Update 1/31/2012: As expected, the Senate has passed HB 46 with the reciprocity provision. The amended legislation is now available on the General Assembly’s website.
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In a week, several pieces of legislation in Georgia will become effective, but the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act will not be one of them. It was introduced in January as HB 46 (last year as HB 917), but different versions passed in the House and Senate. Because the legislative summary does not explain why it did not pass, I listened to the final vote. The Senate had amended HB 46 to bifurcate the bill so that it would go into effect July 1, 2011 and remain in effect in 2013 when the revised evidence code (HB 24) goes into effect. When it came back to the House, the House offered an amendment to introduce a reciprocity provision so that the streamlined process can only be used if the state where the underlying case is pending has adopted a similar procedure. The House passed it as amended, but it now needs to be sent back to the Senate. I expect this to be addressed next year.
In the meantime, the procedure remains the same; Georgia follows the Uniform Foreign Depositions Act, found in O.C.G.A. §§ 24-10-110 to -112, as discussed in my article, Best Practices for Issuing Subpoenas: Depositions of Georgia Residents in Cases Pending Out of State, published in the Georgia Bar Journal.
I continue to help out-of-state attorneys for a flat rate so that they can subpoena witnesses and records in Georgia. Contact me to see how I can help you.
Note: If you are interested in the explanation given for the final vote, listen to Afternoon House Session 3 starting at 1:06:35, continuing to 1:11:21. Representative Jacobs explains the amendment, which is not available on the legislative summary page.
Photo credit: atlexplorer
