| 6 | 6 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 7 | 7 | | AN ACT |
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| 8 | 8 | | To amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, |
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| 9 | 9 | | 1 |
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| 10 | 10 | | relating to child abuse records, so as to authorize the disclosure or use of information from2 |
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| 11 | 11 | | child abuse and neglect registries by the Department of Human Services to locate, recover,3 |
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| 12 | 12 | | or provide services to a child determined to be missing or a victim of sexual exploitation; to4 |
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| 13 | 13 | | provide for access to records concerning reports of child abuse and missing or exploited5 |
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| 14 | 14 | | children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; to provide for related6 |
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| 15 | 15 | | matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.7 |
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| 16 | 16 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:8 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1.9 |
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| 18 | 18 | | Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to child10 |
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| 19 | 19 | | abuse records, is amended by revising subsection (c) of Code Section 49-5-40, relating to11 |
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| 20 | 20 | | definitions, confidentiality of records, and restricted access to records, as follows:12 |
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| 21 | 21 | | "(c) Each and every record concerning child abuse or neglect which is received by the13 |
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| 22 | 22 | | department from the child abuse and neglect registry of any other state shall not be14 |
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| 23 | 23 | | disclosed or used outside the department for any other purpose other than conducting15 |
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| 24 | 24 | | background checks to be used in foster care and adoptive placements. |
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| 25 | 25 | | or in locating,16 |
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| 26 | 26 | | S. B. 342 |
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| 27 | 27 | | - 1 - 24 LC 57 0035 |
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| 28 | 28 | | recovering, or providing services to a child who is determined by the department to either17 |
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| 29 | 29 | | be missing or the victim of sexual exploitation as defined in this Code section."18 |
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| 30 | 30 | | SECTION 2.19 |
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| 31 | 31 | | Said article is further amended in subsection (a) of Code Section 49-5-41, relating to persons20 |
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| 32 | 32 | | and agencies permitted access to records, by deleting "and" at the end of paragraph (11),21 |
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| 33 | 33 | | replacing the period at the end of paragraph (12) with "; and", and adding a new paragraph22 |
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| 34 | 34 | | to read as follows:23 |
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| 35 | 35 | | "(13) The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the purpose of24 |
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| 36 | 36 | | assisting in locating, recovering, or providing services to a child who is determined by25 |
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| 37 | 37 | | the department to either be missing or the victim of sexual exploitation as defined in26 |
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| 38 | 38 | | Code Section 49-5-40."27 |
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| 39 | 39 | | SECTION 3.28 |
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| 40 | 40 | | This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law29 |
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| 41 | 41 | | without such approval.30 |
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| 42 | 42 | | SECTION 4.31 |
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| 43 | 43 | | All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.32 |
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| 44 | 44 | | S. B. 342 |
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| 45 | 45 | | - 2 - |
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