GA: An Act Expanding DNA Collection to First-Offender Sentences and Detention Facilities (HB 470, Ga. L. 2019, p. 299, 2019)

April 28, 2019

Amended O.C.G.A. § 35-3-160 to extend DNA collection to persons charged with a felony who are never formally convicted — those sentenced as first offenders or granted conditional discharge under § 16-13-2 — closing a gap in the prior conviction-based scheme; also expanded the definition of 'detention facility' to include county correctional facilities, revised data-bank dissemination (§ 35-3-163), and broadened expungement grounds (§ 35-3-165) to add acquittal, reduction of all felonies to misdemeanors, and completion of a first-offender sentence. Ga. L. 2019, p. 299 (HB 470); effective on approval, April 28, 2019.