Official Opinions

Investigators of the Enforcement Division who are certified as peace officers may enforce the new statute of aggravated identity fraud, O.C.G.A. §　16-9-121.1, by arrest and the execution of search warrants provided that it is the result of a criminal investigation of an alleged violation of the workers’ compensation laws of Chapter 9 of Title 34.

The Georgia Aviation Authority is not a law enforcement agency within the meaning of O.C.G.A. § 16‑13‑49 for the purpose of sharing in forfeiture funds

Supplementation of crimes and offenses for which the Georgia Crime Information Center is authorized to collect and file fingerprints.

Updating of crimes and offenses for which the Georgia Crime Information Center is authorized to collect and file fingerprints.

Unless and until the General Assembly adopts clarifying legislation, it is within the sound discretion of the TRS Board of Trustees to determine whether teachers who are employed not less than half-time by commission charter schools must be members of the Teachers Retirement System.

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s authority to enter a binding

contract pursuant to the former Public Private Initiatives law was revoked

by the 2009 Public Private Partnership law; those projects or portions of

projects which were not formalized by an executed contract with the

selected firm before May 11, 2009, must be re-procured under the

authority and provisions of the 2009 law.

The state and its departments, agencies, and authorities, including the Georgia Department of Transportation and its construction projects, are not subject to the “post-development stormwater runoff” regulations or other ordinances adopted by a local government, local authority, or regional authority, including the model ordinance promulgated by the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District.

The director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council has broad authority and is responsible for the day to day operation of the agency.   The Council’s limited responsibilities, to be carried out concurrently with the director, include setting standards, conducting audits, making financial disclosures, receiving funds, providing for legal education, reporting to the General Assembly, and providing procedures for the appointment of conflict council.

Code section 46‑2‑5 is constitutional; the Commission does not have the authority to declare the statute unconstitutional; the Commission is not free to disregard the statute; the Commission may not select a chairman for a two-year term; and a chairman whose term commences on July 1, 2009, may serve beyond January 16, 2010, only if there are no other commissioners eligible to serve as chairman under O.C.G.A. § 46‑2‑5(b)(2).

Under general law, Georgia boards of education are not empowered to share services by creating and utilizing a nonprofit corporation such as the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia, Inc., for the purpose of challenging state school funding by litigation or otherwise.

The General Assembly was authorized to place the GPDSC in the executive branch and a suit by GPDSC, whether by pro bono counsel or otherwise, against the State for so placing the GPDSC in the executive branch (or for any other reason) would be ultra vires and illegal.

Updating of crimes and offenses for which the Georgia Crime Information Center is authorized to collect and file fingerprints.

The enforcement provisions of O.C.G.A. § 40‑6‑253 remain in effect, including for bottles of wine resealed pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 3‑6‑4, and the 2008 changes in Georgia law were not intended to and did not authorize carrying open alcoholic beverage containers in the passenger area of vehicles.

Fingerprinting in regard to 2008 legislative amendments to O.C.G.A. § 40‑5‑20 and O.C.G.A. § 40‑5‑121.

The Department’s probation staff may assist prosecuting attorneys in obtaining necessary reports and files and in creating delinquency petitions but may not conduct an accusatory proceeding.  The Department’s probation staff must also comply with valid court orders issued pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 15‑11‑24.2(6).

The amount required to be withheld and paid over to the Peace Officers’ Annuity and Benefit Fund in criminal or quasi-criminal cases for violation of state statutes, county ordinances, or municipal ordinances is not required to be withheld and paid over in cases involving the failure to wear a seat safety belt in a motor vehicle under O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1(e).

The Department of Revenue is authorized to provide access to the information contained in the Georgia Registration and Title Information System only for the purposes mandated by the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994, or to those state agencies designated in O.C.G.A. § 40-2-130(c), O.C.G.A. § 40-3-23(d), and O.C.G.A. § 33-34-9.

Updating of crimes and offenses for which the Georgia Crime Information Center is authorized to collect and file fingerprints.

Miscellaneous questions concerning the procurement of goods and services under the set aside provisions of Georgia’s State Use Law.

A county may not borrow from county Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) proceeds to fund expenditures other than voter-approved capital projects authorized in the SPLOST statutes. 

The Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel and local child fatality review committees are public health authorities as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the regulations promulgated pursuant to the Act by the Department of Health and Human Services; they are authorized by law to receive public health information, including reports of child abuse and neglect, in order to carry out their statutory duties; and they are thereby authorized to obtain protected health information from covered entities under the Act’s public health exception.