HB 1518: Criminal procedure; notice upon change of date, time, or location for a required court appearance from that listed upon a uniform traffic citation; provide

Under current Georgia law, when someone gets a uniform traffic citation, the officer releases them with instructions to appear in court on a date printed on the citation. If that court date later gets rescheduled by the judge, current law does not clearly require the clerk of court to tell the accused person about the change. This bill adds that requirement: if a judicial officer changes the date, time, or location of the court appearance, the clerk must mail notice to the address on the citation at least 15 days before the original date. The bill also adds a second layer of protection for people who miss a rescheduled court date. Currently, if someone misses their court date, the clerk sends one 30-day warning notice before forwarding their driver's license number to the Department of Driver Services for suspension. Under this bill, if the missed date was one set through the new rescheduling notice, the clerk must send a first 30-day notice and, if the person still doesn't respond, a second 30-day notice before license suspension can proceed. The bill also updates references from 'proper' judicial officer to the judicial officer 'with jurisdiction over the matter.'

• Requires the clerk of court to mail notice by first-class mail or postcard when a judge changes the date, time, or location of a required court appearance listed on a traffic citation.
• Sets a deadline requiring that notice of a rescheduled court date be sent at least 15 days before the original appearance date on the citation.
• Adds a required second 30-day warning notice, on top of the existing first notice, before a driver's license can be suspended for missing a rescheduled court appearance.
• Replaces the term 'proper' judicial officer or magistrate with 'judicial officer with jurisdiction over the matter' throughout the affected subsections.
• Keeps the existing rule that license reinstatement cannot be conditioned on paying a fee for a previous failure to appear.

People who receive uniform traffic citations in Georgia, especially those whose court dates get rescheduled after the citation is issued; clerks of court, who must send the new mailed notices; and the Department of Driver Services, which processes license suspensions and reinstatements tied to missed court dates.

People cited for traffic violations would get direct mail notice if their court date changes, and would get an extra 30-day warning before losing driving privileges for missing a rescheduled date. This could reduce license suspensions caused by people simply not knowing their court date changed.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 17-6-11(a) to require the clerk of court to mail notice of any change to the date, time, or location of a required court appearance, sent at least 15 days before the original citation date.
• Section 1 adds a new subparagraph (b)(1)(B) requiring a first and, if unanswered, a second 30-day notice before a license number is forwarded to the Department of Driver Services when the missed date was a rescheduled one under the new notice provision.
• Section 1 relabels the existing single-notice failure-to-appear procedure as subparagraph (b)(1)(A), keeping it for cases where no reschedule notice was involved.
• Section 1 replaces references to the 'proper' magistrate or judicial officer with the judicial officer 'with jurisdiction over the matter' in subsections (a)(1)(A) and (a)(4).
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.

1. 2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-09House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-06House Hopper (House)

• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)Primary sponsor
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)
• Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)

• traffic citations
• driver's license suspension
• court notices
• criminal procedure