Georgia lawmakers met last week for legislative days 17 through 20 and are now officially halfway through the 2023 legislative session. Only 8 legislative days remain before Crossover Day (the deadline for legislation to pass the chamber where it was introduced in order to be eligible for consideration in by the other chamber) and legislators and lobbyists alike are beginning to feel the stress of the deadline and are working at a furious pace. Issues like sports betting legalization, housing, and healthcare reform are beginning to take form and will likely lead to some lively debates.

Last Monday, PELS Board member Russ Pennington spoke on behalf of the Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor Licensing Board to the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations about the Board’s full fiscal year 2024 budget proposal. He presented the $2.5 million request to the committee, which is roughly $1.4 million more than what recommended for the PELS Board for FY 2024. This request is derived from various comparable licensing Boards, such as the Georgia Real Estate Commission, for which the PELS Board’s administrative structure under HB 476 was based on, as well as North Carolina’s engineer and land surveyor licensing board, which has a similar number of licensees and a similar state population. The request takes into account backlogged complaints and enforcement issues and much needed software updates to modernize and expedite the licensing process. The committee asked Russ various questions about licensing fees and the issues the Board currently faces under its current arrangement in the Secretary of State’s Office. The full FY 2024 budget proposal will be considered by the full House in the coming weeks.

Last week, we reported that the House Transportation Committee met for a five-and-a-half-hour debate on HB 189 by Representative Steven Meeks which proposes to create a 12.5% variance on the codified weight limit for heavy duty trucks, which is currently 80,000 pounds, ultimately legally allowing up to 90,000 pounds on state and local roads. While the House Transportation Committee ultimately gave the bill favorable consideration, by a vote of 18 to 11, the House Rules Committee (the committee charged with setting the debate calendar for the floor) recommitted the bill to the House Transportation Committee on Thursday morning. This bill will likely undergo some revisions and receive an additional hearing in the House Transportation Committee. SB 165 by Senator Russ Goodman, the Senate version of the truck weights bill, was introduced last week and is identical to the current version of HB 189. It has been assigned to the Senate Transportation committee but has not received a hearing yet.

Amongst the hundreds of bills introduced last week, several important tort reform proposals are now being considered by the Senate. These include premises liability protections and seat belt usage admissibility, among other important initiatives. A number of court cases over the past several years have put business owners on edge as crimes committed on (or even off) their property have resulted in millions of dollars in damages for some property owners. SB 186 by Senator Greg Dolezal seeks to limit the cause of action available for individuals who are injured on a landowner’s property by an unrelated 3^rd party. For more on this bill click the link below to view our summary of this bill under “Business & Industry”. Further, while Georgia law currently requires individuals to wear seatbelts in moving vehicles, evidence of non-use is not admissible in court cases involving crashes. SB 196 by Senator Ben Watson would allow defendants to submit evidence of seat belt non-use by plaintiffs in cases involving motor vehicle crashes, so that a jury can consider this evidence when determining damages.

In budget news, Senate appropriators met this morning at 8am to discuss the amended FY 2023 budget (the budget where the PELS Board requested $500,000). We expect this budget to be considered on the Senate floor sometime this week.

The week ahead:

Legislators will meet for legislative days 21 through 23. We expect a wild ride!

Next week ACEC Georgia will host our Engineers at the Capitol Day on February 28th from 8:00-10:00am! Join us for a meet-and-greet breakfast with legislators and Mayors of the Capitol Lobbying Corps. We’ll have delicious chicken biscuits and following breakfast, there will be an optional tour of the Capitol. This is a great opportunity to meet your elected Representative and Senator, as well as other legislators from across the state! Please contact Christy or Chandler for more.

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA IS FOLLOWING 

Budget & Appropriations 

HB 18 by Representative Jon Burns (R-Newington): is the amended FY 2023 budget. It currently has $300,000 of the $500,000 requested by the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (PELS) Board.

Status: Passed the House Appropriations Committee on February 1st. Passed the House by a vote of 170-1 on February 2nd. Assigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where subcommittees have begun hearing testimony from agency heads and other stakeholders. The Senate Appropriations Committee met this morning (Tuesday, Feb 21) to discuss the amended budget.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 19 by Representative Jon Burns (R-Newington): is the full FY 2024 budget. It currently has $1,027,895 of the $2.5 million requested by the PELS Board for the fiscal year beginning July 1. House subcommittees have begun reviewing requests.

Status: Assigned to the House 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 other certifying institutions. The bill would also remove this responsibility from GDOT and places it under the Department of Administrative Services for review.   

Status: Passed the House State Planning & Community Affairs Committee. Currently being considered in the House Rules Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

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: Assigned to the House Ways & Means Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 377 by Representative Bethany Ballard (R-Warner Robins): would revise the shot clock for the issuance of expedited licensure by endorsement for the spouses of active or transitioning members of military from 90 days to 30 days.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring 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 favorably on the Senate floor, by a vote of 49 to 1. This bill has been assigned to House Governmental Affairs.

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, and creates a “preclearance” process for predetermining 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: Assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee

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: Assigned to the Senate Insurance & Labor Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 195 by Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry): 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. 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 a license by endorsement.

Status: Assigned to Veterans, Military, & Homeland Security

ACEC Georgia is reviewing 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, that evidence 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.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee

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: Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee

ACEC Georgia supports 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 HB 1438 from last year, and as Rep. Thomas put it, this bill “Sine Died” on the last day of session last year. This was 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. This bill is currently being considered in the Senate Rules Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 189 by Representative Steven Meeks (R-Screven): this bill proposes to add a 12.5% variance on top of the 80,000-pound truck weight limit. This bill received a five and a half hour hearing on Thursday afternoon, including testimony by GDOT Commissioner McMurray against codifying this variance due to serious concerns about the resulting damage to bridges and roads throughout the state.

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.

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. Awaiting committee assignment on the Senate side.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

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

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 is observed; and allowing the existing motor fuel excise tax to be levied on electricity used to charge vehicles (by creating a kilowatt “gallonage equivalent”), among other items. SB 146 by Senator Steve Gooch is the Senate companion bill.

Status: Assigned to the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation 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

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 is observed; and allowing the existing motor fuel excise tax to be levied on electricity used to charge vehicles (by creating a kilowatt “gallonage equivalent”), among other items. This is the Senate companion to HB 406 (above)

Status: Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring 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.  

Status: Assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee

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

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 improvements through commercial property-assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing options.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee. Now in the House Rules Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 306 by Representative Tim Fleming (R-Covington): would allow 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.

Status: Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee

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: Assigned to the House Ways & Means Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

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. It is now awaiting committee assignment on the Senate side.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 220 by Representative Rob Leverett (R-Elberton): would allow owners’ associations to pursue injunctive relief, without the need to first pursue or utilize other available or alternative remedies.

Status: Passed the House Judiciary Committee. Now being considered in the Rules 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: Assigned to the House Ways & Means 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: Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee

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: Awaiting House Committee assignment

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: Assigned to the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee

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: Assigned to the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee. This bill received a hearing on Thursday Feb 16^th, but no vote was taken. This bill will likely receive another hearing.

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: Assigned to the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee

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. The Committee hosted a hearing on the bill this past week, but took no action on it.

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

ACEC Georgia is reviewing this legislation

SB 171 by Senator Max Burns (R-Sylvania): would provide lien rights for contactors who work with a development authority if the development authority does not pay for the work conducted. 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.

Assigned to the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SR 147 by Senator Derek Mallow (D-Savannah): is the bipartisan proposal for a Senate Local Options 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