Section 40-5-83. Establishment and approval of clinics and programs; out-of-state certificates of completion; instructor licenses; fees; operation of clinics by employees of probation division; submission of fingerprints by applicants

   (a) (1) The commissioner shall establish criteria for the approval of driver improvement clinics. To be approved, a clinic shall provide and operate a defensive driving course. Clinics shall be composed of uniform education and training programs consisting of six hours of instruction designed for the rehabilitation of problem drivers. The commissioner shall establish standards and requirements concerning the contents of courses, qualifications of instructors, attendance requirements for students, and examinations. Approved clinics shall charge a fee of $75.00 for a defensive driving course, except that such clinics may charge different fees of their own choosing if the person is not enrolling in such course pursuant to court order or department requirement. No clinic shall be approved unless such clinic agrees in writing to allow the examination and audit of the books, records, and financial statements of such clinic. Clinics may be operated by any individual, partnership, or corporation. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to affect in any way driving programs established for purposes of insurance premium reductions under the provisions of Code Section 33-9-42.

   (1.1) (A) No driver improvement clinic shall be permitted to use, adopt, or conduct any business under any name that is like or deceptively similar to any name used by any other driver improvement clinic, Georgia company, or Georgia corporation registered with the Secretary of State. This subparagraph shall not prohibit the franchising or licensing of any part or all of the name of a driver improvement clinic by the owner or the rights thereof to another licensed driver improvement clinic.

      (B) This paragraph shall not prohibit the franchising or licensing of any part or all of the name of a clinic by the owner of the rights therein to another licensed driver improvement clinic.

   (2) The commissioner may issue a special license to the instructor of any commercial driver training school authorizing such instructor to teach a defensive driving course, advanced defensive driving course, or professional defensive driving course of a driver improvement clinic provided pursuant to this Code section if such instructor is qualified to teach a teen-age driver education course which consists of a minimum of 30 hours of classroom and six hours of behind-the-wheel training and such instructor certifies to the commissioner that he or she has provided at least 250 hours of behind-the-wheel training in a teen-age driver education course.

(b) (1) The commissioner shall be authorized to accept certificates of completion from all defensive driving, driving under the influence, and alcohol and drug programs, clinics, and courses approved by any other state, the District of Columbia, and territories and possessions of the United States, including military reservations, whereby driver improvement clinics, programs, and courses shall be approved for use by residents of this state, other states, the District of Columbia, and territories and possessions of the United States.

   (2) Driver improvement clinics, programs, and courses outside of the State of Georgia shall not be required to comply with the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section.

   (3) Driving under the influence and alcohol and drug programs, clinics, and courses outside of the State of Georgia shall not be required to comply with the provisions of subsection (e) of this Code section; provided, however, that the department shall not accept certificates of completion from any such program, clinic, or course unless said program, clinic, or course has been certified by the department as substantially conforming, with respect to course content, with the standards and requirements promulgated by the department under subsection (e) of this Code section. Certificates of completion from an out-of-state program, clinic, or course not so certified by the department may be accepted only for the purpose of permitting persons who are not residents of the State of Georgia to reinstate nonresident operating privileges.

(c) The commissioner shall be authorized to issue a special license to the instructor of any driver improvement clinic who is qualified to teach the alcohol and drug course prescribed in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-142. A driver improvement clinic shall offer such alcohol and drug course only through a qualified instructor and shall not charge a fee for such course of more than $25.00. The commissioner shall be authorized to issue a special license to a licensed instructor of any driver training school to teach the alcohol and drug course prescribed in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-142 who is qualified to teach a teen-age driver education course, which course consists of a minimum of 30 hours of classroom and six hours of behind-the-wheel training. The alcohol and drug program may be included in the 30 hours of classroom training as part of a curriculum approved by the department. Any fee authorized by law for such a drug and alcohol course may be included in the tuition charge for a teen-age driver education course. Any text or workbook provided or required by the Department of Driver Services for such alcohol and drug course shall be provided by the department at the same fee as currently charged by the department to any public or private school, contractor, or appropriate representative currently teaching the program.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of any law or rule or regulation which prohibits any individual who is a probation officer or other official or employee of the probation division of the Department of Corrections or a spouse of such individual from owning, operating, instructing at, or being employed by a driver improvement clinic, any individual who is a probation officer or other official or employee of the probation division of the Department of Corrections or a spouse of such individual who owns, operates, instructs at, or is employed by a driver improvement clinic on June 1, 1985, and who in all respects is and remains qualified to own, operate, instruct at, or be employed by a driver improvement clinic is expressly authorized to continue on and after June 1, 1985, to engage in such activities. No person who owns, operates, or is employed by a private company which has contracted to provide probation services for misdemeanor cases shall be authorized to own, operate, be an instructor at, or be employed by a driver improvement clinic or a DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Program.

(e) The department is designated as the agency responsible for establishing criteria for the approval of DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs. An applicant shall meet the certification criteria promulgated by the department through its standards and shall provide the following services: (1) the assessment component and (2) the intervention component. The department is designated as the agency responsible for establishing rules and regulations concerning the contents and duration of the components of DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs, qualifications of instructors, attendance requirements for students, examinations, and program evaluations. Qualified instructors shall be certified for periods of four years each, which may be renewed. Approved DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs shall charge a fee of $82.00 for the assessment component and $190.00 for the intervention component. An additional fee for required student program materials shall be established by the department in such an amount as is reasonable and necessary to cover the cost of such materials. No DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Program shall be approved unless such clinic agrees in writing to submit reports as required in the rules and regulations of the department and to allow the examination and audit of the books, records, and financial statements of such DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Program by the department or its authorized agent. DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs may be operated by any public, private, or governmental entity; provided, however, that, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, in any political subdivision in which a DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Program is operated by a private entity, whether for profit or nonprofit, neither the local county board of health nor any other governmental entity shall fund any new programs in that area. Programs currently in existence which are operated by local county boards of health or any other governmental entities shall be authorized to continue operation. New programs may be started in areas where no private DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs have been made available to said community. The Department of Corrections is authorized to operate DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Programs in its facilities where offenders are not authorized to participate in such programs in the community, provided that such programs meet the certification criteria promulgated by the Department of Driver Services. All such programs operated by the Department of Corrections shall be exempt from all fee provisions established in this subsection specifically including the rebate of any fee for the costs of administration. No DUI Alcohol or Drug Use Risk Reduction Program shall be approved unless such clinic agrees in writing to pay to the state, for the costs of administration, a fee of $22.00 for each offender assessed or each offender attending for points reduction, provided that nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to allow the department to retain any funds required by the Constitution to be paid into the state treasury; and provided, further, that the department shall comply with all provisions of Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 12 of Title 45, the "Budget Act," except Code Section 45-12-92, prior to expending any such miscellaneous funds.

(f) (1) Each applicant for certification to own or operate a driver improvement clinic shall submit at least one set of classifiable electronically recorded fingerprints to the department in accordance with the fingerprint system of identification established by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The department shall transmit the fingerprints to the Georgia Crime Information Center, which shall submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a search of bureau records and an appropriate report and promptly conduct a search of state records based upon the fingerprints. After receiving the report from the Georgia Crime Information Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the department shall determine whether the applicant may be certified.

   (2) No applicant shall be certified unless he or she is a United States citizen, or if not a citizen, he or she presents federal documentation verified by the United States Department of Homeland Security to be valid documentary evidence of lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law.

Code 1933, § 68D-104, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 2302, § 1; Code 1981, § 40-5-83.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 745, § 3; Ga. L. 1985, p. 409, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 758, § 12; Code 1981, § 40-5-85.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 758, § 20; Ga. L. 1986, p. 839, § 2; Ga. L. 1987, p. 431, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1154, § 7; Code 1981, § 40-5-83, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1990, p. 2048, § 4; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1140, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 913, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2785, § 16; Ga. L. 1993, p. 91, § 40; Ga. L. 1993, p. 454, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1066, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 143, § 40; Ga. L. 1999, p. 731, § 3; Ga. L. 2000, p. 951, § 5-43; Ga. L. 2003, p. 796, § 4; Ga. L. 2005, p. 334, § 17-20/HB 501; Ga. L. 2009, p. 65, § 6/SB 196; Ga. L. 2010, p. 932, § 17/HB 396; Ga. L. 2011, p. 355, § 12/HB 269.