ATLANTA — Members for the new Republican-backed commission established to oversee Georgia’s district attorneys and solicitors general have yet to be appointed despite the July 1 deadline.

So far, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, is the only authorized person to make his appointment to the eight-member Prosecuting Attorneys Qualification Commission.

According to the new law (SB 92), members were to be appointed by July 1, 2023, with their terms also beginning upon appointment.

For the five-member investigative panel of the Commission, both the governor and lieutenant governor are to appoint one attorney each; the speaker of the House is to appoint two attorneys, and the Senate Committee on Assignments appoints an attorney.

The governor, speaker of the House and Senate Committee on Assignments each are to appoint a member to the three-person hearing panel of the Commission. Two of the members must be an elected district attorney or solicitor general, and the other a former judge or justice.

Burns announced his appointees to the Commission July 17 — Joseph Cowart of Statesboro and Steve Scheer of Savannah. Bibb County Superior Court Chief Judge Howard Simms of Macon was appointed to the to the PAQC Hearing Panel by Burnes.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission will ensure that Georgia’s laws are faithfully enforced by those elected to prosecute crimes,” Burns said. “I am grateful to all the House members who worked so hard to get this important legislation passed…”

A spokesperson from Gov. Brian Kemp’s offices said he didn’t have any updates on Kemp’s appointments to the Commission. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ spokesperson said he planned to announce his appointments in a couple of weeks. 

The creation of the Commission was one several controversial measures Georgia lawmakers debated along party lines during its 2023 legislative session.

The Commission will have the authority to investigate, discipline or remove elected district attorneys or solicitors-general in instances where they are consistently not fulfilling their duties; The bill states that prosecutors are required to “review every individual case for which probable cause for prosecution exists, and make a prosecutorial decision under the law based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case…”

Supporters of the new law said it is necessary to crack down on “soft on crime” prosecutors.

This bill was brought because we have district attorneys and prosecutors who aren’t doing their job,” said Rep. Houston Gaines. “It’s to restore public safety places in where you have rogue district attorneys who simply are not doing their job. That’s what we’ve seen in the Western Judicial Circuit and it’s happening in other places throughout the state.”

After Kemp signed the bill May 5, a coalition of 20 criminal legal reform and voting rights advocates released a statement claiming the law is among a Republican-led “coordinated anti-democratic power grab and attempts to undo the will of voters.”

Opponents of the bill have argued that there are existing mechanisms that hold prosecutors accountable — the State Bar, the state attorney general, impeachment by the legislators and voters — and that the bill threatens prosecutors’ ability to use discretion when deciding if and when to prosecute a case. Some prosecutors have been vocal about forgoing the prioritization of certain nonviolent crimes such as marijuana possession.

Let’s exhaust all of our options first, and based on the testimony that was brought before our committee, most of the problematic prosecutors have been removed or voted out,” Jonesboro Democrat Yasmin Neal said. “Before we ask taxpayers to pay for yet another process, we should exhaust current options.”

Rules and regulations established by the Commission are expected to be established by Oct. 1, 2023.