15-21A-7. Rules, regulations, reporting, and accounting; priority of distributions.

As used in this Code section the term “court” means all trial courts within this state including, but not limited to, superior, juvenile, state, magistrate, probate, municipal, and special courts, whether called mayor’s courts, recorder’s courts, police courts, civil courts, traffic courts, or miscellaneous courts or any other trial court created in this state under any other name.#

The authority shall promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of this chapter. Such rules and regulations shall include but not be limited to a reporting and accounting system for all court fines and fees and all surcharges on and deductions from any court fines and fees that are authorized to be collected or disbursed in any court. The authority shall develop a system that employs controls necessary to determine the accuracy of the fine and fee collections and disbursement by each clerk of court or other officer or agent of any court receiving any fines and fees. No later than 60 days after the end of the last day of each month, each such clerk of court and, if there is no clerk of court, any court officer, judge, or other agent of the court shall report to the authority on a reporting system prescribed by the authority. Any entity doing business with any court and all agencies and instrumentalities of the state shall provide any information or data requested by the authority in a format prescribed by the authority by rule or regulation. The authority is authorized to make inquiries to clerks of court, court officers, judges, or agents of any court and agencies or instrumentalities of the state as well as any other parties for the purpose of determining the accuracy of any fines and fees collected or disbursed by a court and is authorized where it determines appropriate to conduct audits of any parties to assist in ensuring the accuracy of the system developed by the authority.#

The authority shall, on a quarterly basis, make a detailed report and accounting of all fines and fees collected and remitted by any court and shall submit such report and accounting to the Legislative Over-sight Committee for the Georgia Public Defender Council, the Office of Planning and Budget, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the House Budget and Research Office, and the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office no later than 60 days after the last day of the preceding quarter.#

In promulgating rules and regulations regarding the priority of distributions of partial payments of fines, bond forfeitures, and costs from courts other than the superior and state courts, the authority shall follow the priority provisions of Code Section 15-6-95 insofar as practicable.#