Expanding Georgia’s incest laws to cover the stepgrandparent and stepgrandchild relationship is the subject of a bill moving through the General Assembly this session.
Sponsored by state Rep. Mike Cameron, R-Rossville, House Bill 327 passed the House on March 3, and on Thursday was tabled by the Senate. Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, sponsored it in the Senate.
There were 166 votes for the bill in the House, including all Northwest Georgia representatives, zero nays and 11 did not vote.
The last day of Georgia’s legislative session is Wednesday.
Cameron said in a phone interview that the bill was written after Chris Arnt, then serving as the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, reached out to the state senator about a case he was unable to prosecute.
Arnt was appointed as a Superior Court judge in February. Clayton Fuller, formerly an assistant district attorney, replaced Arnt as the district attorney. The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties.
Cameron said the situation began when a girl aged 16-17 moved in with her grandmother and stepgrandfather, and the stepgrandfather “took advantage of the situation.” Because she was over the age of consent — in Georgia the age of consent is 16 — the charges against the stepgrandfather were dismissed. He said the incident happened about six months to a year ago.
“In Georgia, stepgrandchildren are not covered under the incest law. Stepchildren are,” Cameron said.
Legal council agreed the law was insufficient to prosecute stepgrandparent incest, Cameron said, so a one-page bill was written.
Cameron said he hopes the bill will be enacted to protect other young people in that situation and added he thinks there’s still time for the state Senate to pass it.
“Children need people they can trust and not go into a situation where a person with trust and authority takes advantage of it,” he said.
State Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, said he supports and will vote for House Bill 327 if it comes up. The bill hasn’t had any opposition as it moved through the Georgia Assembly, he said in a phone interview.
Moore said there are only two days left in the session, Monday and Wednesday, making it a challenge to get any more legislation passed by both the House and Senate.
Source: Chattanooga Time Free Press