O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 37-2-1 (2019)

Declaration of purpose

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) The State of Georgia recognizes its responsibility for its citizens who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled including individuals with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, and other neurologically disabling conditions or who abuse alcohol, narcotics, or other drugs and recognizes an obligation to such citizens to meet their needs through a coordinated system of community facilities, programs, and services. (b) It is the policy of this state to provide adequate mental health, developmental disability, addictive disease, and other disability services to all its citizens. It is further the policy of this state to provide such services through a unified system which encourages cooperation and sharing of resources among all providers of such services, both governmental and private. (c) It is the purpose of this chapter to enable and encourage the development of comprehensive, preventive, early detection, habilitative, rehabilitative, and treatment disability services; to improve and expand community programs for the disabled; to provide continuity of care through integration of county, area, regional, and state services and facilities for the disabled; to provide for joint disability services and the sharing of manpower and other resources; and to monitor and restructure the system of providing disability services in the State of Georgia to make better use of the combined public and private resources of the state and local communities. (d) The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to achieve the objectives set forth in this Code section.

History

Code 1933, § 88-601, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 953, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1213, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 16; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 17; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-7; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228.

Annotations

Cross references. - Special educa-

tion services for children who are physically, mentally, or emotionally disabled, § 20-2-152. State health planning and development generally, T. 31, C. 6. Coverage for autism, § 33-24-59.10. Code Commission notes. - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1993, ‘‘the’’ was

deleted following ‘‘encourage the’’ near the beginning of subsection (c). Editor’s notes. - Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 18.1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: ‘‘Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal any provision of Chapter 5 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the ‘Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded.’ ’’ Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 19, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: ‘‘This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1994; provided, however, that provisions relating to the establishment of regional and community service board boundaries and the appointments of regional boards and community service boards shall become effective on July 1, 1993, or upon what-

ever date is stipulated in the Act and provided, further, that the provisions authorizing a county board of health to agree to serve as the lead county board of health for only that county shall become effective upon the approval of this Act by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval.’’ The Act was approved by the Governor on April 27, 1993. Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which amends this Code section, provides, in § 19.1, not codified by the General Assembly, that the amendment is repealed on June 30, 1999; however, Ga. L. 1998, p. 870, § 1, struck § 19.1 of Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which would have repealed the 1993 amendment to this Code section.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Community service boards. - Limited sovereign immunity waiver was subject to a specific exception for assault or battery, and in determining whether this exception applied, it was not necessary that the act have been committed by a state officer or employee. A community service board was a state agency and was immune from a claim arising from the stabbing death of a resident at a community home run by the board. Limited sovereign immunity waiver in the Georgia Tort Claims Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-21-20 et seq., was subject to a specific exception for assault or battery, and in determining whether this exception applied, it was not necessary that the act have been committed by a state officer or employee; a community service board was a state agency, and was immune from a claim arising from the stabbing death of a resident at a

community home run by the community service board. Oconee Cmty. Serv. Bd. v. Holsey, 266 Ga. App. 385, 597 S.E.2d 489 (2004). Legislature did not intend for community service boards to be part of the Department of Human Resources (DHR) (now known as the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for these purposes) or its employees to be department employees under ordinary circumstances; thus, a suit claiming that DHR was liable for the alleged negligence of a board employee should have been dismissed. Dep’t of Human Res. v. Crews, 278 Ga. App. 56, 628 S.E.2d 191 (2006). Cited in Lewis v. Griffin, 258 Ga. 887, 376 S.E.2d 364 (1989); Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 273 Ga. 715, 545 S.E.2d 875 (2001); Summerlin v. Ga. Pines Cmty. Serv. Bd., 278 Ga. App. 831, 630 S.E.2d 115 (2006).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 10 cases, 1983–2015 · leading case: Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 545 S.E.2d 875 (Ga. 2001).
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Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 545 S.E.2d 875 (Ga. 2001). · cites it 12× “We have found that community service boards like the GRNCSB created by the Legislature pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-1 et seq. are agencies or departments of the State.”
Oconee Cmty. Serv. Bd. v. Holsey, 597 S.E.2d 489 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 2× “2 Construed in this manner, the record shows that OCSB is a public agency organized pursuant to OCGA§ 37-2-1 et seq. to provide community mental health, developmental disability, and addictive disease services to Georgia citizens.”
Nw. Georgia Reg'l Hosp. v. Wilkins, 469 S.E.2d 786 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “1 define personal care homes and describe licensing procedures. Whether a mental patient is a candidate for discharge from a hospital to a personal care home when the treatment team determines that expensive hospital care is no longer warranted necessarily requires the team,…”
Georgia Pines Cmty. Serv. Bd. v. Summerlin, 673 S.E.2d 582 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 2× “3 As the parties acknowledge, Georgia Pines is a community service board created pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-1 et seq. and is a State department or agency entitled to raise the defense of sovereign immunity.”
Summerlin v. Georgia Pines Cmty. Serv. Bd., 630 S.E.2d 115 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). · cites it 2× “The record shows that Georgia Pines is a state entity created pursuant to OCGA§ 37-2-1 et seq. to provide an array of supports and services to individuals and families affected by mental illness, substance abuse or mental retardation.”
Lewis v. Griffin, 376 S.E.2d 364 (Ga. 1989). · cites it 2× “Under OCGA § 42-5-52 (d), the Department of Corrections may transfer a mentally-ill petitioner to the custody of the Department of Human Resources until his sanity is restored, and then have him returned to the Department of Corrections for completion of his sentence.”
Dep't of Human Resources v. Crews, 628 S.E.2d 191 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). · cites it 2× “15 OCGA§ 37-2-1 (c). See also Youngblood, supra.”
Johnson v. Ogeechee Behavioral Health Servs., 479 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (S.D. Ga. 2007). · cites it 2× “O.C.G.A. § 37-2-1. As part of the legislation, the State created a Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases (“the Division”) within the State Department of Human Resources (“DHR”).”
Miller v. Advantage Behavioral Health Sys., 146 F. Supp. 3d 1318 (M.D. Ga. 2015). · cites it 2× “” O.C.G.A. § 37-2-1(b). The applicable statute provides that “[e]aeh community service board shall be a public corporation and an instrumentality of the state —” O.”
Fields v. Pittman, 571 F. Supp. 32 (N.D. Ga. 1983). “§ 37-2-1 et seq., under which the Supportive Living Program was enacted is so vague, imprecise, and arbitrary so as to violate plaintiff’s due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
— 37-2-1(a) — 1 case
Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 545 S.E.2d 875 (Ga. 2001). “We have found that community service boards like the GRNCSB created by the Legislature pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-1 et seq. are agencies or departments of the State.”
— 37-2-1(b) — 1 case
Miller v. Advantage Behavioral Health Sys., 146 F. Supp. 3d 1318 (M.D. Ga. 2015). “” O.C.G.A. § 37-2-1(b). The applicable statute provides that “[e]aeh community service board shall be a public corporation and an instrumentality of the state —” O.”
— 37-2-1(c) — 1 case
Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Cmty. Serv. Bd., 545 S.E.2d 875 (Ga. 2001). “We have found that community service boards like the GRNCSB created by the Legislature pursuant to OCGA § 37-2-1 et seq. are agencies or departments of the State.”
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