Legislative Wrap-Up

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

HR 561 (D. Ealum/D): Georgia Higher Learning Institutions 
Recommends that the higher education institutions of Georgia adopt the American Council on Education criteria which allows separating service members to count applicable military training and experience for academic credit toward degree requirements.

SB 16 (B. Watson/R): Low THC Oil 
Increases the list of conditions that are eligible for treatment with medical cannabis. The new conditions eligible include: Tourette's syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, epidermolysis bullosa, Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, and peripheral neuropathy. In addition, the bill allows for reciprocity of medical cannabis registration cards from other states, so long as the medical cannabis in the person's possession comports with the laws of Georgia and has not been present in the state for more than 45 days.

SB 174 (J. Kennedy/R): Accountability Courts 
Part of Criminal Justice Reform. Provides a certification of peer review process to improve veteran court divisions, procedures, and align with the standards of other accountability courts. Allows the Board of Community Supervision to provide educational programs for probationers. Mandates a Program and Treatment Completion Certificate to be given to those probationers who successfully complete the program. Grants the ability for judges to require payments of fines, fees, or restitution as a condition of probation, which can be waived if the court finds significant hardship. Also, judges are granted the ability to provide that conditions of probation be imposed when a defendant is serving a split sentence.

SB 175 (J. Kennedy/R): Juvenile Code 
Part of Criminal Justice Reform. Empowers juvenile court judges to issue an order restraining or otherwise controlling the conduct of the parent, guardian, or legal custodian in any proceeding involving a child in need of services or a delinquent child. Broadens and clarifies the Code regarding the placement of a child who has been found incompetent but has committed a crime, giving preference to the least restrictive setting while balancing public safety concerns. When a child has been found to be unrestoratively incompetent, the length of detention cannot exceed the period of time than is allowed if the case had been disposed of in court.

SB 176 (J. Kennedy/R): Driving Privileges 
Part of Criminal Justice Reform. Limits the conditions under which traffic violations may lead to incarceration or bond. For example, when an individual is apprehended by an officer for non-serious traffic violations, in lieu of being incarcerated, ordered to post a bond, or ordered for an appearance for trial, the individual may display his or her license and be issued a traffic citation. If the accused fails to appear before the court, before a bench warrant is issued, the clerk of court shall notify the individual via a post card, allowing for 30 days to dispose of the matter. If the accused again fails to dispose of the matter, the clerk of court may demand suspension of the license.

SB 186 (L. Tippins/R): HOPE for Dual Enrollment; Caregiver Educational Consent Act 
Allows students who received a high school diploma through dual enrollment to be eligible for up to 30 degree hours of the HOPE grant, provided the student meets residency requirements.

Also includes HB 331 (Abrams, DEM), which authorizes a kinship caregiver such as a grandparent to enroll a child in school and give legal consent for educational services, medical services relating to academic enrollment, and curricular and extracurricular participation. The bill provides the "Kinship Caregiver's Affidavit" form as a template.

SB 201 (B. Miller/R): Sick Leave
Requires companies with more than 25 employees and which do not offer ESOPs to allow employees to use sick leave for the care of an immediate relative, e.g., child, spouse, grandchild, grandparent, or parent or any dependents.

HB 452 (J. Petrea/R): Criminal Immigrant Registry; Domestic Terrorism 
Requires the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to post information on its website about criminal aliens being released into the state from federal custody. The information is received from Law Enforcement Notification System (LENS).

SB 1 was added to this bill, and it creates the offense of domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism is any felony offense or attempt to commit a felony intended to cause serious bodily harm, kill, or disable or destroy critical infrastructure, which is intended to intimidate the civilian population or coerce the policy of the government. Under the charge of domestic terrorism, certain underlying offenses carry stiffer penalties: murder, kidnapping, serious bodily harm or disabling or destroying critical infrastructure. Any punishment for domestic terrorism shall not be suspended, stayed, probated or differed unless, in the court's discretion and with agreement of the prosecution and the defense, the sentence is suspended, stayed, probated or differed.

SB 104 (D. James/D): Human Trafficking; False Insurance; Car Theft 
Requires government buildings to post signage with the human trafficking hotline model notice and requires government entities to have a hyperlink located on their websites to the same model notice. In addition, the bill removes the sunset provision on the posting of said model notice.

Additional legislation appended to the bill does the following (1) aligns the penalties for false insurance documents within the criminal and insurance sections of the Georgia Code by making the punishment identical felonies and adds a higher sentence for offenders and (2) adds fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives to the list of prohibited substances contained within the drug trafficking Code. A third added bill includes HB 67 (Boddie, DEM), which adds a new tier relating to the theft of a motor vehicle by adding hijacking a motor vehicle in the second degree. A person commits the offense of hijacking a motor vehicle in the second degree when the offender steals a motor vehicle in the presence of the victim without using force. The punishment is in line with burglary, where the punishment for the first offense of hijacking in the second degree is imprisonment of not less than one and no more than 20 years with a fine not to exceed $5,000. For the second offense, the punishment is imprisonment of not less than three and no more than 20 years with a fine not to exceed $5,000. For the third or subsequent offenses, the punishment is imprisonment for not less than five and no more than 20 years with a fine not to exceed $5,000.  [NOTE: Because the original bill had multiple parts added in conference committee, a majority of Democrats objected to certain additions and voted NO on the entire bill.]

SB 160 (T. Harper/R): Back the Badge Act of 2017 
Broadens the offenses of aggravated assault on a public safety officer and aggravated battery on a peace officer. Defines "public safety officer" to include peace officers, correctional officers, emergency health workers, firefighters, highway emergency response operators, and certain officers of the court. Requires that certain portions of a sentence may not be suspended, probated, differed or otherwise reduced; however, the court may depart from such mandatory minimum sentence when the prosecuting attorney and defendant have agreed to a sentence that is below the mandatory minimum in each case. The bill creates a felony obstruction crime where a person knowingly and willfully obstructs by throwing, vomiting, etc. on a public safety officer. The bill also places juveniles between the ages of 13 to 17 who commit one of the aforementioned crimes into the Superior Court to be tried as adults.

SB 193 (R. Unterman/R): Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Attempts to divert women from seeking abortion services by awarding grants to certain organizations that refuse to offer said services.

HB 280 (M. Ballinger/R): Campus Carry
Allows licensed holders to keep their weapon on their person while in or on any building or real property owned by or leased to any technical school, vocational school, college, university, or other institution of postsecondary education. This exception does not apply to buildings or property used for athletic events or student housing, which includes sorority and fraternity houses, disciplinary hearings, faculty and staff offices, as well as special spaces where high school students take classes. The exception also excludes preschool space that is advertised on site that such preschool is designated for operations licensed or regulated under the Department of Early Learning. The division does not apply if the campus has more than three buildings designated as housing preschool space. This provision would only apply to the concealed carrying of handguns so as not to actively get the attention of others.

HB 51 (E. Ehrhart/R): Campus Sexual Assault
Substantially alters the process used by colleges and universities to investigate and address campus sexual assault. Significantly restricts the ability of Georgia colleges and universities to respond to allegations of sexual assault on college campuses.  At present, colleges and universities are required by federal law to provide an internal investigative and disciplinary process for potential violations of a school’s sexual misconduct policy. These policies may run independently or concurrently with any criminal investigation or prosecution. Would limit the ability of any university to conduct the process and protect students. Would also require university employees who have reason to believe any felony, but including sexual assault, has been committed to notify law enforcement.  [NOTE: HB 51, and a separate version, SB 71, did not pass the legislature by the end of session but remain eligible for consideration in 2018].

For more information, please visit www.gahousedems.com or www.georgiaresists.com. 

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