New state laws taking effect

Several new Georgia laws go into effect July 1, including a means of tracking military child abuse cases, a ban on sexual extortion and others with local sponsors and impact.

House Bill 64, sponsored by Rep. Brian Prince, is the first bill the Augusta Democrat has passed since taking office in 2013 and one of just a handful of Democrat-sponsored bills that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed this year.

The bill requires the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services to determine whether the parent or guardian of a child subject to a child abuse investigation is active-duty military. If so, the agency must notify the military installation’s family advocacy program about the allegation.

“Once it goes out of Georgia, DFCS doesn’t track it,” Prince said. “House Bill 64 allows DFCS to coordinate with the family advocacy center at military installations, whether Fort Gordon, Warner Robins or wherever, in a case of alleged child abuse, to make sure as that child travels from post to post the federal side can track it.”

Prince, who retired from the Army, co-sponsored another successful bill addressing the needs of military families. House Bill 59 allows the children of armed forces members to enroll in their zoned or desired school prior to establishing residency, if the parent presents a copy of military orders.

“If a parent has orders to come to Fort Gordon but they’re still in Hawaii or Texas or wherever, they can go ahead and register their child in school,” he said.

Prince said the bill was one of those recommended by a military affairs study committee he served on that looked at ways to protect Georgia’s military installations from Base Realignment and Closure Commission changes.

“This is just one of those initiatives to try to make it easier for military folks to want to stay here,” he said.

The bill would also grant the child an audition at Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, for instance, after the deadline for auditions has passed, Prince said.

Rep. Mark Newton’s House Bill 315, which requires local government consultants to disclose financial arrangements they have with vendors, also goes into effect July 1.

“The consultants would have to disclose if they have financial arrangements with the bidders,” said Newton, R-Augusta.

Local governments, particularly smaller ones, often hire or “engage” consultants to prepare bid specifications or requests for proposals for complex purchases, such as public safety vehicles and radio systems, he said.

Though the state bans the practice, the new law doesn’t block consultants from preparing the documents, but it requires they disclose any financial ties with the vendors, he said.

House Bill 287, of which Newton was a sponsor, replaces an income tax deduction with a tax credit for physicians, registered nurses and physician assistants who provide uncompensated training to medical, nursing and physician assistant students.

“The tax credit encourages medical practices across the state to offer teaching and educational opportunities for students at our medical schools,” he said. “It was an effort to make sure there are ample educational opportunities in rural and suburban areas across Georgia.”

The credit, which varies with the type of student, is critical as Augusta University expands its medical school classes to cover the state’s shortage of health care providers in certain areas, Newton said.

Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta, sponsored Senate Bill 9, which creates the crime of “sexual extortion” when someone coerces another into sending explicit images or video of themselves, such as by threatening to expose images or information about the victim.

A recent Alabama case involving a Grovetown man accused of threatening to distribute explicit photos of three women is the type of crime the new law addresses, Jones said.

“That’s exactly why I passed it,” Jones said. “When he contacted them and said send me more pictures or I’ll post them, we wouldn’t have been able to prosecute it.”

The bill also expands the ban on sexual activities between teachers and students to cover all school system employees and others engaged in the care or supervision of young people, including probation officers.

Senate Bill 216 allows taxpayers to pre-pay their property taxes, potentially aiding lagging collections in Richmond County.

Currently, county tax commissioners are prohibited from collecting taxes before a bill is issued and are subject to large fines. The new law lets counties pass ordinances to allow property owners to pay all or part of a bill in advance, with the funds to be kept in a separate account until they are due.

The start of the fiscal year July 1 also means the onset of state budget appropriations with area impact, including the statewide $3,000 pay raises Kemp gave teachers and other state employees. Also beginning July 1 are the $30,000 grants going to each of the state’s about 2,300 school facilities for security upgrades.

The 2020 budget allocated $40 million in funding for area agencies, including $14 million to renovate the Fort Gordon Youth Challenge Academy, $4 million for a Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Thomson and $1.3 million to add positions and operating funds for the GBI cyber crimes unit at the Georgia Cyber Center.

The 37-year-old Augusta State Medical Prison, which has been the target of lawsuits and whistleblower complaints over conditions and care in recent years, is allocated about $10.4 million in state bonds for several upgrades.

The Cyber Center, built with about $100 million in state appropriations last year, will receive $1.2 million for security, network and other equipment, in addition to a $1.4 million operating budget increase.

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