Last week, Georgia lawmakers met for Legislative Days 15 through 18, rounding out nearly half of the 40 day legislative calendar.

Our top priority for the 2024 session, expanding the use of Qualifications Based Selection at the local government level (QBS), is now HB 1228 by Representative Tyler Paul Smith (R-Bremen). The proposal would require local governments to utilize QBS for the procurement of engineers and architects (A/E). The proposal very closely resembles the “Mini-Brooks Act” that already requires utilization of QBS for state agencies in A/E procurement. The current draft also clarifies that on-demand services contracts will be allowed, so long as QBS is used for the initial selection process. We are continuing to work with our friends at GMA and ACCG to address any questions or concerns they may have.

This past week, the House voted to pass the amended fiscal year (AFY) 24 budget by a vote of 161 to 2. The House preserved a majority of the Governor’s recommendations, including the $1.5 billion investment in the state’s freight & logistics system and for local and economic development projects. The House also added $4.25 million in funding to continue to upgrade state-owned shortline railroads to Class II railroads. The Senate has already begun hosting hearings on the AFY 24 budget, which may suggest that the Senate intends to pass the budget quickly. While the standard AFY amends the final 90 days of the fiscal year, it’s possible for those funds to become available much sooner if the budget is signed before the beginning of the state’s final fiscal quarter. Those new funds may then become immediately available upon the Governor’s signature, which would allow state organizations like GDOT to begin quickly utilizing those potential new appropriations.

On Thursday, the House Ways & Means Committee passed HB 946 by Representative Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville) which is aimed at increasing TSPLOST availability. This proposal revises the current TSPLOST law to allow a county and a city (or cities) within in that collectively make up 50% of the total county population to sign an inter-government agreement which would allow the proposed TSPLOST to be levied at 1%, pending voter approval. It incentivizes all cities within the county to sign the agreement, by allowing the tax to be levied up to six years if the county and cities all agree, rather than five if they don’t. This bill is currently in the House Rules Committee. Both the county and city associations support this legislation.

In tort reform news, SB 426 by Senator Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) which addresses direct action in trucking accident cases, successfully passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill proposes limiting the number of ways in which an insurer can be brought into a case involving a trucking accident (aka direct action). The proposal would ban direct action except (1) when a trucking company enters/or is currently in bankruptcy or (2) when company officials are inaccessible after multiple attempts to serve them with the lawsuit. The Georgia Chamber, the Department of Insurance, and Georgians for Lawsuit Reform all testified in support of the legislation. This bill is currently pending in the Senate Rules Committee.

The proposed new city of Mulberry in northern Gwinnett County (SB 333 Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett)) received final passage in the House by a vote of 101-63. The proposed municipality would have a total population of approximately 35,000 individuals. The bill is now eligible for the Governor’s signature. If signed, the voters in the proposed city’s area would still need to vote to approve the proposal in a referendum.

The week ahead: the legislature will meet for Legislative Days 19 through 22 this week and our Engineers Day at the Capitol is Tuesday!

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA IS FOLLOWING:

Industry & Professions 

HB 880 by Representative Bethany Ballard (R-Warner Robins): proposes to allow military spouses with an existing occupational 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 professional licenses which exist to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee; assigned to the Regulatory subcommittee of House Regulated Industries; this bill received a hearing but some concerns were raised about the ability to bypass the licensing board, so no vote was held.

ACEC Georgia opposes this legislation.

HB 982 by Representative Matt Gambill (R-Cartersville): would require the State Workforce Development Board to develop, approve, and annually publish a high-demand career list identifying careers that are experiencing the most critical workforce shortages.

Status: Assigned to the House Higher Education Committee; passed the House Higher Education Committee; this bill is currently in Rules.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation.

HB 1142 by Representative Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta): would remove the residency requirement for issuance of licenses by endorsement. Last year, the legislature passed a law that clarifies how licensing boards are to approve license applications for individuals who possess licenses from other states. Current law requires those individuals to establish residency in the state in order to utilize this simplified process. This proposal would remove the residency requirement so any individual, including those in border states, can utilize this process.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

HB 1144 by Representative Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta): proposes to change the law passed last year for applications for licensure by individuals who hold out of state licenses. Current law states that “the training, experience, and testing [must be] substantially similar in qualifications and scope to the requirements under this state to obtain a license” in order to be approved for licensure. This proposal would change that standard to a similar “scope of practice” with no prescription or definition on how to establish the standard for similar “scope of practice”.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

HB 1190 by Representative J Collins (R-Villa Rica): would allow the division director of the Professional Licensing Board Division (PLBD) of the Secretary of State’s office to issue a license to an individual who has applied for licensure who has not received a response within 60 days from the board in which they applied. We don’t believe this legislation directly affects engineers or land surveyors, as the PELS Board is not under the PLBD’s jurisdiction, but we are monitoring.

Status: Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

HB 1199 by Representative Clary Pirkle (R-Ashburn): proposes to streamline and simplify the process for which the state auditor reports statistics on architectural and engineering firms. The legislation would change the frequency in which reports are required (from monthly to annually) and states that the report shall include the percentage of the total work done by each such firm for any state entity.

Status: Assigned to the Government Affairs Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring 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 374 by Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry): this bill comes at the request of the Surveying and Mapping Society of Georgia (SAMSOG). The bill proposes to revise education requirements for land surveyors by reducing the number of years of experience needed by 1 year, and would allow decoupling of the exam and experience so that new surveyors in training can take their professional examination after completing the required education requirements rather than after completing their experience after several years of being out of school.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 426 by Senator Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia): aims to address “direct action”. The bill proposes limiting the number of ways in which an insurer can brought into a case involving a trucking accident. Currently, the state of Georgia allows a plaintiff to sue both a trucking company and their insurer, which has increased insurance premiums on businesses and consumers alike. This proposal aims to curb some of that lawsuit abuse.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

Transportation 

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; passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. Sent back to the Senate RU&I committee; this bill may be reconsidered this session, likely after Crossover.

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 on 2/1/2024. Currently in the Rules Committee.  

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

HB 946 by Representative Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville): aims to increase TSPLOST availability. This proposal revises the current TSPLOST law to allow a a county and the city(ies) within that county that make up 50% of the total county population to sign an intergovernmental agreement which would allow the proposed TSPLOST to be levied at 1%. Currently, if all of the cities within a county do not agree, the maximum amount that can be charged in a TSPLOST is 0.75 percent. Any cities that do not sign the agreement would be considered absent municipalities and will receive a share of the collected tax based on their proportionate share of the total municipal population within that county. Further, if all cities within the county sign the agreement, the tax may be levied up to six years, rather than five.

Status: Assigned to the Ways & Means sales tax subcommittee; received its first hearing this past week

ACEC Georgia supports this bill

SB 383 by Senator Shelly Echols (R-Gainesville): is a companion (identical) bill to HB 946 above.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Finance Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this bill

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, which held a hearing on the bill on March 16th but no vote was taken. This legislation may be reconsidered this session

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. This bill may be reconsidered 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. This bill received a second hearing in the income tax subcommittee of Ways & Means this past week. This bill passed out of the full W&M committee on 2/1. Currently in the Rules 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 by local governments to eliminate the ability for local governments to conduct indefinite moratoriums, previously the bill only dealt with single family home construction, this bill was amended in the Senate Economic Development Committee to include multi-family homes. 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. Passed the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee with the multi-family home construction moratorium. Passed the Senate 42-12 with an amendment on waiving impact fees for workforce housing projects (SB 136). This bill is currently in a conference committee, which will come out with a report that will likely be passed by both chambers.

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 last year. This bill was voted out of the House Transportation Committee on 2/1. SB 353 by Senator Dolezal contains provisions found in this bill. SB 353 will likely be the new GDOT housekeeping bill of 2024.

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. This bill may be reconsidered this session.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

HB 1044 by Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia): current state law requires all local governments to utilize a competitive selection process for any public works project estimated to be $100,000 or more. This proposal would raise the threshold for local governments and state agencies from $100,000 to $250,000. Last year, the Governor vetoed the bill because he wanted it to include state agencies. The new proposal addresses that concern; however GDOT has requested to be removed from the bill.

Status: Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee; passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee 1/31/2024

ACEC Georgia supports this bill

HB 869 by House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration (R-Auburn): proposes to create the City of Mulberry. The city would be compromised of part of unincorporated Gwinnett County and would have a total population of 35,000. Proponents of the city state that there would not be property taxes, and that the proposal is about local control and comes as a response to crowded schools, traffic congestion, and apartment density. This bill would allow all individuals affected to vote to approve the city. SB 333 is the companion bill in the Senate.

Status: Assigned to the House Government Affairs Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this bill

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. Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee—Dugan has resigned, but another Senator is rumored to be interested in picking this legislation up.

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. This bill may be reconsidered this 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. This bill may be reconsidered this 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, but sent back after it was never considered on the floor. This bill may be reconsidered this session.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 333 Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett): proposes to create the City of Mulberry. The city would be compromised of part of unincorporated Gwinnett County and would have a total population of 35,000. Proponents of the city state that there would not be property taxes, and that the proposal is about local control and comes as a response to crowded schools, traffic congestion, and apartment density. This bill would allow all individuals affected to vote to approve the city. SB 333 is the companion bill in the Senate.

Status: Assigned to the House Government Affairs Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this bill

SB 353 by Senator Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming): is a combination of the last 3 years of GDOT annual housekeeping bills. The provisions include: updating GDOT board voting procedures (allowing for email notifications); a clean up of terms to all RFPs to allow for RFPVs, which would be a RFP with versions; a clean up of terms for alternative contracting methods; conforms the length of modular housing units that can move on roadways with federal standards; allows a coroner to designate an individual in absentia to officially establish a death on Georgia’s roadways; and clarifies that open records or data cannot be used to determine personally identifiable information of individuals moving along Georgia’s roadways.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee. The committee passed the bill unanimously. This bill passed the Senate on Jan 29. This bill has passed the House Transportation Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 413 by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula): proposes to limit the number of times a local government may place a SPLOST or other type of local option sales tax referendum on the ballot to only election days of even numbered years. SPLOSTs are an important funding mechanism for many local governments and we don’t believe that limiting the number of times a local government may leverage that is good policy.

Status: Assigned to the Senate Ethics Committee

ACEC Georgia is reviewing this legislation

SB 435 by Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville): is the “Infrastructure and Community Development Act”. This 54-page bill would create a special purpose unit of local government that serves to finance, construct, acquire, operate, and maintain public infrastructure. This would require approval from the local government in which the proposed development is located. The development board would be Governed by a five-member elected board. This is similar to CIDs but the primary difference is these community districts would be privately maintained. This is the enabling legislation. A constitutional amendment would be required to make this bill a reality.

Status: Assigned to the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

SR 533 by Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville): is the constitutional amendment that must accompany the “Infrastructure and Community Development Act” (SB 435) in order for the proposal legislation to become official law. 

Status: Assigned to the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation