Last week, legislators met for Legislative Days 21 through 23. Despite the shortened week, lawmakers worked furiously to hear legislation in their respective committees before next week’s Crossover deadline on Legislative Day 28—this is the deadline for legislation to pass out of its original chamber, and only four legislative days remain for legislation to receive favorable consideration by the chamber where it was introduced.

On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Committee met to discuss two legal reform proposals: SB 196, by Senator Ben Watson, the seat-belt non-use admissibility bill, and SB 191 by Senator Shawn Still, which would prohibit a plaintiff from suing both a motor carrier and their insurance company at the same time. SB 196 would have allowed defendants to submit evidence of seat belt non-use by plaintiffs in cases involving motor vehicle crashes in order to enable juries to appropriately apportion fault and damages based on the actual harm the defendant may have caused. Unfortunately, this bill failed by a vote of 7 to 5 and will likely not be considered for further action. Insurance Commissioner John King testified in support of SB 191, citing small businesses which have left the state due to high insurance premiums resulting from this practice of suing both motor carriers and insurance companies at the same time. This bill passed by a vote of 7 to 5.

Also on Wednesday, the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee met to discuss HB 406 by Representative Rick Jasperse, which combines a few of the recommendations from this past summer’s Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation. Section one of the bill allows convenience stores to sell electricity for charging and for the sale of electricity by the kilowatt hour—this provision is important, as there is discrepancy amongst experts as to whether or not the current law allows for the kilowatt hour sales. Section two of the bill would give the Department of Agriculture oversight and management powers over car charging stations, similar to the way the Department oversees gas pumps currently. Section three allows the state to subject the electricity used for charging motor vehicles, as well as hydrogen or natural gas, to the existing state motor fuel sales tax. This bill received a do pass recommendation by the committee.

On Thursday, the full Senate voted on HB 18, the amended fiscal year 2023 budget which currently contains a $300,000 budget line item for the PELS Board to be spent during the final three months of the current fiscal year ending on June 30^th. The amended budget passed the Senate by a vote of 54 to 1. Since this legislation was modified by the Senate, the House will need to agree to the changes made by the Senate before it can be sent to the Governor for his signature.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Senate Economic Development Committee met to discuss SB 171, which would revise various provisions dealing with development authorities in the state. Of specific interest to ACEC Georgia, section three would allow contractors to have lien rights if a development authority did not pay a contractor for their work. A representative from the development authorities’ association stated they did not have major opposition to this provision. This meeting was a hearing only; however, the committee seemed favorable towards the bill. This bill will be heard again at 8:00am on Tuesday morning.

The week ahead:

Legislators will meet for legislative days 24 through 27. Next Monday is Crossover—we expect some late nights this week!

TOMORROW (February 28^th): ACEC Georgia will host our Engineers at the Capitol Day from 8:00-10:00am! Join us for a meet-and-greet breakfast with legislators and the 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, which modifies the state’s spending plan for the last 90 days of the current fiscal year ending on June 30th. 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. Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on February 21st. Passed the Senate 54-1. The House must agree to the Senate changes before the Governor can sign the bill into law.

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.   

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 Judiciary Committee

ACEC Georgia opposes this legislation as it creates a new cause of action against employers

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; the committee met to discuss this bill, but it was hearing only

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 an expedited license by endorsement. We have concerns about this bill as it does not require that the out-of-state license requirements be substantially similar to the applicable Georgia requirements.

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, 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.

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. 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 proposes to add a 12.5% variance on top of the 80,000-pound truck weight limit. This bill was modified to create this variance exemption for trucks carrying agricultural products only. This bill received a five and a half hour initial hearing, which included testimony by GDOT Commissioner McMurry against codifying this variance due to serious concerns about the resulting damage to bridges and roads throughout the state. GDOT remains opposed to this bill.  

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 this variance exemption for trucks carrying agricultural products only, and received a do pass recommendation from the committee by a vote of 12-7.

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 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; 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; currently eligible for consideration by the Rules 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; 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: 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. This bill has not been amended to be limited to trucks used for agricultural products only.

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): 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 and is currently eligible for consideration by the Rules 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: This bill received a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee, but has not yet been considered for a vote.

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. 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. 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

HB 514 by Representative Dale Washburn (R-Macon): places a shot clock of 180 or fewer days on moratoriums on new housing construction by local governments to eliminate the ability for local governments to conduct indefinite moratoriums.

Status: Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 516 by Representative Derek McCollum (R-): 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. Now eligible for the Rules committee.

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

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 has received 2 hearings; however, no vote has been taken yet.  

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 and is now eligible for Senate Rules.

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 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: Assigned to the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee. This committee held a hearing on Thursday, February 23rd to discuss the bill. Chairman Beach stated he would hear it again on Tuesday morning at 8:30am and allow a motion for a vote during this hearing.

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