HB1243: HB1243 Criminal Justice Researcher Access to Data Act; enact

Georgia's open records law (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70) lets criminal justice agencies withhold many records from the general public, including sensitive law enforcement and corrections data. This bill would create a separate legal track for 'bona fide researchers,' meaning individuals or organizations that use the data only for research, protect people's identities in their published findings, and have institutional review board approval and data security protocols in place. Under the bill, agencies would have to share certain categories of records, such as arrest, court, sentencing, probation, and parole data, with qualifying researchers, and could choose to share other records as well. Sharing data this way would not count as making it public, so the agency could still refuse to release the same records to the general public later. The Attorney General must issue guidance for agencies by January 1, 2027, and agencies could charge fees limited to their actual costs.

• Creates a new legal category of 'bona fide researcher' who can request access to criminal justice data that is otherwise shielded from public disclosure.
• Requires criminal justice agency record custodians to share specific categories of records, such as arrests, charges, sentences, and probation or parole status, with qualifying researchers.
• Allows, but does not require, agencies to share any other criminal justice data or records with a bona fide researcher beyond the mandatory categories.
• Specifies that giving data to a researcher does not count as a public release, so the agency keeps the right to withhold that same data from the public later.
• Directs the Attorney General to issue guidance by January 1, 2027 telling agencies how to identify researchers and share data with them.
• Allows agencies to charge fees for search, retrieval, and copying costs, capped at their actual costs, or waive those fees.

The bill affects criminal justice agencies statewide, including courts, police departments, sheriffs, prosecutors, and corrections and probation offices, which must respond to researcher requests. It also affects academic and other researchers seeking data, and indirectly affects people whose arrest, court, or corrections records could be shared with researchers under security protocols.

Researchers would gain access to detailed criminal justice records, including some sensitive data currently withheld from the public, potentially enabling new studies of policing, courts, and corrections. Agencies would face new sharing obligations and could recover costs through fees, while the underlying records would remain shielded from general public disclosure.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Criminal Justice Researcher Access to Data Act.'
• Section 2 adds a new Article 10 to Chapter 18 of Title 50, starting with O.C.G.A. § 50-18-170, stating legislative findings that researcher access to criminal justice data serves public safety and the public interest.
• O.C.G.A. § 50-18-171 defines 'bona fide researcher,' 'criminal justice agency,' 'criminal justice data,' 'institutional review board,' and 'records.'
• New Code Section 50-18-172 (labeled 50-8-172 in the bill text) requires custodians to share specified categories of records, such as stops, arrests, charges, sentences, and release conditions, with bona fide researchers, and clarifies such sharing is not a public release under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71.
• New Code Section 50-18-173 requires the Attorney General to issue guidance to agencies by January 1, 2027, and allows agencies to charge cost-based fees or waive them.
• Section 3 repeals all laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-02-10House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-09House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-06House Hopper (House)

• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)Primary sponsor
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
• Carter Barrett (R, HD-024)
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)

• criminal justice data
• open records law
• public safety research
• law enforcement records
• government transparency