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Senate committee refines 'Back the Blue' vehicle‑registration donation program after sheriff association testimony
Summary
The committee passed changes to the Back the Blue fund that clarify distribution and permissible uses of voluntary $5 vehicle‑registration donations, adding language to allow funds for training or retention and restoring equal per‑county distribution.
The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee passed a committee substitute for Senate Bill 243 (LC394660) that revises the Back the Blue vehicle‑registration donation program and clarifies how collected donations are distributed and used.
The bill would allow Georgia vehicle owners to donate $5 when they register or renew a vehicle; those donations are collected by the Department of Revenue and remitted to a state entity that then distributes funds to county sheriffs. Sponsor remarks traced the program to an idea advanced by the lieutenant governor when he served in the Senate and described the original intent as permitting voluntary donations to provide incentive or retention pay for sheriff deputies and jailers.
Terry Norris of the Georgia Sheriff's Association testified and urged clearer language on distribution and allowable uses. Norris said the association preferred that the Department of Public Safety or the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council handle distribution and that all money be used by sheriff's offices for retention and incentive pay rather than be commingled with county general funds.
Committee members raised several concerns: whether the fund’s collections were currently being held, how much had been collected, whether distributions would be equal per county or allocated differently, and whether back‑to‑blue money could replace county training allocations. A committee member cited a reported January deposit of between $40,000 and $50,000 into the fund; witnesses said they did not have a more recent written total on the record.
The committee considered and adopted two technical amendments. One amendment added the word “retention” so a key sentence reads “for training or retention of certified peace officers employed by the county sheriffs.” A second amendment restored language requiring that the Georgia POST Council “distribute such money in equal portions to the sheriff of each county in the state on a per county basis.” Committee members said the changes restore the program’s original equal‑distribution intent and clarify permissible uses.
After the amendments the committee moved and seconded passage of the committee substitute; the chair announced the measure passed unanimously. Committee members said additional drafting work could follow to address implementation mechanics and oversight. Norris asked that statute language make clear the money goes to sheriff's offices for retention and training and not to be used to supplant county operations without clear accounting.
The hearing record shows no roll‑call names for the vote; the chair announced unanimous passage.
