TITLE 49 SOCIAL SERVICES

Section 5. Programs and Protection for Children and Youth, 49-5-1 through 49-5-281.

ARTICLE 8 CENTRAL CHILD ABUSE REGISTRY

49-5-184. Expungement hearing.

1. An individual whose name appears in the child abuse registry as having committed a substantiated case shall be entitled to a hearing for an administrative determination of whether or not expungement of such individual's name should be ordered. In order to exercise such right, the individual shall file a written request for a hearing with the division. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to individuals who have waived a hearing after receipt of notice.
2. Upon receipt by the division of a written request for a hearing pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section, the division shall transmit such request to the Office of State Administrative Hearings within ten days of receipt. The Office of State Administrative Hearings shall conduct a hearing in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act," except as otherwise provided in this Code section. A hearing shall be conducted within 60 days following receipt of the request by the Office of State Administrative Hearings. Upon a finding that there is no credible evidence that the individual who requested the hearing is the individual who had a substantiated case, the Office of State Administrative Hearings shall order the division to expunge that name from the registry. The general public shall be excluded from such hearings, and the files and records relating thereto shall be confidential and not subject to public inspection.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the decision of the Office of State Administrative Hearings pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section shall constitute the final agency decision. Any party shall have the right of judicial review of that decision in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act," except that the petition for review shall be filed within 30 days after such decision and may only be filed with and the decision appealed to the superior court of the county where the hearing took place or, if the hearing was conducted by telephone, the Superior Court of Fulton County. The procedures for such appeal shall be the same as those for judicial review of contested cases under Code Section 50-13-19. The review and records thereof shall be closed to the public and not subject to public inspection.

(Code 1981, §49-5-184, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 552, § 11/SB 138; Ga. L. 2016, p. 773, § 8/HB 905; Ga. L. 2016, p. 864, § 49/HB 737.)

The 2016 amendments. The first 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, deleted former subsection (a), which read: "Upon receipt of a notice from a prosecuting attorney pursuant to subsection (b) of Code Section 49-5-182, the division shall include in the child abuse registry the name of the convicted child abuser, the offense for which he or she was convicted, and whether the offense is considered physical abuse, neglect or exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation."; redesignated former subsection (b) as present subsection (a), and, in subsection (a), in the first sentence, substituted "An individual" for "Any person", substituted "having committed a substantiated case" for "a convicted child abuser" near the middle, and substituted "individual's name" for "person's name" near the end, in the second sentence, substituted "individual shall" for "person must", and in the third sentence, substituted "apply to individuals who have waived a hearing" for "apply to persons who have waived their hearing"; redesignated former subsection (c) as present subsection (b), and, in subsection (b), substituted "subsection (a)" for "subsection (b)" in the first sentence, and substituted "individual who requested the hearing is the individual who had a substantiated case" for "person who requested the hearing is a convicted child abuser" in the next-to-last sentence; redesignated former subsection (d) as present subsection (c), and, in subsection (c), substituted "subsection (b)" for "subsection (c)" in the first sentence. The second 2016 amendment, effective May 3, 2016, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in subsection (c) (now subsection (b)).