HB 621: Georgia Bureau of Investigation; provide for members of the General Assembly to request assistance

Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 35-3-8.1) lets a limited set of officials, including municipal governing authorities, county sheriffs, certain county police chiefs, superior court judges, and the Governor, ask the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to assist with a criminal case. The GBI's director has discretion to grant these requests, except a request from the Governor, which the director must honor. This bill adds members of the General Assembly to that list of people who can request GBI assistance. The director would still decide, on a case by case basis, whether unusual circumstances justify sending the GBI into a case. The bill does not require the director to act on a legislator's request the way the law requires action on a Governor's request, and it does not change the GBI's separate authority over terrorism-related investigations. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and does not state a delayed effective date.

• Adds individual members of the Georgia General Assembly to the list of officials who can ask the GBI to assist in a criminal case, alongside sheriffs, judges, and the Governor.
• Leaves the GBI director's discretion intact: the director may, but is not required to, act on a legislator's request, unlike a mandatory response to the Governor.
• Makes no change to the GBI's existing authority to work independently or with other agencies on terrorism cases involving domestic, cyber, biological, chemical, or nuclear threats.
• Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with this new authority.

Individual members of the Georgia House and Senate, who gain a new way to request GBI involvement; the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and its director, who retain discretion over such requests; and local law enforcement agencies, sheriffs, and courts already named in the statute.

If enacted, any state legislator could formally ask the GBI to step into a local criminal matter, something currently limited to local law enforcement leaders, judges, and the Governor. Because the director retains discretion, the practical effect depends on how often the GBI chooses to act on legislators' requests.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 35-3-8.1 by inserting 'a member of the General Assembly' into the list of officials who may request GBI assistance in criminal cases.
• The revised law keeps the director's discretionary standard of 'unusual circumstances' for granting requests, except that a Governor's request remains mandatory.
• The section dealing with GBI's independent authority over terrorism investigations (subsection (b)) is left unchanged in substance.
• Section 2 repeals any laws in conflict with the Act, a standard closing provision.

1. 2025-02-28House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-27House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-26House Hopper (House)

• Sylvia Wayfer Baker (D, HD-64)Primary sponsor
• Sharon Henderson (D, HD-113)
• Terry Cummings (D, HD-39)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-67)
• Dewey McClain (D, HD-109)
• L.C. Myles (D, HD-126)

• Georgia Bureau of Investigation
• state legislature powers
• law enforcement
• criminal investigations