Last Thursday, the Crossover deadline had the Georgia House working well into the evening where they eventually adjourned at 11:20pm after passing 72 bills and resolutions. The Senate had a somewhat shorter day and adjourned at 9:00pm after considering roughly 50 measures.

At our request, our qualifications-based selection legislation, HB 1228, did not move forward. We asked the Chairman of the Government Affairs committee to hold our bill, in order to give us the opportunity to continue to work with local governments to address their concerns. Our intent is to continue to work to gain additional support for passage of this legislation in next year’s legislative session. One effort we think will be very helpful in that regard is creating a QBS handbook that local governments could utilize that would include  template procurement documents and a robust information section about how to  implement QBS procurement. This will ensure that those smaller local governments that may not have robust procurement resources in place have all the tools they would need to successfully transition from cost-based to qualifications-based procurement of design professionals. We’re incredibly thankful to the Chairman of the Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, Representative Tyler Paul Smith (R-Bremen), for carrying this legislation this year and his advocacy on this effort and look forward to working with him again in the future on this measure.

In transportation news, a few notable measures were considered last week. House Bill 1358 by Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) which proposed to consolidate GRTA & The ATL and transfer all of the powers and responsibilities of those agencies to SRTA, passed the House Transportation Committee, but ultimately failed to reach the House floor for a vote. A majority of the concerns were based on the relatively short amount of time between the bill’s initial introduction and the speed at which it needed to be considered before the Crossover deadline. We don’t expect that this will be the last time we see this topic arise. It may come in the form of being attached to a “vehicle”, which is another bill that deals with a related subject that could have this proposal added to it as an amendment this year. But more than likely, this will come back next year when the advocates have had more time to discuss the nuances with concerned parties.

Additionally, House Bill 617 by Chairman Rick Jasperse, which was introduced last year, passed the House with unanimous vote! The bill proposes to create a state-wide freight and logistics implementation plan which would be overseen by the planning director within GDOT’s Planning Division. Additionally, it would also create a Georgia Freight 2050 Program to be administered by the Georgia Department of Transportation that is intended to provide a framework for future funding of freight & logistics infrastructure. Hopefully, by measure would codifying the legislature’s involvement with freight and logistics, this will create a stronger incentive for the legislature to sharpen their pencils and come up with some creative solutions to the infrasturcture investment challenges that Georgia will face over the coming decades.

Tort reform, one of the business community’s top priorities, is still alive after the Crossover deadline. Unfortunately, one of the more robust premises liability bills, Senate Bill 186 by Senator Greg Dolezal, which would limit the cause of action available for individuals injured by an unrelated third party on a landowner’s property, did not pass the Senate. However, House Bill 1371 by Whip James Burchett (R-Waycross) did pass the House with a vote of 168 to 0. It limits the cause of action for plaintiffs in cases in which an individual goes on a landowner’s property with the intent to commit a felony and restricts the foreseeability presumption if the property is in a known high crime area.

This week, lawmakers will meet for legislative days 29 through 32. It’s also “qualifying week”, where candidates and lawmakers apply to be on the ballot for their respective races. This week tends to be one of the more unpredictable weeks during the legislative session. Some legislators may opt to bow out of their race rather than run in a contested primary, while other lawmakers may announce their unexpected retirement after a long tenure. Such was the case last week when the Senate Minority Leader Gloria Bulter (D-Stone Mountain) announced her retirement after serving for 26 years. She is joined by three others in the House who have announced their retirement including Chairman Clay Pirkle (R-Ashburn) who will retire after serving for nearly a decade, Chairman J Collins (R-Villa Rica) who has served for 8 years, and Chair Penny Houston (R-Nashville) who will take with her invaluable institutional knowledge gained after 28 years of service to the state of Georgia.

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. The committee substitute still allows military spouses to bypass the board if they have not received a decision from the board within 30 days and allows the board to revoke them exemption if the board finds that the individual is not in good standing or not qualified. 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; passed the Regulatory subcommittee of House Regulated Industries; passed out of the House Regulated Industries Committee; passed the House 168 to 0. Assigned to the Senate Veterans, Military, & Homeland Security Committee.

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; passed the House 161 to 1. This bill is now in the Senate Higher Education Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports 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: Passed the House Regulated Industries Committee; passed the House 167 to 0.

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 with 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: Passed the Government Affairs Committee; passed the House 166 to 0. This bill has been assigned to the Senate Government Oversight Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation.

HB 1371 by Representative James Burchett (R-Waycross): deals with premises liability. Currently, if individuals come onto a property, regardless of whether that property is personal, commercial, or public, and they are injured by a third party that the owner is not privy to, the injured individual can sue the property owner. This legislation would clarify that if an individual comes onto a property with intent to commit a felony, or is injured on a property in a high crime area, that individual cannot sue the property owner.

Status: Passed the House Judiciary Committee.

ACEC Georgia is reviewing 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 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: Passed the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities; passed the Senate unanimously. Assigned to the House Regulated Industries Committee.

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. 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.

Status: Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee; passed the Senate 46 to 2. This bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

Transportation 

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. It would also create a Georgia Freight 2050 Program to be administered by the Georgia Department of Transportation that is intended to provide a framework for future funding of freight & logistics infrastructure.

Status: Passed out of the House Transportation Committee on 2/1/2024. Passed the House 168 to 0. This bill is currently awaiting a committee assignment in the Senate.  

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 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: Passed the Ways & Means committee; passed the House 173 to 1. 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. Passed the Senate State & Local Governmental Operations Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

Local Government 

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: Passed the House Ways & Means Committee; passed the House 163 to 0. Assigned to the Senate Finance 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 and is pending one more vote of approval in 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 in 2023. This bill was voted out of the House Transportation Committee on 2/1. SB 353 by Senator Dolezal contains provisions found in this bill. Passed the House 167 to 2. Assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee.

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: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee; passed the House 154 to 8. Assigned to the Senate Government Oversight committee.

ACEC Georgia supports this bill

HB 1407 by Representative John LaHood (R-Valdosta) deals with service delivery strategies. This proposal would require written analysis from cities and counties on the services to be provided in any given area, would establish service delivery strategy mapping standards throughout the state, and would require mandatory mediation for local governments who are unable to compromise. Those governments unable to compromise will risk losing their local government status.

Status: Passed the House Government Affairs Committee; passed the House 167 to 0. Currently awaiting committee assignment in the Senate.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring 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. 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 171 by Senator Max Burns (R-Sylvania): originally proposed to provide lien rights for contactors who preform work for a development authority if the development authority does not pay for that work. However, all mentions of lien rights have been stripped from this legislation. It currently only deals with development authority directors or members and their training requirements.

Status: Passed the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee; passed the Senate 50 to 2. Assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring 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: Passed the Senate 30 to 18. Passed the House 101 to 63. The Governor has signed this bill; a referendum will be held in November for voters in the affected area to approve the city’s charter.

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; passed the House 152 to 0 on 2/16. This bill is now subject to the Governor’s approval.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA IS FOLLOWING THAT DID NOT MAKE THE CROSSOVER DEADLINE:

Industry & Professions

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.

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 last year; passed the Senate Insurance & Labor Committee again on 2/22/2024.

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

Transportation

HB 1358 by Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) aimed at consolidating GRTA and the ATL into SRTA. Proponents of this legislation stated that given the redundancies in the 3 agencies, it simply makes good policy sense to consolidate the 3 entities. The proposal would increase the number of SRTA board members by 2, and would likely not see a huge reduction in staff. This bill failed to make the Crossover deadline, but we expect to see this proposal come up again.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee. Did not pass the House by the Crossover deadline.

ACEC Georgia is monitoring this legislation

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

Status: Passed the Senate Finance Committee

ACEC Georgia supports this legislation

SB 499 by Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville): deals with service delivery strategies. This proposal would require written analysis from cities and counties on the services to be provided in any given area, would establish service delivery strategy mapping standards throughout the state, and would require mandatory mediation for local governments who are unable to compromise. This bill is dead for the session; however, a House companion, HB 1407, by Chairman John LaHood has passed the House.

Status: Passed the State and Local Governmental Operations 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. This bill may be reconsidered this session.

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

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 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; this bill was not voted out of committee before the Senate deadline for legislation to pass committee in order to be considered on or before Crossover.

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; this bill was not voted out of committee before the Senate deadline for legislation to pass committee in order to be considered on or before Crossover.

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