--- title: O.C.G.A. § 47-17-60. Payments to the fund from fines and bonds collected in criminal and quasi-criminal cases; duty of collecting authority to record and remit sums collected; penalty. collection: code id: 47-17-60 cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 47-17-60 (2025) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17-60 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17-60.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17-60/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t47-(v35)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9ec6d528_0#page=177 date: 2025 status: active corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68 license: CC0-1.0 publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17-44.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/47-17-61.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md version: the only printed version in_force: true current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly heading_path: RETIREMENT AND PENSIONS / PEACE OFFICERS’ ANNUITY AND BENEFIT FUND / REVENUES COLLECTED FROM FINES AND FEES --- # O.C.G.A. § 47-17-60. Payments to the fund from fines and bonds collected in criminal and quasi-criminal cases; duty of collecting authority to record and remit sums collected; penalty. (a) The greater of $10.00 or 10 percent of each bond forfeited and collected in any criminal or quasi-criminal case for violation of state statutes, county ordinances, or municipal ordinances, which case is before any court or tribunal in this state, shall be paid to the executive director. An amount equal to the greater of $10.00 or 10 percent of each fine imposed in any criminal or quasi-criminal case for violation of state statutes, county ordinances, or municipal ordinances, which case is before any court or tribunal in this state, shall be added to the amount of the fine imposed and collected, and, once collected, shall be paid to the executive director. For purposes of determining amounts to be paid to the executive director, the amount of the fine or bond collected shall be deemed to include costs. The amounts provided for shall be paid to the executive director before the payment of any costs or any claim whatsoever against such fine or forfeiture. The collecting authority shall pay such amounts to the executive director on the first day of the month following that in which they were collected or at such other time as the board may provide. With such payment there shall be filed an acceptable form which shows the number of cases in each of the above categories and the amounts due in each category. It shall be the duty of the collecting authority to keep accurate records of the amounts due the board so that the records may be audited or inspected at any time by any representative of the board under its direction. Sums remitted to the executive director under this Code section shall be used as provided for elsewhere in this chapter. (a.1) The greater of 5 percent or $5.00 of each fee collected prior to adjudication of guilt for purposes of pretrial diversion pertaining to any criminal or quasi-criminal case for violation of state statutes, county ordinances, or municipal ordinances as provided for in subsection (f) of Code Section 15-18-80, which case is before any court or tribunal in this state, shall be paid to the executive director. The clerk of court as provided for in subsection (f) of Code Section 15-18-80 shall pay such amounts to the executive director on the first day of the month following that in which they were collected or at such other time as the board may provide. With such payment there shall be filed an acceptable form from the clerk of court which shows the number of cases in each of the above categories and the amounts due in each category. It shall be the duty of the clerk of court to keep accurate records of the amounts due the board so that the records may be audited or inspected at any time by any representative of the board under its direction. Sums remitted to the executive director under this Code section shall be used as provided for elsewhere in this chapter. (b) If the collecting authority fails to remit such amounts with an acceptable form properly filled out within 60 days of the date on which such remittal is due, the same shall be delinquent, and there shall be imposed, in addition to the principal amount due, a specific penalty in the amount of 5 percent of the principal amount per month for each month during which the funds continue to be delinquent, provided that such penalty shall not exceed 25 percent of the principal due. In addition to such penalty, interest shall be charged on delinquent amounts at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the date the funds become delinquent until they are paid. By affirmative vote of all members, the board, upon the payment of the delinquent funds together with interest and for good cause shown, may waive the specific penalty otherwise charged under this subsection. ## History Ga. L. 1950, p. 50, § 10; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 574, § 2; Ga. L. 1956, p. 280, § 9; Ga. L. 1958, p. 341, § 5; Ga. L. 1959, p. 330, § 2; Ga. L. 1966, p. 395, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 93, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 578, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 475, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 225, § 1; Ga. L. 2018, p. 906, § 2/SB 369; Ga. L. 2019, p. 787, § 2/SB 73; Ga. L. 2020, p. 581, § 3/SB 249; Ga. L. 2024, p. 623, § 1/SB 328, effective July 1, 2024. ## Editor's Notes Ga. L. 2020, p. 581, § 5/SB 249, provides: “This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2020, only if it is determined to have been concurrently funded as provided in Chapter 20 of Title 47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the ‘Public Retirement Systems Standards Law’; otherwise, this Act shall not become effective and shall be automatically repealed in its entirety on July 1, 2020, as required by subsection (a) of Code Section 47-20-50.” However, the Act was not signed by the Governor until August 3, 2020. The State Auditor’s determination letter on concurrent funding of fiscal retirement bills provided: “[I]t is unclear as to the effective date of this bill. Based on the information received by the Fund’s actuary, Senate Bill 249 met the provisions for concurrent funding had it become effective on July 1, 2020.” See the state auditor’s report at Ga. L. 2020, p. 380A. ## Amendments The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added subsection (a.1). The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, added “or” at the end of paragraph (a)(3); substituted “The clerk of court” for “The political subdivision” at the beginning of the second sentence of subsection (a.1); and deleted the former third sentence of subsection (b), which read: “All funds due on or before April 1, 1966, and not paid shall be delinquent after the expiration of 60 days from that date.” The 2020 amendment, effective July 1, 2020, in subsection (a), rewrote the introductory paragraph, which read: “A portion of each fine collected and each bond forfeited and collected in any criminal or quasi-criminal case for violation of state statutes, county ordinances, or municipal ordinances, which case is before any court or tribunal in this state, shall be paid to the secretary-treasurer according to the following schedule:”, and deleted former paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(4); in subsection (a.1), substituted “The greater of 5 percent or $5.00” for “Five dollars” at the beginning of the first sentence, and substituted “The clerk of court” for “The political subdivision” at the beginning of the second sentence. See Editor’s notes for comment. The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, substituted “executive director” for “secretary-treasurer” throughout subsections (a) and (a.1).