TITLE 51. TORTS
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 51-1-50. Immunity of broadcasters from liability for Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program
(a) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) "Broadcast" means the transmission of video or audio programming by an electronic or other signal conducted by radiowaves or microwaves, by wires, lines, coaxial cables, wave guides or fiber optics, by satellite transmissions directly or indirectly to viewers or listeners, or by any other means of communication.
(2) "Broadcaster" means any corporation or other entity that is engaged in the business of broadcasting video or audio programming, whether through the public airwaves, by cable, by direct or indirect satellite transmission, or by any other means of communication.
(3) "Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program" means the voluntary program entered into by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, and certain broadcasters licensed to serve in the State of Georgia, which program provides that if the Georgia Bureau of Investigation verifies that a child has been abducted and is in danger, an alert containing known details of the abduction is transmitted to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which is then transmitted by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to broadcasters in Georgia; and those broadcasters participating in the program then broadcast or otherwise disseminate the alert to listeners, viewers, or subscribers.
(b) Any broadcaster participating in Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program shall not be liable for any civil damages arising from the broadcast or other dissemination of any alert generated pursuant to the Levi's Call: Georgia's Amber Alert Program. The immunity provided for in this Code section shall apply to any broadcast or dissemination of information that is substantially consistent with the information transmitted by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and that takes place during an alert requested by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and for a period of two hours after such alert has ended or the Georgia Emergency Management Agency informs the participating broadcasters that the alert has changed in content.
(c) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to limit or restrict in any way any legal protection a broadcaster may have under any other law for broadcasting or otherwise disseminating any information.
TITLE 35. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND AGENCIES
CHAPTER 3. GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
ARTICLE 4. MISSING CHILDREN INFORMATION CENTER
§ 35-3-80. Definitions
As used in this article, the term:
(1) "Missing child" or "missing children" means a person or persons under the age of 18 years whose temporary or permanent residences are in, or are believed to be in, this state and who have been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency and whose location cannot be determined by that law enforcement agency.
(2) "Missing child report" means a report prepared on a form designed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for the use by law enforcement agencies and private citizens to report information about missing children to the Missing Children Information Center.
§ 35-3-81. Establishment, development, maintenance, and operation of center; staff
(a) There is authorized within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the Missing Children Information Center. The center shall serve as a central repository of information regarding missing children and shall collect and disseminate such information as is necessary to assist in the location of missing children.
(b) Central responsibility for the development, maintenance, and operation of the center shall be vested in the supervisor of the center who shall be appointed by the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
(c) The supervisor of the center shall maintain the necessary staff along with support services to be procured within the Georgia state government to enable the effective and efficient performance of the duties and responsibilities assigned to the center in this article.
(d) All personnel of the center shall be administered according to appropriate special and standard schedules by the State Merit System of Personnel Administration.
§ 35-3-82. Powers and duties
(a) The center may:
(1) Establish a system of intrastate communication of information relating to missing children;
(2) Provide a centralized file for the exchange of information on missing children within the state;
(3) Interface and connect with the National Crime Information Center for the exchange of information on missing children and children suspected of interstate travel;
(4) Collect, process, maintain, and disseminate information on missing children and unidentified bodies and strive to maintain or disseminate only accurate and complete information;
(5) Cooperate with the State Board of Education in compiling lists of missing children in this state for distribution to local school districts;
(6) Compile annual statistics on the number of missing children;
(7) Develop recommendations for better reporting and use of computer systems;
(8) Provide assistance to local law enforcement agencies providing fingerprint programs for children;
(9) Circulate a monthly bulletin of missing children to all law enforcement agencies in the state;
(10) Assist local law enforcement agencies in establishing direct computer access to the Missing Children Information Center;
(11) Act as a liaison between private citizens and law enforcement agencies regarding appropriate procedures for handling and responding to missing children reports; and
(12) Establish a toll-free telephone number to assist individuals and agencies in the reporting of missing children and information relative to missing children.
(b) The center is authorized to join and participate in any network of state missing children centers or clearing-houses, specifically including but not limited to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
§ 35-3-83. Missing child reports
Upon the filing of a police report by the parent or guardian that a child is missing, the local law enforcement agency receiving such report shall notify all of its on-duty law enforcement officers of the existence of the missing child report, communicate the report to all other law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction in the county and all law enforcement agencies of jurisdictions geographically adjoining that of the local law enforcement agency, and transmit the report to the Missing Children Information Center.
§ 35-3-84. Sending information to center
Every law enforcement agency and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation shall transmit to the Missing Children Information Center any information which is acquired or collected pursuant to Code Section 35-1-8 or Code Section 35-3-4, which information would assist in the location of any missing child.
§ 35-3-85. Registration of related organizations
Any public or private organization which makes lists of or maintains records on missing children as a primary activity of that organization and which seeks to operate in the State of Georgia shall register with the Missing Children Information Center.
TITLE 19. DOMESTIC RELATIONS
CHAPTER 9. CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS
ARTICLE 2. CHILD CUSTODY INTRASTATE JURISDICTION ACT
O.C.G.A. § 19-9-21 (2005)
§ 19-9-21. Purpose; construction
(a) The general purposes of this article are to:
(1) Avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict by courts within this state in matters of child custody, which have in the past resulted in the shifting of children from county to county with harmful effects on their well-being;
(2) Promote cooperation by the courts of this state, to the end that a custody decree is rendered by the court which can best decide the case in the interest of the child;
(3) Assure that litigation concerning the custody of a child ordinarily takes place in the court with which the child and his family have the closest connection and where significant evidence concerning the care, protection, training, and personal relationships of the child is most readily available and that courts of this state decline the exercise of jurisdiction when the child and his family have a closer connection with another court of this state;
(4) Discourage continuing controversies over child custody, in the interest of greatest stability of home environment and of secure family relationships for the child;
(5) Deter abductions and other unilateral removals of children undertaken to obtain custody awards;
(6) Avoid relitigation of custody decisions of other courts in this state insofar as is feasible;
(7) Facilitate the enforcement of custody decrees;
(8) Make uniform the practice and procedure of the courts of this state in child custody matters.
(b) This article shall be construed to promote the general purposes stated in subsection (a) of this Code section.
TITLE 19. DOMESTIC RELATIONS
CHAPTER 9. CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS
ARTICLE 3. UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURISDICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT
PART 3. JURISDICTION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN DECREES
§ 19-9-81. Definitions
As used in this part, the term:
(1) "Petitioner" means a person who seeks enforcement of an order for return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or enforcement of a child custody determination.
(2) "Respondent" means a person against whom a proceeding has been commenced for enforcement of an order for return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or enforcement of a child custody determination.
§ 19-9-82. Orders made under the Hague Convention
Under this part a court of this state may enforce an order for the return of the child made under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction as if it were a child custody determination.
§ 19-9-95. Actions by district attorney
(a) In a case arising under this article or involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the district attorney may take any lawful action, including resort to a proceeding under this part or any other available civil proceeding to locate a child, obtain the return of a child, or enforce a child custody determination if there is:
(1) An existing child custody determination;
(2) A request to do so from a court in a pending child custody proceeding;
(3) A reasonable belief that a criminal statute has been violated; or
(4) A reasonable belief that the child has been wrongfully removed or retained in violation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
(b) A district attorney acting under this Code section acts on behalf of the court and may not represent any party.