Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 35. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND AGENCIES · Chapter 3. GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION · Article 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

35-3-4.5. Subpoena authority for investigating election violations.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia.

(a)
In any investigation of a violation of Chapter 2 of Title 21 involving elections, the director, assistant director, or deputy director for investigations shall be authorized to issue a subpoena, with the consent of the Attorney General, to compel the production of books, papers, documents, or other tangible items, including records and documents contained within or generated by a computer or any other electronic device, unless such records are wholly owned by the federal government, and to undertake, at the discretion of the bureau, an audit of materials produced in response to such subpoena in a form deemed necessary by the bureau.#
(b)
Upon failure of a person without lawful excuse to obey a subpoena, the director, assistant director, or deputy director for investigations, through the prosecuting attorney, may apply to a superior court having jurisdiction for an order compelling compliance. Such person may object to the subpoena on the grounds that it fails to comply with this Code section or upon any constitutional or other legal right or privilege of such person. The court may issue an order modifying or setting aside such subpoena or directing compliance with the original subpoena. Failure to obey a subpoena issued under this Code section may be punished by the court as contempt of court.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 35-3-4.5, enacted by Ga. L. 2022, p. 121, § 11/SB 441.

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2022, p. 121, § 1/SB 441, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “(a) The General Assembly finds that: “(1) The state’s current system for sharing criminal case data is not adequate to provide to all appropriately interested parties, including, but not limited to, law enforcement agencies and officers, courts, crime victims and other impacted individuals, housing providers, and employers, complete criminal case data; “(2) One recent report indicates there may be as many as 7 million criminal charges without a final disposition indicated, and, of those, as many as 5.4 million criminal charges have languished for years; “(3) Georgia’s citizens and businesses are harmed by incomplete criminal case data. For example, in thousands of cases, as a result of incomplete criminal case data, citizens’ employability and housing opportunities have been negatively impacted; and “(4) A more uniform, modern system and framework for handling criminal case data will support the state in meeting its obligations to victims to keep them informed as their perpetrators make their way through the criminal justice system. “(b) It is the intent of the General Assembly that criminal case data be complete and accurately reported to the appropriate state data base and be accessible to state and local criminal justice agencies, employers, housing providers, victims, and all citizens.” Ga. L. 2022, p. 121, § 2/SB 441, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Criminal Records Responsibility Act.’”

Cross references

Voting and elections, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. II.

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia.

Text read from t35-t36-ch1-59-(v27)-2025-pdf.pdf, Volume V27, 2025 edition, pages 110 to 111; merge action: bound only; file SHA-256 6c7b6bcea397.

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