Bail-Restricted Offenses Expanded; Appointed Judges' Release Authority

SB 174 adds felony burglary, entering an automobile or other vehicle with intent to commit theft or a felony, felony stalking, and misdemeanor crimes involving family violence to Georgia's list of bail-restricted offenses in O.C.G.A. 17-6-12. A person charged with a bail-restricted offense cannot be given an unsecured judicial release, meaning release on their own recognizance or into a pretrial release or diversion program without a secured bond. The bill also lets an appointed judge who is filling the vacancy of an elected judge issue unsecured releases for charges not on that list, and requires bonds that judge sets with a dollar amount to be fully secured, as was already required of elected judges.

The Senate passed it 50-0 on February 26, 2021; the House passed a substitute 99-71 on March 31, 2021, and the Senate agreed 36-14 the same day. It was signed on May 4, 2021 (Act 216).

GPS opposes this bill because it widens the set of charges for which a person cannot be released before trial without posting a secured money bond, which keeps people who cannot pay in jail while their cases are pending. Letting appointed judges issue unsecured releases for other charges does not offset that expansion.