Council for Quality Growth Members,
The Georgia General Assembly had an unprecedented week at the State Capitol. Yesterday, the Georgia General Assembly completed Legislative Day 28, which was "Crossover Day", which is the last day bills must pass its chamber of origin to be considered for final passage during the 2020 session. Bills that did not pass out of its chamber of origin are no longer active pieces of legislation for the remainder of the session. The Senate adjourned at around 6:30 pm yesterday. The House worked a traditional "Crossover Day" work scheduled and adjourned a little after midnight.
Due to the heightened awareness of health concerns in Georgia, Lt. Governor Duncan and Speaker Ralston announced that the Georgia General Assembly would suspend the 2020 legislative session indefinitely after today. This morning, the Georgia General Assembly was in session for Legislative Day 29 to gavel in and introduce 1st readers of House & Senate bills. Both chambers were adjourned before noon. After today, the legislative session will be suspended and resume at a future date for Legislative Day 30. To read the announcement, click
here
.
Early yesterday, the House and Senate chambers adopted the Amended FY 2020 budget, which included 100 million dollars in funding towards coronavirus-related needs. The Georgia General Assembly has a constitutional obligation to pass a balanced FY 2021 budget. The House passed its version of the FY 2021 budget on Tuesday. The Senate still needs to vote on the state's FY 2021 spending plan. Rumors are circulating that the legislative session will be resumed to adopt the FY 2021 budget.
Senate Bill 404
and
Senate Resolution 776
(Educational Development Impact Fee bills) did not make it out of the Senate. Sponsored by Greg Dolezal (R-Cummings), SB 404 would permit a local board education to impose, levy, and collect education development impact fees within any area of its school system, which has had enrollment growth of at least 15% over the preceding five-year period. SR 776 would put a referendum on the statewide ballot asking Georgians whether local boards of education should be able to impose, levy, and collect development impact fees.
The Council for Quality Growth, along with the Home Builders Association and the Georgia Apartment Association, opposed both pieces of legislation. Yesterday morning, it became clear that SB 404 and SR 776 did not have enough votes to pass both the Educational Development Impact Fee enabling legislation and constitutional amendment. As a result, both pieces of legislation were not called on the Senate floor for a vote.
Also, HB 937 is no longer an active piece of legislation.
House Bill 937
(introduced by Representative Vance Smith) would prohibit cities and counties from regulating any building material, product, or construction practice for single-family homes if these are approved in the state minimum standard codes - unless permission from aboard at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is granted.
HB 937 did not make it out of the Rules Committee yesterday. HB 937 and other local residential design standards bills introduced last year, HB 302 and SB 172, are no longer active pieces of legislation.
The Senate passed a substitute version of
Senate Resolution 841
, by a vote of 50-1 yesterday afternoon. As we discussed previously, SR 841 would put a referendum on the statewide ballot asking whether Georgia should eliminate its constitutional doctrine of sovereign immunity, which prohibits residents from suing state courts. To receive the final passage, the House will have to agree to the substitute version of SR 841 before it heads to Governor's Kemp desk.
There have been recent Georgia Supreme Court decisions that have denied petitioners to seek declaratory relief in the Courts when rejected a zoning request by a local government. The implication is that a local government cannot be sued in a zoning case because of sovereign immunity, which, if expanded, basically prevents property owners, developers from suing any city or county in Georgia.
Georgia House approved a new fee on rides for hire and required the money be spent on mass transit. Sponsored by Representative Sam Watson,
House Bill 105 i
mposes a flat rideshare fee of $.50 per ride (for taxis, Uber & Lyft) beginning on April 1st. The fee for shared rides would be $.25. The revenue generated by the new flat fee would be used to fund transportation projects.
The Council for Quality Growth will keep our members informed on when the Georgia General Assembly will reconvene for Legislative Day 30. To see all of the bills the Council is actively monitoring, please refer to the Council's bill tracking sheet featured at the bottom of the email. To get involved with the Government Affairs Task Force, please contact Kimberly Steele via
email
or phone, 770-813-3374.
