HB1397: HB1397 Criminal procedure; implied consent to a drug facilitated sexual assault examination for unconscious victims of alleged sexual assault; provide

Georgia law currently allows sexual assault victims to receive a free forensic medical examination, but the process generally assumes the victim can consent. This bill addresses situations where a suspected victim is incapacitated and cannot consent at the time. The bill adds a new section allowing a licensed hospital or health care practitioner to perform a forensic medical examination on an incapacitated suspected sexual assault victim when exigent (urgent) circumstances justify it, without requiring the victim's active consent beforehand. Whenever such an exam is performed, a drug facilitated sexual assault examination, a toxicology screen for drugs that could compromise a person's ability to consent, must also be run on the collected evidence. The bill also adds a legal definition for that drug facilitated exam and protects anyone examined under this new provision from being arrested or prosecuted based solely on evidence gathered from the exam itself. It keeps existing law that victims cannot be charged for the cost of these exams, which is paid through the Georgia Crime Victims Emergency Fund.

• Creates a new Code section (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-75) letting hospitals or health care practitioners examine an incapacitated suspected sexual assault victim without prior consent when urgent circumstances exist.
• Requires that a drug facilitated sexual assault examination, a toxicology screen for drugs used to facilitate sexual assault, be run on evidence from any such exam.
• Adds a formal definition of 'drug facilitated sexual assault examination' to the article's definitions section (O.C.G.A. § 17-5-70).
• Shields anyone examined under the new provision from arrest, charge, or prosecution if the only evidence against them came from that examination.
• Extends the existing right to a free forensic medical examination so it also covers drug facilitated sexual assault examinations, still paid through the Georgia Crime Victims Emergency Fund.

Sexual assault victims who are unconscious or incapacitated, hospitals and licensed health care practitioners who perform forensic exams, law enforcement agencies investigating sexual assault cases, and the Georgia Crime Victims Emergency Fund, which continues to cover exam costs.

Victims who cannot consent because they are unconscious could still receive a forensic exam and drug screening under urgent circumstances, potentially preserving evidence that would otherwise be lost. The bill also limits legal risk for people examined this way if the exam itself turns up the only evidence against them.

• Section 1 revises definitions in O.C.G.A. § 17-5-70, adding 'drug facilitated sexual assault examination' as a toxicology screen for substances that could compromise consent to sexual activity.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 17-5-72 to state victims have a right to a forensic medical examination or drug facilitated sexual assault examination regardless of cooperation with law enforcement, paid for by the Georgia Crime Victims Emergency Fund.
• Section 3 adds new O.C.G.A. § 17-5-75, allowing exams of incapacitated suspected victims under exigent circumstances and requiring a drug facilitated exam on collected evidence.
• Section 3 also bars arrest, charge, or prosecution of an examined person if the only evidence supporting it came solely from the exam performed under this new section.
• Section 4 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-02-24House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-20House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-19House Hopper (House)

• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-045)Primary sponsor
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)
• Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)

• sexual assault law
• criminal procedure
• victims' rights
• forensic medical exams
• hospital procedures