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GA HB1555
Bill
Status
Introduced
3/11/2022
Primary Sponsor
Carl Gilliard
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AI Summary
- Establishes the Georgia Cold Case Project to Address Historic Lynchings and Related Matters as a new office within the Department of Community Affairs, tasked with investigating and redressing unresolved homicides related to the "Original 33" (the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly elected in 1868), the Atlanta race riot of 1906, the Camilla massacre of 1868, and other historic lynchings
- Directs the Project to use all available criminal investigation and historical research techniques to resolve unresolved homicide cases tied to historic lynchings
- Creates a conviction integrity unit to review lynching cases that involved official proceedings and to develop applications for exoneration or posthumous pardon for victims who were wrongly accused or convicted, modeled after the pardon of Leo Frank
- Establishes a data collection and cross-referencing program modeled after the Shoah Foundation's History Archive to investigate unresolved lynching cases that had no official proceedings
- Authorizes the Department to collaborate with state agencies (GBI, State Law Department, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Historic Preservation Division) and private, academic, and nonprofit partners including the Equal Justice Initiative, the Shoah Foundation, Emory University's Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, and others
Legislative Description
Original 33 Act to Establish the Georgia Cold Case Project to Address Historic Lynchings and Related Matters; enact
Last Action
House Second Readers
3/16/2022
Committee Referrals
Public Safety and Homeland Security3/15/2022
Full Bill Text
No bill text available