---
title: HB 285. Law enforcement agencies; judicial procedure for purging a person's involuntary hospitalization information; provide
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb285
cite_as: HB 285, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb285
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb285.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb285/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69952
date: 2026-03-06
status: introduced
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 291
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb285.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 285
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2025-02-05
last_action: House Committee Favorably Reported
sponsors:
  - Debbie Buckner
text_version: Introduced
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB285/2025
upstream_id: 1958424
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
  - gun background checks
  - mental health records
  - involuntary hospitalization
  - court procedure
  - gun rights restoration
---

# HB 285. Law enforcement agencies; judicial procedure for purging a person's involuntary hospitalization information; provide

## Text

House Bill 285
By: Representative Buckner of the 137th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Code Section 35-3-34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
disclosure and dissemination of criminal records to private persons and businesses, resulting
responsibility and liability of the Georgia Crime Information Center, and provision of certain
information to the FBI in conjunction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System, so as to provide for a judicial procedure for purging a person's involuntary
hospitalization information received by the center for the purpose of the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System under certain circumstances; to change provisions
relating to the retention of a person's involuntary hospitalization information; to provide for
related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Code Section 35-3-34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to disclosure and
dissemination of criminal records to private persons and businesses, resulting responsibility
and liability of the Georgia Crime Information Center, and provision of certain information
to the FBI in conjunction with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, is
amended by revising paragraph (2) of subsection (e) as follows:
"(2)(A) The records of the <del>Georgia Crime Information Center</del> <ins>center</ins> shall include
information as to whether a person has been involuntarily hospitalized.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law and in order to carry out the provisions of
this Code section and Code Section 16-11-172, the <del>Georgia Crime Information Center
</del> <ins>center</ins> shall be provided such information and no other mental health information from
the involuntary hospitalization records of the probate courts concerning persons
involuntarily hospitalized after March 22, 1995, in a manner agreed upon by <del>the
Probate Judges Training Council and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation</del> <ins>The Council
of Probate Court Judges of Georgia and the bureau</ins> to preserve the confidentiality of
patients' rights in all other respects. Further, notwithstanding any other provisions of
law and in order to carry out the provisions of this Code section and Code Section
16-11-172, the center shall be provided information as to whether a person has been
adjudicated mentally incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity at the
time of the crime, has been involuntarily hospitalized, or both, from the records of the
clerks of the superior courts concerning persons involuntarily hospitalized after
March 22, 1995, in a manner agreed upon by The Council of Superior Court Clerks of
Georgia and the <del>Georgia Bureau of Investigation</del> <ins>bureau</ins> to preserve the confidentiality
of patients' rights in all other respects. <del>After five years have elapsed from the date that
a person's involuntary hospitalization information has been received by the Georgia
Crime Information Center, the center shall purge its records of such information as soon
as practicable and in any event purge such records within 30 days after the expiration
of such five-year period.
</del> <ins>(B) When a person's mental health information has been submitted pursuant to
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, such person may petition the court in which such
hospitalization proceedings occurred for relief. A copy of such petition for relief shall
be served upon the opposing civil party or the prosecuting attorney, as the case may be,
or their successors, who appeared in the underlying case. Within 60 days of the receipt
</ins>
<ins>of such petition, such court shall hold a hearing on such petition; provided, however,
that such time period may be extended for good cause as determined by the court. The
prosecuting attorney may represent the interests of the state at such hearing.
(C) At the hearing provided for under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the court
shall receive and consider evidence concerning:
(i) The circumstances which caused the petitioner's hospitalization;
(ii) The petitioner's mental health and criminal history records, if any. The court
shall require the petitioner to sign a waiver authorizing the record custodian of any
hospital where such petitioner received mental health treatment for such
hospitalization or any other facility or outpatient treatment center where he or she
received mental health treatment since such hospitalization to release such records to
the court. The court shall keep such hospitalization and treatment records confidential
to the extent possible;
(iii) The petitioner's reputation, which shall be established through character witness
statements, testimony, or other character evidence; and
(iv) Changes in the petitioner's condition or circumstances since such hospitalization.
(D)(i) The court shall issue a written order of its decision on such petition filed under
subparagraph (B) of this paragraph no later than 30 days after the hearing.
(ii) The court shall grant a petition filed under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph if
it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the petitioner will not likely act in a
manner dangerous to himself or herself or that endangers public safety and that
granting such relief is otherwise consistent with the standards for the issuance of a
weapons carry license as provided for in subsection (b.1) of Code Section 16-11-129.
A record shall be kept of the hearing on any petition for relief and such record shall
be exempt from disclosure as a public record under Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title
50. Any appeal of the court's ruling on such petition shall be as provided for by the
laws governing the appeal of decisions from such court; provided, however, that any
</ins>
<ins>such appeal from a probate court, as defined in Code Section 15-9-120, shall be by
de novo investigation to the superior court, notwithstanding Code Sections 5-3-4 and
5-3-5 and paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 5-6-33.
(iii) If the court grants a petition filed under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the
clerk of court shall report such order to the center immediately, but in no case later
than ten days after the date of such order, and the center shall purge such record that
is the subject of the order as soon as practicable but not later than 30 days after receipt
of such order.
(E) In the case of a person who is involuntarily hospitalized, such person shall not be
entitled to petition for relief pursuant to this Code section prior to being discharged
from such hospitalization. A person's first petition for relief may be filed only after the
expiration of 12 months from the date of such person's discharge from involuntary
hospitalization. No petition for relief pursuant to this Code section may be filed within
a period of two years from the date of the final order on a previous petition for relief.
(F) Information received by a prosecuting attorney pursuant to this paragraph shall not
be used against the petitioner in any other case or context unless such information is
obtained in such other case or context by other rules of evidence or discovery."
</ins> SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

## Summaries written by Georgia Commons

The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary.

A Georgia House bill would replace the automatic five-year purge of involuntary hospitalization records used in gun background checks with a court petition process that people must use to get their records removed.

### Plain-language summary

Under current Georgia law, when a person is involuntarily hospitalized for mental health reasons, that information is sent to the Georgia Crime Information Center so it can be used in National Instant Criminal Background Check System checks for gun purchases. Current law automatically purges that information after five years. This bill removes that automatic five-year purge and replaces it with a court process: a person must petition the court that handled their hospitalization case to have the record removed.
The bill lays out how that petition works. The petitioner must notify the opposing party or prosecutor, and the court must hold a hearing within 60 days, considering the circumstances of the hospitalization, mental health and criminal history, reputation evidence, and changes since the hospitalization. The court can grant relief if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person is unlikely to be dangerous. People cannot petition until they are discharged, must wait 12 months after discharge for a first petition, and must wait two years after a denied petition to try again.

### What it does

- Removes the current five-year automatic purge of a person's involuntary hospitalization information from the Georgia Crime Information Center's gun background check records.
- Creates a court petition process allowing a person to ask the court that handled their hospitalization to purge that information from background check records.
- Requires the court to hold a hearing within 60 days of a petition and consider the person's hospitalization circumstances, mental health and criminal history, reputation, and changes since hospitalization.
- Sets a legal standard for relief: the court must find by a preponderance of the evidence the person is unlikely to be dangerous and that relief fits weapons carry license standards (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129).
- Bars a first petition until 12 months after discharge and blocks a new petition for two years after a denied petition.
- Requires the clerk of court to report a granted petition to the center within 10 days, and the center to purge the record within 30 days of receiving that order.

### Who it affects

People who have been involuntarily hospitalized for mental health reasons and want their records cleared from gun background check systems, prosecuting attorneys and opposing civil parties in the underlying hospitalization case, probate and superior courts that would hear these petitions, and the Georgia Crime Information Center and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which maintain and share the records.

### Why it matters

People previously involuntarily hospitalized would no longer have their background check record automatically cleared after five years; instead they would need to go to court, wait out mandatory time periods, and prove they are unlikely to be dangerous before regaining eligibility to pass a gun background check.

### Key provisions

- Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 35-3-34(e)(2) to eliminate the automatic five-year purge of involuntary hospitalization information held for background check purposes.
- New subparagraph (B) creates a petition process filed with the court that handled the original hospitalization proceeding, requiring service on the opposing party or prosecutor and a hearing within 60 days.
- New subparagraph (C) lists the evidence the court must consider, including hospitalization circumstances, mental health and criminal records (with a signed waiver required), reputation evidence, and changes in condition.
- New subparagraph (D) requires a written decision within 30 days of the hearing, sets the preponderance-of-evidence standard tied to weapons carry license rules, and specifies appeal procedures, including de novo review to superior court for probate court decisions.
- New subparagraph (D)(iii) requires the clerk to notify the center within 10 days of a granted order, with the center purging the record within 30 days.
- New subparagraph (E) bars petitions before discharge, requires a 12-month wait after discharge for a first petition, and a two-year wait after a denied petition before refiling.
- New subparagraph (F) limits use of information gathered during the petition process, barring prosecutors from using it in other cases unless obtained independently.
- Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

## Status

- Status: Introduced (2025-02-05)
- Last action: House Committee Favorably Reported (2026-03-06)
- Sponsors: Debbie Buckner
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69952

> The history, votes, and amendments (291 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb285.md?full=1