As part of a tour through the Savannah-area today, Gov. Brian Kemp signed S.B. 92 at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office on Carl Griffin Drive, making official a law that creates a Prosecuting Attorneys Oversight Commission for district attorneys and solicitors-general across Georgia. Kemp appeared earlier in the day at the future site of the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County to sign into law a sales use tax exemption
Among other responsibilities, the eight-member commission, consisting of five investigators and three hearing panel members, will “have the power to discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of appointed or elected district attorneys or solicitors-general.”
Opponents of the law fear it circumvents the will of local voters and prevents district attorneys from pursuing some restorative justice measures, such as diversion programs, in favor of harsher criminal charges. Supporters suggest the commission provides necessary oversight to discipline district attorneys and solicitors-general who do not prosecute certain crimes, such as the state’s six-week abortion ban.