SB 243: Back the Blue Fund; authorized use of money; revise

Georgia's Back the Blue Fund lets drivers voluntarily add a $5 contribution when registering a vehicle, with the money going to support law enforcement officers who work for county sheriffs. Under current law, that money is meant for bonus payments to certified peace officers. This bill rewrites Code Section 40-2-26.1 so the fund instead supports training and retention of those officers, and covers other costs sheriffs' offices incur related to that training. The bill also changes who distributes the money each year: instead of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council would divide the money equally among the state's county sheriffs, after the revenue commissioner keeps up to 1 percent for administrative costs. The bill adds a statement of legislative intent that if a sheriff uses fund money for training, any county training money freed up should go toward raising officers' salaries. The fund still cannot be used to pad a sheriff's own salary or replace county funding for the sheriff's office, and the whole Code section is set to repeal automatically on July 1, 2029.

• Changes the allowed use of Back the Blue Fund money from bonus payments to certified peace officers to training and retention of those officers instead.
• Replaces the Georgia Sheriffs' Association with the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council as the entity that distributes fund money to county sheriffs.
• Removes the requirement that each sheriff have sole discretion to allocate bonus payments and replaces it with rules for training-related spending.
• Adds a statement of legislative intent that county training funds freed up by use of the Back the Blue Fund should be redirected to raise officers' salaries.
• Keeps the existing $5.00 voluntary contribution collected on vehicle registration forms and the ban on using the fund to pad a sheriff's salary or replace county funding.

County sheriffs and the certified peace officers who work under them, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, county tag agents who collect the contributions, the state revenue commissioner's office, and drivers who voluntarily contribute when registering vehicles.

Sheriffs' offices would no longer be able to use this fund for direct bonus payments to deputies, but could use it to cover training costs, potentially freeing up other county money that the bill intends should go toward raising officers' salaries instead.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 40-2-26.1 so Back the Blue Fund money supports training and retention of certified peace officers employed by sheriffs, rather than bonus payments.
• Money will now be distributed by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council in equal portions to each county's sheriff, replacing the Georgia Sheriffs' Association's role.
• The revenue commissioner may keep up to 1 percent of the fund annually for administrative costs, unchanged from current law.
• A new subsection states the General Assembly's intent that county training funds freed up by use of the Back the Blue Fund be redirected to increase certified peace officers' salaries.
• The fund still cannot be used to supplement a sheriff's own salary or to replace county funding for the sheriff's office.
• The revised Code section remains set to automatically repeal by operation of law on July 1, 2029.
• The $5.00 voluntary contribution option on vehicle registration forms, in place since January 1, 2025, is unchanged by this bill.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senado)
2. 2025-03-04Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
3. 2025-03-03Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senado)
4. 2025-02-26Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
5. 2025-02-24Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)Patrocinador principal
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Bill Cowsert (R, SD-046)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)

• law enforcement funding
• Back the Blue Fund
• sheriffs' offices
• police training
• vehicle registration fees