SB633: SB633 Motor Vehicles and Traffic; implied consent provisions; repeal and reenact

Georgia's implied consent law currently lets police request blood, breath, or urine tests from drivers suspected of driving under the influence (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-55). This bill rewrites that law and several related sections to add saliva as a fourth type of chemical test that officers can request to check for alcohol or drugs. The bill also changes when testing can happen after a traffic accident: officers may request testing of a driver involved in a crash with serious injuries or fatalities only if they have probable cause to believe that driver was under the influence. It updates the required implied consent warnings read to suspects, the definition of alcohol concentration for commercial driver's license law, the commercial vehicle implied consent statute, the DUI statute itself, and the rules on how test results and refusals can be used as evidence in court, all to account for saliva testing alongside existing blood, breath, and urine testing.

• Adds saliva to the list of bodily substances (along with blood, breath, and urine) that police can test under Georgia's implied consent law (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-55).
• Requires officers to have probable cause that a driver was impaired before requesting a chemical test from someone involved in a crash causing serious injury or death.
• Rewrites the implied consent warnings read to suspects (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-67.1) to mention saliva testing and to state that refusing a saliva test can be used as evidence at trial.
• Adds a saliva-based measurement to the legal definition of 'alcohol concentration' used for commercial driver's license cases (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-142).
• Updates the commercial vehicle implied consent law (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-153) and the DUI statute (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391) to include saliva alongside blood, breath, and urine.
• Revises the evidence rules for chemical testing (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-392) so saliva test results and refusals can be admitted in DUI trials the same way blood, breath, or urine results and refusals can.

Georgia drivers stopped or arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, commercial motor vehicle drivers, law enforcement officers who administer implied consent testing, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Division of Forensic Sciences, and prosecutors and defense attorneys handling DUI cases.

If enacted, officers could use saliva swabs, likely faster and less invasive than blood draws, to check drivers for alcohol or drugs, while drivers in serious crashes would get an added legal protection requiring probable cause before testing. Refusing a saliva test could be used against a driver in court just like refusing other tests.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 40-5-55(a) to add saliva testing and require probable cause for testing drivers involved in accidents with serious injuries or fatalities.
• Section 2 updates the implied consent warnings in O.C.G.A. § 40-5-67.1 for suspects under 21, suspects 21 and over, and commercial drivers to include saliva and its evidentiary use upon refusal.
• Section 3 adds a saliva measurement (grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of saliva) to the 'alcohol concentration' definition in O.C.G.A. § 40-5-142 for commercial license purposes.
• Section 4 revises O.C.G.A. § 40-5-153 so commercial drivers are deemed to consent to saliva testing along with blood, breath, or urine.
• Section 5 amends the DUI statute, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391, to include saliva in the substances that can establish alcohol or drug impairment, including for commercial drivers under subsection (i).
• Section 6 revises O.C.G.A. § 40-6-392 to make saliva test results and refusals admissible as evidence in DUI trials and to apply the same inference rules used for blood, breath, or urine tests.
• Section 7 repeals all conflicting state laws.

1. 2026-03-27Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-03-26Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)Primary sponsor

• DUI law
• implied consent
• chemical testing
• traffic safety
• commercial driver's licenses