Georgia Code
Article 2 - Background Checks
§ 20-1A-34. Check of Fingerprints on National Level; Satisfactory Determination Prior to Employment; Additional Records Checks; Retention of Fingerprints

History. Code 1981, § 20-1A-34 , enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 645, § 1; Ga. L. 2013, p. 285, § 2/HB 350; Ga. L. 2015, p. 965, § 2/HB 401; Ga. L. 2018, p. 507, § 2-3/SB 336; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1101, § 6/HB 494; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 20/SB 52.
The 2015 amendment, effective January 1, 2016, substituted the present provisions of this Code section for the former provisions, which read: “(a) The department shall transmit to GCIC both sets of fingerprints and the records search fee from each fingerprint records check application. Upon receipt thereof, GCIC shall promptly transmit one set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a search of bureau records and an appropriate report and shall retain the other set and promptly conduct a search of its records and records to which it has access. Within ten days after receiving fingerprints acceptable to GCIC, the application, and fee, GCIC shall notify the department in writing of any derogatory finding, including but not limited to any criminal record, of the state fingerprint records check or if there is no such finding. After a search of Federal Bureau of Investigation records and fingerprints and upon receipt of the bureau’s report, the department shall make a national fingerprint records check determination.
“(b) Every potential employee of the department who may have any reason to be present at a center while any child is present for care must receive a satisfactory fingerprint records check determination or have had an unsatisfactory fingerprint records check determination reversed in accordance with Code Section 20-1A-43 prior to employment. Every current employee of the department who may have any reason to be present at a center while any child is present for care must receive a satisfactory fingerprint records check determination or have had an unsatisfactory fingerprint records check determination reversed in accordance with Code Section 20-1A-43 by January 1, 2014. Every employee of the department shall undergo additional fingerprint records checks such that the time between such additional fingerprint records checks and that employee’s previous fingerprint records check shall not exceed five years. The department shall maintain documentation in the appropriate personnel file indicating that such person has obtained such current satisfactory fingerprint records check determination or has had an unsatisfactory fingerprint records check determination reversed in accordance with Code Section 20-1A-43.”
The 2018 amendments. —
The first 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, in subsection (b), inserted “that is satisfactory” in the middle of the first, second, and fourth sentences, deleted “satisfactory” preceding “fingerprint records check” near the middle of the first, second, and fourth sentences, deleted “fingerprint records check” following “unsatisfactory” in the middle of the first, second, and fourth sentences, in the third sentence, inserted “an” near the beginning, substituted “check determination” for “checks” in two places in the middle, and added the exception at the end; and added subsection (c). The second 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, throughout this Code section, substituted “comprehensive” for “fingerprint” and inserted “, notwithstanding Code Section 20-1A-45”; in subsection (a), revised punctuation in the middle of the fourth sentence, in the middle of the seventh sentence, inserted a comma following “writing”, deleted “reside at the location or” preceding “be present”, substituted “facility” for “location”, and inserted “or to reside in the facility”, and inserted “willfully and continually” in the last sentence; and, in subsection (b), in the third sentence, inserted “determinations” twice and inserted “determination”. See the Code Commission note regarding the effect of these amendments.
The 2019 amendment, effective May 12, 2019, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, in subsection (a), substituted “rules of GCIC” for “rules of the GCIC” in the second sentence, “fingerprints to GCIC” for “fingerprints to the GCIC” at the end of the third sentence, and “GCIC shall” for “The GCIC shall” at the beginning of the fifth sentence; and, in subsection (b), substituted “comprehensive records check determinations” for “comprehensive records checks determinations” in two places in the third sentence.
Code Commission notes.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2018, the amendment of portions of subsection (b) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2018, p. 507, § 2-3/SB 336, was treated as impliedly repealed and superseded by Ga. L. 2018, p. 1101, § 6/HB 494, due to irreconcilable conflict.
Law reviews.
For article on the 2018 amendment of this Code section, see 35 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2018).

Structure Georgia Code