The Georgia General Assembly took aim at property taxes, data centers, and district attorneys as they barreled toward a key deadline for passing legislation.
Friday was “Crossover Day” — the deadline for bills to pass either the Senate or House of Representatives to remain alive, and legislators worked late into the night, taking action on some of their top priorities.
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
The House of Representatives passed a revised property tax relief bill that would cap the growth of levies for schools and local government.
House Bill 1116 would limit property tax increases to 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is higher. It also caps local sales taxes at the current maximum of 5% and allows local governments to swap one penny of sales tax to offset property taxes.
Among other things, the bill also requires written notice of tax increases to be mailed to every parcel owner.
Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, said the legislation is needed to address skyrocketing property taxes. He said local property tax revenue in Georgia rose 49% from 2019-24.
“I doubt we would be talking about this if property taxes weren’t on an unsustainable path,” Blackmon said.
Critics said they had no time to digest the last-minute version of the bill presented late Friday night.
“This is a bad bill because we don’t know what’s in here and we don’t understand the implications of this legislation,” said Minority Caucus Whip Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville.
HB 1116 passed by a vote of 98 to 68.
The Georgia Senate approved Senate Bill 410, which repeals a sales tax exemption for data centers and their equipment going forward. But it honors current exemptions through 2028 and 2031.
Eliminating the tax break has become a bipartisan priority. But SB 410 did not pass with widespread support.
Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, argued the bill will ensure customers won’t pay for power grid upgrades and infrastructure for data centers.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, countered that while customers will see some rate benefits, it is not clear who will pay for the electricity and associated costs of the power grid expansion if those data centers don’t get built or if tenants leave before the contract expires.
What’s more, the cost of building those power plants is typically baked into customer rates for decades, she said.
The Senate also approved the first of several bills that resulted from its investigation of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the election interference case against President Donald Trump because of an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired to oversee the case.
Senate Bill 605 establishes new grounds for disciplining or removing district attorneys or solicitors general. The new criteria include making charging decisions based on undisclosed conflicts of interest, failure to comply with the State Bar of Georgia’s code of professional conduct and failure to comply with state open records laws.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said it is not aimed at Willis. He said it provides clarity to district attorneys about the kind of behavior that could result in disciplinary action.
“This is in no way any action against her,” he said. “It applies to all district attorneys.”
The bill passed by a vote of 34 to 18, with some Democratic support. It now heads to the state House for consideration.
Though they passed numerous bills, both chambers also rejected legislation.
The House failed to pass a measure ensuring possession of gun silencers would remain legal in the state, despite changes to federal laws. The 87-76 vote failed to meet the constitutional majority required to pass House Bill 1324.
State Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, the bill’s sponsor, said it would match what’s already in federal law. Democrats opposed the measure, saying silencers make it harder to identify the location of criminals in an active shooting situation.
Meanwhile, the Senate rejected an effort to create statewide grand juries to handle election and voting crimes.
Senate Resolution 875 stemmed from the chamber’s investigation of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Supporters said the resolution — a proposed amendment to the Georgia Constitution — would give Georgians more confidence that such cases are not politically motivated.
“All we’re doing is letting the people of Georgia vote if they want to take politics out of prosecutions,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens.
Democrats weren’t buying it. Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, said the resolution assumed that the state attorney general — a partisan office — would conduct investigations in a nonpartisan manner.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
SR 875 failed to get the required two-thirds majority needed to advance. The vote was 28-21.
The Senate also rejected a measure that would scrap Georgia’s voting touchscreens in favor of a return to paper ballots.
The sweeping measure would have required switching to preprinted, hand-marked paper ballots scanned by machines. It would have also ended county- and municipality-wide in-person early voting.
The 27-21 vote on Senate Bill 568 failed to reach the required two-thirds majority.
Staff writer Kristi Swartz contributed to this report.
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