The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation that would enact sweeping changes to Georgia's criminal justice system to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in projected prison spending.
House Bill 1176, approved by a 162-0 vote, now awaits the signature of Gov. Nathan Deal, who has touted the initiative as one of his top legislative priorities.
After the vote, Deal called passage of the bill a model of how the legislative process should work.
"We studied this important issue for a year, met with all the stakeholders, weighed the pros and cons and delivered a product that passed with total support from both sides of the aisle," Deal said. "That’s amazing, particularly on an issue that’s so often at the center of partisan divides."
A year ago, the Legislature appointed a special commission of judges, lawyers and other officials to study the initiative. Georgia already spends more than $1 billion on its prison system, which houses 60,000 inmates. The reforms in HB 1176 are projected to save $264 million in corrections spending over the next five years.
The final package approved by the General Assembly adopted a number of the special counsel's recommendations. Deal said he will sign an executive order to continue the work of the council "so that we’ll constantly look at new and better ways to safeguard Georgians, save tax dollars and stop the cycle of crime."
HB 1176 is designed to divert nonviolent drug and property offenders away from costly prison beds to less-expensive alternatives, such as drug courts. It also would expand the number of persons required to report suspicions of child abuse, eliminate the statute of limitations for child molestation prosecutions and restrict arrest records of people later cleared of charges from prospective employers conducting background checks.
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