HB1142: HB1142 Courts; require certain agreements for certain offenses to be eligible for a Pretrial Intervention and Diversion Program

Georgia currently has no statewide registry specifically tracking people convicted more than once of domestic violence offenses. This bill would create one inside the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), covering offenses like assault, battery, false imprisonment, and stalking between spouses, dating partners, co-parents, and other family members. Courts that convict someone of a domestic violence offense who has at least one prior such conviction would have to order that person to register, and clerks of court would send the conviction records to the GBI within 30 days. The registry would list a person's name, aliases, birth date, conviction date, county of conviction, and photo, but not sensitive identifiers like a social security or driver's license number. People would stay listed for five years with one prior offense or ten years with two or more. The bill also requires anyone entering Georgia's Pretrial Intervention and Diversion Program for a domestic violence charge to agree in advance to future registry inclusion, and it updates first offender sentencing law to note the registry as an exception to full exoneration. The changes take effect January 1, 2027, and apply only to offenses committed on or after that date.

• Creates a searchable public registry of recidivist (repeat) domestic violence offenders maintained by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
• Requires courts to order registration for anyone convicted of a domestic violence offense who has at least one prior domestic violence conviction.
• Requires clerks of court to send certified conviction records and defendant birth dates to the GBI within 30 days of conviction.
• Sets registry duration at five years for offenders with one prior conviction and ten years for offenders with two or more prior convictions.
• Requires anyone accepted into a Pretrial Intervention and Diversion Program for a domestic violence offense to agree that a future conviction could lead to registry inclusion.
• Adds domestic violence registry status as an exception to the usual civil rights protections given to people who complete first offender sentences.

People charged with or convicted of domestic violence offenses (including dating partners, spouses, co-parents, and stepfamily members), prosecuting attorneys running pretrial diversion programs, clerks of court, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Corrections, and courts handling first offender sentencing.

Repeat domestic violence offenders in Georgia could be listed on a public, searchable state registry for years after conviction, similar to the sex offender registry, and would lose the usual clean-slate protection of first offender treatment for that purpose. Prosecutors would also have to secure advance agreement from diversion program participants about future registration.

• Section 1 amends Georgia's Pretrial Intervention and Diversion Program law (O.C.G.A. § 15-18-80) to require offenders accused of domestic violence to agree to future registry inclusion before entering the program.
• Section 2 creates new Chapter 13B of Title 19, defining 'domestic violence offense' and 'recidivist domestic violence offender' and establishing the GBI registry, its contents, and privacy exclusions.
• Section 2 requires convicting courts to order registration upon proof of a prior domestic violence conviction and sets registry removal rules, including automatic removal after five or ten years.
• Section 2 limits the chapter's application to offenses committed on or after January 1, 2027.
• Section 3 revises Georgia's first offender law (O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60) to carve out the domestic violence registry, alongside the sex offender registry, as an exception to the usual exoneration of civil rights.
• Section 4 sets the Act's effective date as January 1, 2027, applying only to offenses committed on or after that date.

1. 2026-04-02Senate Tabled (Senate)
2. 2026-04-02Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-04-02Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
4. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
5. 2026-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
6. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
7. 2026-03-09Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
8. 2026-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)

• Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)Primary sponsor
• Soo Hong (R, HD-103)
• Jan Jones (R, HD-047)
• Sandy Donatucci (R, HD-105)
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2026

   163 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 11 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #678

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

   39 yea, 10 nay (2 not voting, 3 absent)

   Motion To Table Remaining Legislation On The Rules Calendar: Senate Vote #912

• domestic violence registry
• pretrial diversion programs
• first offender sentencing
• courts and criminal records
• Georgia Bureau of Investigation