The General Assembly moved one step closer Thursday to approving a criminal justice reform initiative that would reduce prison terms for nonviolent drug and property offenders and provide less expensive and more effective ways to deal with them.
The House adopted House Bill 1176, a top priority for Gov. Nathan Deal, by a 164-1 vote, and the tally may ultimately be unanimous. The lone dissenter, Rep. Ralph Long, D-Atlanta, later said he voted no by mistake and asked the clerk's office to change his vote.
The legislation is part of a broader initiative that is intended to save tens of millions of dollars by reserving costly prison beds for the most dangerous inmates and diverting low-level offenders to drug courts, substance abuse centers and other sentencing alternatives.
Georgia spends more than $1 billion annually on its prison system. A special council appointed last year by the Legislature to study the issue estimated that the state's prison population will grow by another 8 percent to about 60,000 inmates by 2016 if no changes are made to the state's sentencing laws.
On Thursday, the governor's office estimated the initiative will save $264 million in spending over the next five years because of its impact on prison beds.
In a statement, Deal said he feels good about HB 1176's prospects in the Senate, where a vote is expected next week.
"What’s amazing is that we were able to achieve such consensus on a bill that implements major reform," Deal said. "I firmly believe this is a better way to govern our criminal justice system. It’s win-win: saving lives and saving money. It’s a great change for Georgia."
Before the vote, Rep. Jay Neal, R-LaFayette, called the bill "an incredible piece of legislation. ... It will reduce recidivism. It will improve public safety. It will save us money."
One of the bill's chief sponsors, Rep. Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, said too many nonviolent drug and property offenders are being sent to prison, where they are not being rehabilitated.
"So they get released and go ahead and re-offend," he said. "It ends up being this vicious cycle. They're taking up bed space that we could otherwise use -- and should otherwise use -- for the truly dangerous offenders."
Golick noted the legislation will update felony thresholds in state sentencing laws that have not been changed in almost 30 years. The bill's primary focus is to give the criminal justice system better options when sentencing drug users who often become thieves to support their addiction, he said, adding that the legislation does not lessen punishment for drug dealers and traffickers.
A key facet of HB 1176 would be the creation of new categories of punishment for drug possession crimes, with less severe penalties for those found with small quantities and the most severe penalties available for those possessing large amounts of drugs.
Because most defendants will want their confiscated drugs to be weighed before they are sentenced, the law would be implemented in stages. For some types of illegal drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, the law would take effect in July 2013; it would take effect a year after that for other categories of drugs. In the meantime, the state will make more resources available to prosecutors and the GBI crime lab so they can handle the increased workload, Golick said.
What's in House Bill 1176?
House Bill 1176, the sweeping criminal justice reform legislation, would:
- Increase the felony threshold for shoplifting from $300 to $500.
- Increase the felony threshold to $1,500 for most other theft crimes.
- Create three categories for burglaries, with more severe punishment for break-ins of dwellings by burglars who are armed, cause physical harm to a resident or had twice been convicted of burglary, with the least severe penalties for those who break into unoccupied structures or buildings.
- Create degrees of forgery offenses, with graduated punishment for the type of offense and amount of money involved.
- Eliminate the statute of limitations for prosecutions of suspected child molesters.
- Expand the number of persons required to report suspicions of child abuse.
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