Overview of Proposed Constitutional Amendments – 2018 General Election Provided by Georgia House Republican Caucus
Amendment 1: Creates the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund to protect water quality, wildlife habitat, and parks.
Question:
"Without increasing the current state sales tax rate, shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to create the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund to conserve lands that protect drinking water sources and the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams; to protect and conserve forests, fish, wildlife habitats, and state and local parks; and to provide opportunities for our children and families to play and enjoy the outdoors, by dedicating, subject to full public disclosure, up to 80 percent of the existing sales tax collected by sporting goods stores to suchpurposes without increasing the current state sales tax rate?”
Overview: The Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund (“the Trust Fund”) is establishedpursuant to House Bill 332 and House Resolution 238 – both sponsored by Rep. Sam Watson (R- 172). Subject to voter approval of Amendment 1, the state is authorized to dedicate up to 80% of the state portion of sales and use tax collected on sporting goods equipment to the Trust Fund. This dedication totals approximately $40 million. However, under the provisions of the enabling legislation, HB 332, the General Assembly provided that only 40% of the state portion of sales and use tax collected on sporting goods equipment may be dedicated to the Trust Fund at this time. Effectively, this limits the fund to approximately $20 million per year.
The Trust Fund’s resources are to be used to provide grants in support of state parks and trails, local parks and trails, the stewardship of conservation lands, and the limited acquisition of land to support clean, water, wildlife, hunting and fishing, and natural resource-based recreation across Georgia.
Amendment 2: Creates a state-wide business court to lower costs, enhance efficiency, and promote predictable judicial outcomes.
Question:
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to create a state-wide business court, authorize superior court business court divisions, and allow for the appointment process for statewide business court judges in order to lower costs, improve the efficiency of all courts, and promote predictability of judicial outcomes in certain complex business disputes for thebenefit of all citizens of this state?”
Overview: Amendment 2 was proposed pursuant to House Resolution 993 – sponsored by Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-104). A product of Governor Deal’s Court Reform Council, HR 993provides for the creation of a statewide Business Court to handle complex business litigation matters under certain circumstances, including those cases with a significant minimum dollar incontroversy threshold. For more than 10 years, as part of a “model project” authorized by the General Assembly and the Supreme Court, certain complex business litigation cases have been sent to the Atlanta Business Court (or the Gwinnett Business Court) for quicker, more efficient handling than the cases could receive in the superior or state courts of Georgia. Currently, at least 23 states have some type of business court at the city, county, or statewide level.
Amendment 3: Encourages the conservation, sustainability, and longevity of Georgia's working forests through tax subclassification and grants.
Question:
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to revise provisions related to the subclassification for tax purposes of and the prescribed methodology for establishing the value of forest land conservation use property and related assistance grants, to provide that assistance grants related to forest land conservation use property may be increased by general law for a five-year period and that up to 5 percent of assistance grants may be deducted and retained by the state revenue commissioner to provide for certain state administrative costs, and to provide for the subclassification of qualified timberland property for ad valorem purposes?”
Overview: Amendment 3 was proposed pursuant to House Resolution 51 and House Bill 85 –sponsored by Rep. Jay Powell (R-171). This legislation seeks to create a uniform valuation process for timberland for property taxation purposes by giving qualified landowners theopportunity for their land to be assessed as “Qualified Timberland Property” at fair market valueas determined by the Department of Revenue rather than 159 different county tax assessors. In addition, this amendment increases the acres eligible for conservation under the Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA). Currently, land enrolled in FLPA must be 200
contiguous
acres and landowners must sign a 15-year conservation covenant. Under the new legislation, an aggregate of 200 acres across the state may qualify (if parcels exceed 100 acres in any given county) and the covenant length is reduced to 10 years. Finally, the FLPA formula used in calculating local assistance grants to counties and school boards is adjusted; however, a five-year phase in mechanism will be established to ease the transition for counties that received unfair over- payments.
Amendment 4: Provides rights for victims of crime in the judicial process.
Question: “
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide certain rights to victims against whom a crime has allegedly been perpetrated and allow victims to assert suchrights?”
Overview: Amendment 4 was proposed pursuant to Senate Resolution 146 and Senate Bill 127 –sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-18). Both SR 146 and SB 127 – better known as Marsy’sLaw – seek to protect the rights of crime victims to receive certain information and to participate in the prosecution of the accused person. For reference, Marsy’s Law has been adopted by 36other states and seeks to compel the judicial system to consider the safety of crime victims as well as their family members. Victims and their families are afforded specific rights under Marsy’s Law, including: reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of court proceedings involving the alleged act; reasonable and timely notice upon the release or escape of the accused; inclusion in any scheduled court proceedings; and the opportunity to be heard at any scheduled proceedings involving the release, plea, or sentencing of the accused.
Amendment 5: Authorizes fair allocation of sales tax proceeds to county and city school districts.
Question:
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize a referendum for a sales and use tax for education by a county school district or an independent school district or districts within the county having a majority of the students enrolled within the county and to provide that the proceeds are distributed on a per student basis among all the school systemsunless an agreement is reached among such school systems for a different distribution?”
Overview: Amendment 5 was proposed pursuant to Senate Resolution 95 – sponsored by Senator Ellis Black (R-8) – and seeks to allow for a special education sales and use tax referendum to be called by a county school district or independent school district or districts having a majority of the students enrolled within the county. The proceeds of the tax are to be split between the districts based either upon an agreement made between the districts, the ratio of enrollment in each school district, or upon a distribution formula authorized by local law
Under current law, if a county has more than one independent school district, all districts must agree to pass a resolution calling for an E-SPLOST referendum. In certain cases, the independent school district has refused to call for an E-SPLOST unless they receive a disproportionately large share of the funding compared to their FTEs. This legislation seeks to ensure that an E-SPLOST can be called for as long as the districts serving the majority of students agree and, in the absence of an agreement among systems, that E-SPLOST funds will be distributed to districts per FTE.
Proposed Statewide Referenda:
Referendum A:
Provides for a homestead exemption for residents of certain municipal corporations.
Question:
“Do you approve a new homestead exemption in a municipal corporation that islocated in more than one county, that levies a sales tax for the purposes of a metropolitan area system of public transportation, and that has within its boundaries an independent school system, from ad valorem taxes for municipal purposes in the amount of the difference between the current year assessed value of a home and the adjusted base year value, provided that thelowest base year value will be adjusted yearly by 2.6 percent?”
Overview: Referendum A was proposed pursuant to House Bill 820 – sponsored by Rep. Beth Beskin (R-54). This referendum provides for a cap on city of Atlanta property tax increases. Under this legislation, city homeowners would not be taxed on value increases of more than 2.6% each year. If approved, homeowners could choose the lowest-value year of 2016, 2017 or 2018 as their base year. That base year would be adjusted upward for inflation.
Referendum B: Provides a tax exemption for certain homes for the mentally disabled.
Question:
“Shall the Act be approved which provides an exemption from ad valorem taxes on nonprofit homes for the mentally disabled if they include business corporations in the ownershipstructure for financing purposes?”
Overview: Referendum B was proposed pursuant to House Bill 196, which included the provisions of House Bill 195 – sponsored by Rep. Brett Harrell (R-106). This legislation and amendment expands the property tax exemption on homes for the mentally disabled to those indirectly owned by limited liability companies (LLCs) if the LLC's parent organization is a qualified 501(c)(3) organization under Internal Revenue Code.
