2022 Georgia Code
Title 50 - State Government
Chapter 25 - Georgia Technology Authority
§ 50-25-7.1. Technology Empowerment Fund; Appropriations; Initiatives; Steering Committee; Release of Funds

1. The authority is authorized and directed to establish a technology empowerment fund to be administered by the authority. The fund shall consist of such moneys appropriated or otherwise available to the authority as the board may determine from time to time to deposit therein. Subject to the appropriations process, the decision-making and priority-setting responsibilities for allocating these funds are vested in the chief information officer and the director of the Office of Planning and Budget.
2. The chief information officer is authorized to identify and select individual projects, initiatives, and systems to improve service delivery to be funded through the technology empowerment fund. Such projects shall demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the chief information officer, reduced costs through the use of technology. In identification and selection of such projects, initiatives, and systems, the chief information officer shall give priority to those which provide demonstrable cost savings and improved service delivery on a recurring basis through the employment of technology and training. Eligible projects, initiatives, and systems to receive disbursements from the technology empowerment fund may be selected from agency budget requests. Quarterly reports of the operations of the technology empowerment fund shall be required to be made to the board, the Office of Planning and Budget, the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, and the House Budget and Research Office to ensure proper oversight and accountability.
3. Each project or initiative developed and supported from the technology empowerment fund shall employ technology that is compatible with the architecture and standards established by the authority and shall be accounted for by a discrete account established for the individual project or initiative item in the operating budget and capital budget.
4. A steering committee composed of the chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations or his or her designee from among the membership of the committee, the chairperson of the Senate Appropriations Committee or his or her designee from among the membership of the committee, the director of the Office of Planning and Budget, the House Budget and Research Office, the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, the state auditor, and a representative from the Governor’s office shall advise and consult with the chief information officer regarding initiatives to receive funding from the technology empowerment fund and shall receive quarterly reports from the chief information officer as to the status of funded projects.
5. Upon enactment of enforceable uniform standards for the submission of electronic records to the Georgia Crime Information Center promulgated by The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia, and subject to the availability of appropriations and moneys otherwise available to the authority, the authority is authorized to release funds from the technology empowerment fund for the purpose of installing or upgrading criminal justice information systems to be used by criminal justice agencies for complying with their respective obligations to provide information and data to the Georgia Crime Information Center.

History. Code 1981, § 50-25-7.1 , enacted by Ga. L. 2000, p. 249, § 12; Ga. L. 2008, p. VO1, § 1-21/HB 529; Ga. L. 2014, p. 866, § 50/SB 340; Ga. L. 2022, p. 121, § 18/SB 441.

The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, added subsection (e).

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2008, p. VO1, which amended this Code section, was passed by the General Assembly as HB 529 at the 2007 regular session but vetoed by the Governor on May 30, 2007. The General Assembly overrode that veto on January 28, 2008, and the Act became effective on that date.

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.’”