation supervision fees, rehabilitation programming fees, electronic monitoring fees, drug and alcohol detection device fees, substance abuse or mental health evaluation or treatment fees, and drug testing fees; the number of community service hours performed by probationer under supervision; and, a listing of any other service for which a probationer is required to pay to attend.

 This legislation changes how law enforcement officers obtain search warrants and conduct searches.  

This legislation, similar to SB 272, would allow for the creation of townships via local legislation with land use, zoning, subdivision, building permit and code enforcement powers, if the voters first approve a statewide referendum approving a constitutional amendment. Companion resolutions, HR 1051 and SR 724, if passed, will call for the statewide referendum to amend the constitution allowing townships to have zoning powers. Townships could levy up to a .5 mill property tax, annex and transition to cityhood. Though counties would have no say in the above decisions, counties must continue to provide all services and infrastructure to the area as they would any unincorporated area. Counties would have an opportunity to comment on township decisions, but nothing is binding or mediated.

 This legislation would create a new Judicial Qualifications Commission if the voters approve a statewide referendum to amend the Georgia Constitution proposed by HR 1113.

 This legislation changes the child abuse protocol committees in multi-county judicial circuits. 

This legislation authorizes the sheriff, tax commissioner, superior court clerk and probate judge ("constitutional officers") to develop their own credit card or purchasing card (p-card) policy and user agreement, rather than being issued one by the county.  The constitutional officers will be required to develop their own specific guidelines for the use of credit cards or p-cards by their department beginning on July 1, 2016.  The policy must designate the officials or employees in the constitutional officer's department who are authorized to use a credit card or p-card, specify a user agreement and transaction limits for the use of the card, include a description of authorized and unauthorized purchases, designate a credit card/p-card administrator, establish a process for auditing and reviewing the purchases made with the cards and outline procedures for addressing a violation of the credit card/p-card policies.  A copy of the specific policies promulgated by each constitutional officer must be filed with the board of commissioners. 

The ordinances, policies, procedures and user agreements with the constitutional officers adopted in 2015 to comply with the original law need to be examined and amended as necessary to remove the constitutional officers.    

A provision requiring counties to name all of its employees granted p-cards and credit cards in their local ordinance was removed from the bill before final passage.