The Governor’s 40-day post session signing period has officially come to a close. In all, the Governor signed 350 bills and vetoed 7 others.

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Licensure Legislation 

SB 125 by Senator Larry Walker, which decoupled the experience and examination requirements for Professional Engineers and included several other provisions which cleaned up other industry licensure code, was signed by the Governor.

The Governor also signed HB 579, which aimed to streamline the state’s occupational licensing process and allow division directors to approve licenses, has passed and is on the Governor’s desk. This legislation does not affect the PELS board or other boards outside of the Secretary of State’s Office.

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Local Government Legislation 

The following bills dealing with local governments have been signed by the Governor:

• Senate Bill 12 by Senator Ginn, which clarifies that governmental entities (and not the consultants or contractors working on their behalf) are responsible for receiving and responding to all requests under Georgia’s Open Records Act.  
• Senate Bill 298 by Senator Randy Robertson, which gives cities the right to appeal adverse rulings on sovereign immunity.
• And finally, a bill THREE YEARS in the making, House Bill 137 by Representative Victor Anderson, which proposes to increase the dollar threshold for when public works contracts for local governments and most state agencies are exempt from public bidding from $100,000 to $250,000. We’re incredibly proud of our friends at AGC, Mark Woodall and Will Graddick, for their tenacious and tireless work on this initiative, even after an initial veto.

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Tort Reform

As previously mentioned, one of our top priorities as the only organization in Georgia focused solely on the business of engineering, has been tort reform. After a hard-fought fight over several years, Governor Bria Kemp signed both bills within his tort reform package and we thank him for his leadership in championing this much needed legislation and for fighting to get it passed into law. The Governor issued the following statement after signing the legislation,

“Today is a victory for the people of our state who for too long were suffering the impacts of an out-of-balance legal environment… As a result of [a] collective effort and outpouring of support from Georgians of all backgrounds, Georgia continues to move in the right direction as we work to stabilize costs and compete for economic opportunities that will create good paying jobs for hardworking Georgians across our state.”

Please see our previous Capitol Update for a summary of SB 68 & SB 69’s provisions.

Many opponents of the tort reform initiative asserted that lawsuit abuse is not the primary factor driving up insurance costs. In fact, during the initial Senate Debate on Senate Bill 68, a Democratic Senator offered an amendment that would cap insurance rate increases and tie them to the rate of inflation—the Senate rejected that amendment. Despite this, the insurance rate increase does continue to be an issue, and while the business community still believes that tort reform will help curb the unsustainable increases in rates, many believe that there is still more than can be done to try to curb costs. As such, the Speaker announced this month that he has appointed a Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on the Insurance Costs that will “conduct a thorough examination of the insurance industry’s rate-setting practices, profit margins, claims processing and regulatory compliance to ensure that Georgia’s businesses, citizens and consumers are not being subjected to unjustified rate hikes.” Representative Matt Reeves will be leading this initiative.

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Qualifications-Based Selection 

While Senate Bill 51 by Senator Ed Setzler did not pass and was not eligible for the Governor’s signature, we do want to reiterate that this is our number one legislative priority going into the second year of this biennial session, that will begin January 12, 2026.

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As always, it’s an honor and a privilege to advocate on behalf of our members. See you next year!

-- Christy & Sully

LEGISLATION ACEC GEORGIA FOLLOWED THAT WAS SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR:

Local Government 

HB 137 by Representative Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia): would increase the dollar threshold for public works contracts exempt from public bidding from $100,000 to $250,000 for local governments, most state agencies, and school boards.

Status: Passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee; Passed the House 152 to 9; Passed the Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee; Passed the Senate 45 to 5. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR 

Position: SUPPORT

SB 12 by Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville): revises the Georgia Open Records Act by redefining what is considered a public record to include only documents that are prepared, maintained, or received by a public agency and not the possession of a person or group who has contracted with a public agency.

Status: Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee; passed the Senate 49-0 on 2/21/25; Passed House Governmental Affairs; Passed the House 167-1; Senate agreed to the House Committee substitute. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: SUPPORT

SB 70 by Senator Tonya Anderson (D-Lithonia): would authorize the creation of the Conyers Community Improvement District

Status: Passed the Senate State and Local Governmental Affairs Committee; Passed the Senate 49-0; Passed the House Intragovernmental Coordination Committee; Passed the House 172 to 0. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR 

Position: Monitor

Industry & Professions

HB 579 by Representative Matt Reeves (R-Duluth): is the omnibus licensing package that aims to fix numerous issues plaguing the Secretary of State’s licensing board division.

Status: Passed the House Appropriations Committee; Passed the House 158 to 2; passed the Senate Regulated Industries committee; passed the Senate 53-0. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR 

Position: Monitor

Position: Monitor

SB 68 by Senator John Kennedy (R-Macon): this is part of the legislative tort reform package. It proposes to limit phantom damages, eliminates double recovery of attorney’s fees, allows admissibility of seat belt nonuse, and includes comprehensive premises liability.

Status: Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee; passed the Senate 33 to 21; Passed the House Rules Committee; Passed the House as amended, 91 to 82; Senate agreed. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: SUPPORT

SB 69 by Senator John Kennedy (R-Macon): this is part of the legislative tort reform package. It proposes to regulate third party litigation financing and prohibits foreign third-party litigation financing.

Status: Passed the Senate Judiciary Committee; passed the Senate 52-0; passed the House Rules Committee special subcommittee on Lawsuit Reform; passed the House 98 to 69. House agreed to the new Senate substitute 120 to 42. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: SUPPORT

SB 125 by Senator Larry Walker (R-Perry): decouples the exam and experience for professional engineers.

Status: Passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee; passed the Senate 56-0! Passed the House Regulated Industries Committee; was amended heavily to include HB 34 and HB 187. Passed both chambers. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: SUPPORT

Transportation 

HB 164 by Representative Steven Meeks (R-Screven): would remove the sunset date of July 1, 2025 on the increase of truck weight limits to 88,000 on state roads for trucks carrying agricultural and farm products.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee; passed the House 164 to 9. Passed the Senate Transportation Committee; Passed the Senate 55 to 1. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: Monitor

HB 224 by Representative Josh Bonner (R-Fayetteville): would allow GDOT to authorize the construction or maintenance of any private road on a military base or installation so long as the funds for such roads are derived from the US DOD.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee; passed the House 172 to 0. Passed the Senate Transportation Committee; Passed the Senate 51 to 0. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: Monitor

HB 575 by Representative Derrick McCollum (R-Gainesville): is the annual GDOT housekeeping bill. This legislation is primarily code clean up, however section 4 deals with right of way coordination between utilities. This would give the department the ability to move major utilities sooner, where it’s feasible, before a project is awarded.

Status: Passed the House Transportation Committee; passed the House 165 to 1; Passed to the Senate Transportation Committee; Passed the Senate 50 to 0. House agreed to the Senate substitute. SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Position: Monitor