In a unanimous vote, the State House approved an amended proposal to overhaul Georgia’s criminal justice system. With final passage, now the bill heads to Governor Nathan Deal’s desk for a signature.

Criminal justice has been one of the Governor’s legislative priorities this session.

The sentencing reform package has been months in the making, with a Special Joint Committee assigned to tweak the legislation.

The bill will strengthen penalties for career criminals while providing rehabilitative options for low level offenders. The goal is to reserve costly prison beds for the most violent criminals while saving the state tens of millions of dollars in projected correctional spending.

Tags: parker wallace, criminal justice reform