Official Opinions

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of Transportation’s authority to enter a binding contract pursuant to the former Public Private Initiatives law was revoked by the 2009 Public Private Partnership law; those projects or portions of projects which were not formalized by an executed contract with the selected firm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. 

O.C.G.A. § 47‑20‑50(a), which requires generally that retirement bills be concurrently funded, and section 2 of 2006 Ga. Laws 117, which requires a specific determination of concurrent funding regarding O.C.G.A. § 47‑17‑71 (Supp. 2006), do not repeal O.C.G.A. § 47‑17‑71 (Supp. 2006), which allows for the grant of creditable service to peace officers for service prior to January 1, 1976, if the officer was denied membership to the Peace Officers’ Annuity and Benefit Fund because of race or ethnicity.

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

Absent explicit statutory provisions to the contrary, the Merit System Act does not generally authorize the State Personnel Board or the commissioner to promulgate rules or adopt policies that would be binding on agencies or departments that are not covered, nor can such rules or policies be promulgated pursuant to a gubernatorial executive order.

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

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.

Members of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia hold fiduciary positions of trust under Georgia law, and business transactions between any Regent and the University System are prohibited absent a statutory exception permitting the transaction, and then only if there is no common law conflict creating a breach of their constitutional fiduciary duty.

The Georgia Public Service Commission has authority over mobile and wireless providers of telecommunications services to the extent that the laws it administers apply to “telecommunications companies” as defined in O.C.G.A. §§ 46‑5‑162(17) (Supp. 2003) and 46-5-181 (Supp. 2003) and do not exempt mobile or wireless providers; the Georgia Public Service Commission also has authority over “phone-to-phone” internet protocol telephony as this service is described by the FCC, and over cable-based broadband service to the extent that the laws it administers apply to “telecommunications companies” as defined in O.C.G.A. §§ 46‑5‑162(17) (Supp. 2003) and 46-5-181 (Supp. 2003).