Only eight legislative days remain between now and the Georgia General Assembly adjourning Sine Die. With the Crossover Day deadline behind us (the deadline for a bill to pass its chamber of origin), the fate of some major initiatives has become clear, while others remain to be seen.

Legal reform, one of the business community’s top priorities, became a causality on Crossover. Previously, we reported on the seatbelt nonuse admissibility bill, which would have allowed defendants in a civil case to present evidence of a plaintiff’s nonuse of a seatbelt so that a jury could apportion damages properly. This legislation failed by a vote of 24 to 30. Another tort reform proposal, SB 203, “the Trucking Opportunity Act of 2023,” was stripped of its legal provisions. The bill aimed to accomplish three major items: provide free tuition for CDL training for veterans; would have clarified that heavy duty commercial truck drivers with valid CDLs are legally eligible to drive; and would have eliminated the practice of directly suing an insurance company in for-hire trucking lawsuits—Georgia is only one of only 4 states that allow this practice. This bill was amended to strike the last two provisions and passed with only the veterans tuition assistance provision with a vote of 54 to 1. Lastly, SB 186 by Senator Greg Dolezal dealt with premises liability standards for landowners. This bill would have clarified proper apportionment of damages for landowners, ensuring that they would only be responsible for damages resulting from criminal activity that happens on their property if they had reasonable knowledge of a threat, had the ability to prevent it and failed to do so, or if their actions (or failure to act) was the proximate cause of the damages. Under current law, landowners are often held 10 times more liable than the actual at fault party. This bill failed to receive a vote in the Senate and is unfortunately dead for the session.  

Initiatives that are still alive include HB 189 by Representative Steven Meeks, the truck weights bill that underwent many changes, and which proposes to increase the variance for heavy-duty trucks carrying agricultural products to 10%, on top of the 80,000-pound limit. This bill passed by a vote of 93 to 81 (a close vote, as 91 is the minimum number of votes a bill needs to pass the House). Further, the House version of the “apex doctrine” bill, which would curtail the practice of deposing C-suite executives in trials where their company or business is the defendant, HB 530 passed the House with a vote of 156 to 8.

On the workforce housing/housing accessibility side, HB 514 by Representative Dale Washburn, which would limit building moratoriums by local governments to 180 or fewer days, was revised to only affect moratoriums on single family homes, and creates exemptions for natural disasters, state of emergencies, or feasibility planning. This bill passed by a vote of 127 to 43. Related housing legislation includes HB 517 by Representative Washburn, which would have preempted local governments from mandating or banning various design standards that proponents say are burdensome and costly. This bill failed to pass the House Governmental Affairs Committee and is dead for the session.

On the freight and logistics initiative, HB 617 by Representative Rick Jasperse proposed to create a framework for GDOT to establish The Georgia Freight 2050 Program fund and investment program for freight and logistics planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation. It would also have codified a state-wide freight and logistics implementation plan that GDOT would report on every year to the General Assembly. Unfortunately, that bill did not make the Crossover deadline. While this particular legislation will not move forward, we may see some amendments to other legislation dealing with transportation that would include the language from HB 617, to ensure freight and logistics planning continues to move forward.

The electric vehicle charging legislation, SB 146 by Senator Steve Gooch and HB 406 by Representative Rick Jasperse, both passed their respective chambers. These bills would regulate electric vehicle charging infrastructure and create a tax structure similar to the current gas tax on motor fuel that could be applied to electricity used at charging stations. HB 406 has been assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries Committee while SB 146 has been assigned to the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee (more on these in our legislation section on our website).

The budget remains ACEC Georgia’s number one legislative priority this year. Last week, we reported that the amended budget went to a “conference committee”, which is made up of three members from each chamber who are charged with ironing out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the amended budget and creating a report that both chambers ultimately vote to agree on. On Crossover, both the House and Senate adopted the conference committee report and the amended budget is now eligible for the Governor’s signature. The amended budget includes a $300,000 allocation for the PELS Board to help get the Board up and running, with funding beginning April 1. On Wednesday, the House considered the full budget. The Governor’s original recommendation included $1,027,000 for the PELS Board; however, the House recommended $1,078,000 for the full fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023. While this recommendation does fall short of $2.5 million formal request from the PELS Board, the Senate is now considering the budget and we will continue to advocate for full funding for the Board as the budget continues to move forward in the legislative process.

The week ahead:

Lawmakers will be meeting for Legislative Days 32 through 35. Only three weeks remain before Sine Die!

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA IS FOLLOWING 

When reviewing the legislation below, please note that the Rules Committee and Rules Calendar are different. Both chambers have a Rules Committee and these committees are charged with setting the Rules Calendar—the list of bills eligible to be debated and voted on by that chamber. When a bill has ben placed on the Rules Calendar it’s considered “on the floor”. If a bill is in Rules, that means it is still in the Rules Committee in its respective chamber and hasn’t been added to the list of bills for that chamber to vote on.

BILLS THAT MADE THE CROSSOVER DAY DEADLINE

AND ARE STILL ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION THIS SESSION

Budget & Appropriations 

HB 18 by Representative Jon Burns (R-Newington): is the amended FY 2023 budget which modifies the state’s spending plan for the last 90 days of the current fiscal year ending on June 30th. It allocates $300,000 to the PELS Board for start-up costs.  

Status: Passed the House Appropriations Committee on February 1st. Passed the House by a vote of 170-1 on February 2nd. Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 21st. Passed the Senate 54-1. A conference committee made up of three Senators and three Representatives created a report, that reconciled differences between the House and Senate versions of the amended budget. That report was adopted on March 6th by both chambers. HB 18 is now eligible for the Governor’s signature.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 19 by Representative Jon Burns (R-Newington): is the full FY 2024 budget. The Governor originally recommended $1,027,895 for the PELS Board for the fiscal year beginning July 1. However, the current version of the budget recommends $1,078,040 for the PELS Board. The House passed the budget 167-1 on March 9th.   

Status: Passed the House Appropriations Committee on March 8th. Passed the House 167-1. Assigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Industry & Professions 

HB 128 by Representative Soo Hong (R-Lawrenceville): would revise provisions relating to minority, women owned, and veteran owned businesses procuring or involved in the procurement (as subs) of state contracts. The bill defines these types of qualified “classified” businesses and would expand the 10% tax deductions for payments to these small business subcontractors to all classified businesses. This proposal also aims to standardize and expedite the process of obtaining minority, women, or veteran owned business credentials by allowing the state to accept credentials from the federal government.

Status: Passed the House State Planning & Community Affairs Committee; passed the House 160-3. Assigned to the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 530 by Representative James Burchett (R-Waycross): is the House’s version of the Apex doctrine legislation. It aims to curtail the ability of a plaintiff to depose a c-suite executive who has no special or specific knowledge of the facts pertaining to a suit against his/her company.

Status: Passed the House Judiciary Committee. Passed the House 156 to 8. Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 3 by Senator John Albers (R-Roswell): "Reducing Barriers to State Employment Act of 2023". This proposal would direct all state entities to regularly assess the relevant academic background and experience requirements needed for each position within their agency, reduce those requirements which are arduous and unnecessary, and reduce the number of positions for which four-year college degrees are required as a condition of employment.

Status: Passed the Senate Government Oversight Committee. Passed the Senate by a vote of 49 to 1. This bill has been assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 157 by Senator Brian Strickland (R-McDonough): proposes several changes relating to the application process for occupational licenses in Georgia by individuals with criminal records. This bill clarifies what types of crimes would disqualify an individual from receiving a license, creates an appeals process for an individual who may have been denied a license based on their criminal record or other unknown or undisclosed reason, and creates a “preclearance” process for determining whether an individual's criminal record will disqualify them from obtaining a license before paying and completing required education and training for that license. This bill aims to decrease regulatory burdens and streamline burdensome and onerous licensing processes.

Status: Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. Passed the Senate by a vote of 55-0. Assigned to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 195 by Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry): the original proposal would create a licensure by endorsement process for out-of-state applicants who possess a valid license for a profession and who apply for a Georgia license for that profession; however, this has been narrowed down to only active-duty military and their spouses. The provisions require that license applicants have a valid license that is in good standing, have no complaints or pending complaints, have had the license for at least one year, do not have a disqualifying criminal record, pass any required examination on state-specific rules & regs, and pays all applicable fees. This bill would also create a shot clock of 30 days for a board to issue an expedited license by endorsement.

Status: Passed the Senate Veterans, Military, & Homeland Security Committee. This bill passed the Senate with a vote of 54-0. Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SR 85 by Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry): would create a Senate study committee on occupational licenses. If the Senate were to vote to create this study committee, during the session interim, the committee would be tasked with reviewing occupational licenses and requirements for receiving these licenses.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Rules Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Transportation 

HB 52 by Representative Brad Thomas (R-Woodstock): is last year’s annual GDOT housekeeping bill and proposes to revise meeting notice provisions for the election of board members for the Department of Transportation as well as clarify other provisions regarding public-private partnership negotiations and exempt some records from public disclosure requirements. This bill was amended to include a separate provision that relates to the duties of coroners and county medical examiners regarding major interstate highway deaths, as well as increase the modular home transportation square footage limit by 4 feet to align with neighboring states’ restrictions.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee on January 30th. The House voted in favor of this bill, by a vote of 167 to 0. This bill has passed the Senate Transportation Committee. Passed the Senate with an amendment by a vote of 53 to 1 on Feb 22. This bill will require an “agree” by vote by the House before it can be considered eligible for the Governor’s signature.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 189 by Representative Steven Meeks (R-Screven): this bill, after undergoing several modifications, now proposes to add a 10% variance on top of the 80,000-pound truck weight limit and would only apply to trucks carrying agricultural products.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee on February 9^th by a vote of 18 to 11. This bill was recommitted to the House Transportation Committee by the House Rules Committee chairman. It was amended in committee to create a 12.5% variance exemption for trucks carrying agricultural products only and received a do pass recommendation from the committee by a vote of 12-7. Amended again to reduce the variance to 10% for agricultural products only. Passed the House by a vote of 93-81. Assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

HB 288 by Representative Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro): proposes to create an East Georgia Regional Airport Authority Act for the expansion of airport facilities in the City of Swainsboro and Emanuel County.

Status: Passed the House Intragovernmental Coordination Committee. Passed the House by a vote of 162-2. Assigned to the Senate Transportation committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 406 by Representative Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper): is a proposal that combines four of the recommendations from the Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation. These recommendations include: vesting oversight and inspection powers over electric vehicle charging stations in the Agriculture Commissioner to ensure uniformity and proper maintenance; allowing the existing motor fuel excise tax to be levied on electricity used to charge vehicles (by creating a kilowatt “gallonage equivalent”); allows the sale of electricity by the kilowatt hour. SB 146 by Senator Steve Gooch is the Senate companion bill.

Status: Passed out of the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee. Passed the House, 161-0; assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HR 140 by Representative Viola Davis (D-Stone Mountain): is an urging resolution asking MARTA to reaffirm its commitment to extending its rail system alongside Interstate 20 in south DeKalb County. Urging resolutions are nonbinding, but if passed, they do provide a powerful nudge towards specific state entities to conduct whatever the resolution encourages the entity to do.  

Status: Assigned to the House Transportation Committee. This resolution was introduced on February 8th, but has not yet received a hearing

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 146 by Senator Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega): is a proposal that combines four of the recommendations from the Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation. These recommendations include: vesting oversight and inspection powers over electric vehicle charging stations in the Agriculture Commissioner to ensure uniformity and proper maintenance; allowing the existing motor fuel excise tax to be levied on electricity used to charge vehicles (by creating a kilowatt “gallonage equivalent”); allows the sale of electricity by the kilowatt hour. This is the Senate companion to HB 406 (above)

Status: Passed the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee; passed the Senate 55-1. Assigned to the House Technology & Infrastructure Innovation Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SR 137 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): urges EMCs and localities to develop competitively neutral tariffs for providing electricity for the use of charging vehicles.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Water & Environmental 

HB 206 by Representative Steven Sainz (R-St. Marys): would create Commercial Property Assessed Conservation, Energy, and Resiliency Development Authorities and would allow some qualifying entities to pay for qualifying energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements through commercial property-assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing options.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee; passed the House 134-38. Assigned to the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee.  

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 306 by Representative Tim Fleming (R-Covington): the original version of this legislation would have allowed energy cost savings measures, which include facility alterations, retrofitting, renovation, or new construction that reduces energy or water consumption or is designed to generate revenue, to be excluded from competitive bidding processes. The problematic provision regarding the exemption from competitive bid processes has been removed.

Status: Passed out of the House Governmental Affairs Committee by substitute (i.e, it was amended by the committee); passed the House 170-1. Assigned to the Senate Education & Youth Committee. 

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Local Government 

HB 160 by Representative Gerald Greene (R-Cuthbert): proposes to create a community improvement district in the city of Albany.

Status: Passed the House Intragovernmental Coordination Committee. The House passed this bill by a vote of 166 to 0. This bill passed the Senate 54-0. It is now eligible for the Governor’s signature.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 193 by Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia): proposes to raise the minimum dollar amount for bids for public works contracts which are required to go to a competitive bidding process from $100,000 to $250,000. This adjustment proposal is the result of inflation. The current $100,000 threshold was created in 2000 and has not been adjusted since its original passage.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee. Passed the House by a vote of 164-4. Has been assigned to the Senate Government Oversight Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 220 by Representative Rob Leverett (R-Elberton): the original proposal would have allowed owners’ associations to pursue injunctive relief, without the need to first pursue or utilize other available or alternative remedies. This bill was amended to allow owners’ associations to pursue injunctive relief if a written notice is ignored for over 10 days.  

Status: Passed the House Judiciary Committee. Passed the House 144-22. Assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation  

HB 230 by Representative Mark Newton (R-Augusta): proposes to create a special purpose local option sales tax for a “coliseum capital outlay project”. The capital outlay project’s definition is narrowly tailored, with operation and ownership provisions limited to a consolidated government or one or more local authorities, among other very specific provisions. The SPLOST would be referendum led and would include 0.5% sales tax on applicable goods defined in the bill and a 0.5% sales tax on motor fuel when price per gallon is less than $3.00. The narrow definition indicates that this would very likely only affect Augusta-Richmond projects.

Status: Passed the House Ways & Means Committee; passed the House 165-7. Assigned to the Senate Finance Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 374 by Representative Brad Thomas (R-Woodstock): proposes to create a process by which residents and property owners can deannex out of a city (as long as they are within reasonable boundaries of the city’s limits) and become part of an unincorporated area of a county, without the need for legislative approval.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee; passed the House 144-28. Assigned to the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 514 by Representative Dale Washburn (R-Macon): places a shot clock of 180 or fewer days on moratoriums on new housing construction (for single family homes only) by local governments to eliminate the ability for local governments to conduct indefinite moratoriums. This bill also creates exemptions to the shot clock for natural disasters, feasibility planning, or state of emergencies.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee; passed the House 127-43. Assigned to the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 136 by Senator Mike Dugan (R-Carrollton): would allow local governments to waive impact fees for workforce housing projects.

Status: This bill has passed the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee. Passed the Senate 49-4. Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SR 147 by Senator Derek Mallow (D-Savannah): is the bipartisan proposal for a Senate Local Option Sales Tax Study Committee. If the Senate chooses to adopt this resolution, a group of Senate members would meet over the summer and fall to discuss any potential pitfalls in local option sales taxes or opportunities to increase the overall value to the residents.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Rules Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation 

SR 214 by Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville): would create a Joint Study Committee on Local Options Sales Tax & Service Delivery Strategy. This committee is aimed at revising local option sales taxes which have caused rifts between cities and counties, as well as opportunities to increase the overall value to the residents, if passed by both chambers. Members would include legislators from both chambers.

Status: Passed the Senate Rules Committee. Is on the Senate Rules Calendar for debate today.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

BILLS THAT DID NOT MAKE THE CROSSOVER DEADLINE AND

ARE NO LONGER ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION THIS YEAR

Industry & Professions 

HB 267 by Representative Tyler Paul Smith (R-Bremen): would allow an individual to pursue a civil action and seek injunctive relief if an employer, other than a governmental entity, fails to withhold taxes properly from wages paid to an employee.

Status: Passed the House Judiciary Committee; this bill did not make the Crossover deadline.

ACEC Georgia is reviewing this legislation

SB 186 by Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming): would revise the premises liability law to limit the cause of action currently available for individuals injured by an unrelated third party on a landowner’s property. The bill would require a plaintiff to prove that the landowner compelled the third party’s action, had knowledge of a specific threat, or could have reasonably intervened in the situation that resulted in injuries to the plaintiff. This would also create a process for apportionment of damages between the third party and landowner. 

Status: Passed to the Senate Insurance & Labor Committee; this bill made the Senate Rules calendar but was never voted on by the Senate

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 196 by Senator Ben Watson (R-Savannah): under current law, while it is illegal to not wear a seatbelt in the front seat of a vehicle, evidence of non-use is not admissible in court during a preceding regarding a vehicle accident. SB 196 would allow the admissibility of that evidence so that a defendant may present it when making their case in court. An amendment was added to exempt ride share services.

Status: Passed the Senate Transportation Committee. This bill failed on the floor of the Senate by a vote of 24 to 30.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 200 by Senator Bill Cowsert (R-Athens): is what is known as the “Apex Doctrine”. It would create a process for which a c-suite or other high level executive within a corporation can petition a court to show that a requested deposition is unnecessary or burdensome. Under current law, if a company is the defendant in a suit, the plaintiff may request a deposition of top-level executives, even when they are not involved in any capacity.

Status: Passed the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee; this bill made the Senate Rules calendar but was not voted on by the Senate.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

Transportation 

HB 307 by Representative Alan Powell (R-Hartwell): deals with the regulation of electric vehicle charging broadly. It creates a framework which aims to allow for “competitively neutral policies” between electric suppliers (such as Georgia Power or EMCs) and non-providers to promote private sector investment. The proposal would require electric suppliers to create a separate subsidiary for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and provide the same rates, terms, and conditions of service for non-providers as the subsidiary receives. It would also prohibit electric providers from recovering costs for implementation and execution of EV charging from its ratepayers. The bill also allows for charging by the kilowatt hour (there are discrepancies as to whether kilowatt hour charging is allowed under current law) and endows the Public Service Commission with the authority to provide oversight of the industry and entities engaging in charging infrastructure.

Status: Assigned to the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee. Did not make the Crossover Deadline

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 617 by Representative Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper): is a freight & logistics planning bill, which would create a state-wide freight and logistics implementation plan which would be overseen by the planning director within the Planning Division of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Status: Passed out of the House Transportation Committee; did not make the Crossover Deadline.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 165 by Senator Russ Goodman (R-Cogdell): is the Senate version of HB 189, the truck weights bill, which would codify a 12.5% variance on top of the current legal limit for heavy duty trucks at 80,000 pounds. This bill has not been amended to be limited to trucks used for agricultural products only.

Status: Did not pass the Senate Transportation Committee—this legislation is dead for the session

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 167 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): is an EV bill and the Senate companion to Rep. Alan Powell’s HB 307 mentioned above.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee; however, it failed to meet the Crossover deadline. 

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Local Government 

HB 146 by Representative Derek McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain): proposes to expand the definition of  “municipality” as it relates to water and sewer projects and costs tax (MOST) to include any municipality with a corporate boundary that extends into three or more counties.

Status: This bill received a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee, but has not yet been considered for a vote. No longer eligible for consideration this session.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 461 by Representative Brad Thomas (R-Woodstock): would clarify that the proceeds of regulatory fees charges by local governments be used only to fund the regulatory activity the fee is imposed for and prohibit local governments from utilizing these fees as a profit generator or to be utilized for general expenses.

Status: Assigned to the House Ways & Means Committee. Did not receive a hearing; dead for the session.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 516 by Representative Derek McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain): is the annual GDOT housekeeping bill. Currently, GDOT is prohibited from negotiating any contract for the construction or maintenance of a public road involving the expenditure of $200,000 or more. The bill proposes to increase that limit to $500,000. The bill also revises various provisions of the public-private-partnerships including eliminating duplicative public comment processes.

Status: Passed out of the House Transportation Committee. Failed to make the Crossover Deadline.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 517 by Representative Dale Washburn (R-Macon): proposes to prevent local governments from regulating various building design elements, such as the style of porches and the number of bedrooms in a housing unit. Proponents of this legislation say this would reduce the cost of regulation and therefore reduce the cost of building new homes. Opponents of the bill state this is an overreach on local control.

Status: Assigned to the House Government Affairs Committee; has not yet passed the committee. Did not make the Crossover Deadline.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 113 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): is a proposal to allow for the transition of existing services in a municipality to another newly incorporated municipality and to allow a new city to purchase existing water or sewer systems from the existing city. This bill is complimentary to the City of Buckhead City proposal below. 

Status: Passed the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee. Made it to the Senate Rules calendar, but the Senate “tabled” the bill (which means the vote was postponed and can be called off the table to be voted on by the Senate again, but it likely will not since the Buckhead City proposal failed).

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 114 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): proposes to create the city of Buckhead City out of portions of Atlanta. If passed, the city would only be incorporated following a successful referendum.

Status: Passed the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee. Failed on the floor of the Senate by a vote of 23-33 (needs 29 to pass). 

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 156 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): would revise county special purpose local option sales taxes (SPLOST), for consolidated governments only, to allow the proceeds of the SPLOST to be utilized to establish a maintenance reserve fund for newly approved projects. However, a limit of 5% of the annual proceeds of the SPLOST may be deposited into the reserve fund.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Finance Committee; failed to make it out of committee in time. Dead for the session.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SB 161 by Senator John Kennedy (R-Macon): creates cyber security requirements and an external data privacy program for contractors doing work with local governments. The external data privacy program would include quarterly scans for each of its employees’ personally identifiable information, an annual privacy risk assessment, annual privacy training, among other provisions. We are currently reviewing this legislation.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Science & Technology Committee; did not make it out of committee in time. Is dead for the session.

ACEC Georgia is reviewing this legislation

SB 171 by Senator Max Burns (R-Sylvania): would provide lien rights for contactors who preform work for a development authority if the development authority does not pay for that work. Currently, there are no remedies for situations where development authorities do not pay their contactors, this bill aims to give contractors a remedy for unpaid payments.

Status: Passed the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee. This bill made the Senate Rules calendar for Crossover, but was never voted on by the Senate.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation