2024 Capitol Update - Week 1

By Christy Tarallo

1/16/2024

January 16, 2024

This past Monday, the General Assembly gaveled in for the second year of the 2023-2024 biennial session. The usual first week fanfare ensued, including the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Eggs & Issues event and the Governor’s State of the State Address.

As always, the biggest news in the first week of a legislative session is the budget. Last week the Governor released his budget proposal for the amended fiscal year 2024 (the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30) and the “big budget” for fiscal year 2025 (which begins on July 1) and it included allocating nearly $2 billion of the current fiscal year’s surplus to major new investments in Georgia’s infrastructure, including transportation, water & sewer and vertical capital construction.

The Governor’s budget proposes an additional $1.5 billion to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to help fund priority transportation projects relating to major economic development sites and freight & logistics. This includes $200 million for Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants (LMIG), $667 million for capital construction, and $641 million for GDOT’s new freight investment program. These amounts would be on top of GDOT’s regular annual budget as well as the Governor’s recommendation to backfill all of the lost revenue resulting from last year’s gas tax suspension. If passed, it will be the largest single year increase in transportation funding in Georgia history and we thank Governor Kemp for his leadership and this momentous down payment on our future infrastructure needs.

GDOT’s Planning Division has indicated that our freight, logistics and supply chain infrastructure will need more than $80 billion over the next 25 years on top of existing projected revenue, and ACEC Georgia will continue to work with the Governor, legislative leadership alongside the other members of the Georgia Transportation Alliance coalition to secure this investment and work toward creating long term, sustainable and dedicated investments in the coming years.

The Governor’s budget also includes $1.8 billion for capital construction and maintenance for Georgia’s University System, Technical College System, and a new prison for the Department of Corrections. Additionally, the Governor is recommending $250 million to the Georgia Environmental Finance Commission for local water & sewer projects.

The Governor’s budget also includes a $300,000 increase in the annual budget for the Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors Board. The FY 25 proposal would allocate $1.3 million to the PELS Board and we will be working with the PELS Board and appropriators throughout the session to preserve that funding level.

Additionally, with respect to the massive surpluses the state has received over the last 3 years, the Governor has committed to partner with the legislature to hasten the pace of the plan to reduce the income tax to 4.99% by 2029 — an initiative that began a few years ago — by proposing a decrease this year from 5.49% to 5.39%. If this proposal is approved, then the reduction will be retroactive and have an effective date of January 1, 2024.

One of ACEC Georgia’s legislative priorities is tort reform, and at the Eggs & Issues Breakfast, the Governor stated that he will be partnering with the General Assembly to perfect legislation that addresses “direct action” against insurance companies. Direct action allows plaintiffs to directly sue a motor vehicle carrier and their insurance agency. This ultimately leads to large settlements and payouts that increases the overall exposure on insurance companies, which in turn raises rates on all insurance customers. While the Governor’s previously strong support for comprehensive tort reform seems to have waned a bit in the last few weeks, he has stated that direct action and lowering the insurance burdens on all Georgians is a priority, and that he believes passage of a larger tort reform package should be a multi-year process.

Despite this, our partners at the Chamber and the larger Georgia business community continue to stand united in support of tort reform efforts in all areas, including the admissibility of seat belt non-use (which would allow a defendant to enter evidence of a plaintiff’s non-use of a seat belt in an accident in court) and premises liability (which would clarify a landowner’s responsibility for actions that happened on their property without their knowledge).

In addition to tort reform, our legislative priorities this year include a Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) proposal, which would expand Georgia’s existing law requiring state agencies to use QBS to require local governments to utilize QBS to procure professional services. It’s important to note that this legislation does nothing to mandate when competitive selection of design professionals occurs, but only changes how they are selected if competitive is otherwise required. Competitive selection of any goods or services is regulated by state law, (OCGA 91-36-22 sets a dollar threshold amount; current law requires any contract over $100,000 to be competitively selected), and by local county and city rules and regulations, which would not be affected by our proposed legislation. QBS reduces costs for both clients and responders, simplifies the procurement process, and results in higher quality design documents with fewer change orders over time.

Our proposal copies the current law applicable to state agencies and applies it to local governments. There are two differences between current state law and our proposal: 1) a local government may continue to utilize a firm with which they have an existing professional relationship, so long as the firm is qualified; and 2) our proposal allows negotiations to continue even with only one responder, as smaller local governments often struggle to even receive one response to their solicitations (state agencies are required to short-list at least 3 responders).

In Calendar news, similar to last year—but unlike any other session before that—the legislature adopted an Adjournment Resolution (this is a resolution that must be adopted by both chambers that sets the 40-day legislative schedule) that set the calendar for the entire session. The legislature is commemorating the once-every-four-years leap year day, Feb 29^th, as the all-important “Crossover” deadline, which is the deadline for legislation to pass its chamber of origin in order to be considered by the other chamber. Sine Die (the last day of session) is scheduled for March 28^th, just in time for Easter break (and the Masters for those who celebrate). The full adjournment resolution can be found here.

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA IS FOLLOWING:

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: Currently in the House Judiciary Committee after failing to receive consideration on the House floor.

ACEC Georgia is reviewing this legislation

HB 880 by Representative Bethany Ballard (R-Warner Robins): proposes to allow military spouses with an existing license in good standing from another state to bypass licensure board approval in order utilize their out-of-state license to work in Georgia. Numerous successful proposals have worked to create a more friendly licensure environment in Georgia for military spouses, including a 90 day shot-clock for board action after receiving a comity license application, and expedited licensure by endorsement, which simplifies the process of comity applications and requires these applications to be considered before any others may. We are opposed to any legislation that bypasses the licensure board and undermines the board’s authority to approve licenses, particularly for those licenses which exist to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee

ACEC Georgia opposes 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 in 2023. Currently in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports 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; sent back to the Insurance & Labor Committee. This bill may be reconsidered this session.

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; sent back to the RI&U Committee. This bill may be reconsidered this session.

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.