2024 Legislative Session Report Week 8
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March 1, 2024 |
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In this Issue: |
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Photo Credits: Georgia Cattlemen's Association |
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Georgia Farm Bureau is celebrating a successful Crossover Day this year with each of our priority issues making their way to the opposite chamber before the clock struck midnight. Successful nights like this could not be possible without the partnerships we have with our members and other agriculture organizations who advocate for our industry alongside us. Not only was Thursday Crossover, but our friends from Georgia Cattlemen's Association their annual Steak Biscuit Day. We enjoyed getting to see friends from the cattle industry there to advocate alongside us for issues important to agriculture. The Mobile Dairy Classroom was also present to teach everyone about dairy production and give out milk.
Last night, we saw the House pass multiple bills GFB has been working on this session. HB 1274, by Rep. David Huddleston (R-Roopville), enhanced the rural veterinarian loan repayment program to incentivize more veterinarians to practice food animal medicine in rural communities. HB 1099, also carried by Rep. Huddleston, gives landowners the ability to mark their property boundaries with purple paint instead of no trespassing signs which cuts back on the cost of maintaining signage around your property. HB 1052, by Rep. Chas Cannon (R-Moultrie), modernized the qualifications for CUVA by allowing land enrolled in a covenant to be leased to a non-qualified entity (LLC, Corp, family partnership, etc.) as long as one owner of the entity would otherwise be qualified for CUVA and it maintains a bona fide conservation use. As farmers change the legal structure of their operations, improvements like this are important because they allow for farms to receive the liability protection of certain business structures while also continue to utilize programs like CUVA. HB 1172, by Whip James Burchett (R-Waycross), passed the House chamber on Monday this week. This bill has been a GFB priority this session and seeks to claw back private property rights lost by landowners adjacent to navigable streams at the end of last session.
The Senate passed two bills yesterday that are priority issues of GFB. SB 542, by Sen. Sam Watson (R-Moultrie), is a companion bill of HB 1172 - trying to recover lost property rights due to the passage of SB 115 at the end of last legislative session. This bill received unanimous support in the Senate. SB 420, by Chairman Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas), prohibits the acquisition of farmland by foreign adversaries and ensures we are not allowing hostile nations control our food production. This bill is also a priority of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper, and we have appreciated his team working with us to get this bill passed.
A more comprehensive list of legislation that "crossed over" and will remain eligible this session is included below. |
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This week, the General Assembly convened for legislative days 26-28. The week began on Monday, February 26th, and concluded on Thursday, February 29th. They will return next week on Monday, March 4th, and convene for 4 legislative days and 1 committee workday. |
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Photo Credits: House Media Services |
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On Wednesday, February 28th, the Georgia Department of Agriculture celebrated their 150th anniversary. The Department hosted a celebration in the Capitol Wednesday afternoon to highlight its importance and a look back on the history of GDA. Friends gathered from across the state to hear remarks from Governor Brain Kemp, Commissioner Tyler Harper, Speaker Jon Burns, Chairman Robert Dickey, and Chairman Russ Goodman. It was encouraging to see the support of our state's leadership for agriculture and hear stories of their connection to our industry. We are fortunate to have the oldest, and best, Department of Agriculture in the nation and look forward to our continued partnership in the next 150 years. |
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Public Input About State Deer Management Plan
Georgia farmers across the state have continually expressed challenges they face from increasing crop depredation from whitetail deer. It is important we make our voice heard to policymakers in order for them to set policy that addresses our needs and concerns. The Department of Natural Resources is currently taking public input from citizens and stakeholder groups to inform their decisions as they prepare the State Deer Management Plan for the next 6 years. It is important for farmers to participate and submit their input on this policy that will be in place for multiple years. Click below to learn more and submit input. |
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Reps. Gullett, Parsons, Thomas, Anderson, Meeks, and others This bill deals with ensuring transparency between buyers and sellers of distributed energy generation systems, including solar energy procurement, and provides access to educational information surrounding contracts and agreements for such systems. It specifically looks to address deceptive business practices seen throughout the state by certain companies selling rooftop solar systems. Passed House on 2/22/2023 and Assigned to Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities on 3/1/2023
Reps. Jackson, Hawkins, Cooper, Williams, Beverly, and others This bill would eliminate the current tax credit available for rural physicians and replace it with a new tax credit of up to $5,000 for each taxable year. The new tax credit would be available to a wider array of health care professionals including dentists, nurse practitioners, physical assistants and more. It also imposes certain restrictions such as a cap on the number of years it can be claimed (5 years) and restrictions on those who are already working in a rural area. Passed House on 3/6/2023 and Passed Senate Finance Committee 1/30/2024
Reps. Washburn, Bazemore, Reeves, Lim, Ridley, and others. This bill is known as the "Housing Regulation Transparency Act." It seeks to limit the duration of time that a local government may enact a temporary housing moratorium on properties being developed for residential purposes to 180 days. It also requires that a local government must wait another 180 days before enacting any new temporary housing moratorium once the initial 180-day moratorium is expired. The bill allows for exemptions under certain circumstances including a declared state of emergency, when safety is of concern, a court order, or while a studied is being conducted investigating future development. This bill also grants local governments the power to collect fees associated with their zoning powers and issuance of permits. This is to create an equitable program for governments to finance the development and creation of local planning, land use, and zoning ordinances for orderly growth. Assigned to Conference Committee 3/29/2023
Reps. Cheokas, Yearta, Mathiak, Ridley, Powell, and others This bill would increase a statewide ad valorem tax exemption limit for tangible personal property from $7,500 to $50,000. It also provides for a statewide referendum and a question to be placed on the ballot for the voters of Georgia to decide on making this change. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Finacne Committee 2/27/2024
Reps. Smith, Dickey, Pirkle, Leverett, Hagan, and others This bill increases the punishment for livestock theft by increasing both the penalty fines and the years of imprisonment. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Judiciary Committee 2/27/2024
Reps. Anderson, Rhodes, Burchett, Smith, Williams, and others This bill defines a multipurpose off-highway vehicle and ensures no multipurpose off-highway vehicle shall be returned for or subject to ad valorem taxation. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Transportation Committee 2/16/2024
Reps. Seabaugh, Reeves, Burhcett, Crowe, Silcox, and others This bill is known as the Georgia Squatter Reform Act. It seeks to strengthen the definition of criminal trespass to address issues with squatters. Squatters occupy an abandoned or unoccupied property without consent from the owner. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Williamson, Blackmon, Crowe, Silcox, Hilton, and others This bill decreases the corporate income tax rate. It matches the corporate income tax rate to the individual income tax rate applicable to all taxable years beginning January 1, 2024. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Blackmon, Knight, Martin, and Crowe This bill requires all parcels to be reappraised in 2025. After 2025, every parcel must be reappraised every three years. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Cannon, Dickey, Huddleston, McCollum, Meeks, and others This bill would allow a non-eligible entity to lease property in a CUVA covenant as long as the ownership includes at least one citizen of the United States and the primary purpose of the land is production agriculture. GFB policy supports this bill. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Cannon, Pirkle, Corbett, Rhodes, Williams, and others This bill authorizes the State Forestry Commission to access tax accessors reports on the assessment of standing timber. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Finance Committee 2/22/2024
Reps. Huddleston, Burchett, Cannon, Camp, Rhodes, and others This bill is known as the "Purple Paint Law." It allows landowners to mark their property boundaries with purple paint marks on trees or post in place of typical signage. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Wade, Gambill, Hong, McDonald, Jones, and others This bill is known as the Data Analysis for Tort Reform Act. It is a priority of Governor Kemp and will help his administration gather information to help prepare for future tort reform efforts. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Insurance Committee 2/26/2024
Reps. Burchett, Rhodes, Leverett, Smith, and Williams This bill comes from the Chairman of the House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Freshwater Resources. This bill is a priority of GFB this session. It fixes unintended consequences of SB 115 (2023) and removes the reference to public trust doctrine as it relates to navigable waters. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Judiciary Committee 2/27/2024
Reps. Leverett, Petrea, Prince, Jackson, and Adesanya This bill amends the Georgia Soil Amendment Act of 1976 and prohibits the application of soil amendments to a site currently subject to a consent order issued by EPD or an existing enforcement action of EPD. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Cannon, Corbett, Dickey, Meeks, Campbell, and others This bill revises a definition within the Agricultural Commodity Commission code section. It does away with the provision requiring producers of citrus to operate at least 5 acres of fruit trees to be eligible for the Citrus ACC. Passed House and Assigned to Senate Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/27/2024
Reps. Huddleston, Frye, Dickey, Pirkle, Thomas, and others This bill amends the Veterinary Student Loan Repayment Program. Recipients of the loan repayment program would qualify for 3 payments of $25,000 over the course of 3 years. The program would be limited to applicants who have been practicing food animal medicine for less than 10 years in a rural community. Passed House 2/29/2024
Rep. Burchett This bill is a part of this year's tort reform efforts and known as premise liability. It seeks to reduce liability from a landowner when there is a felony involving a third party. Passed House 2/29/2024
Reps. Williams, Petrea, Dickey, Corbett, Rhodes, and others This resolution proposes an amendment to the state constitution that would reduce the rate of ad-valorem tax assessment on timber at the time of sale or harvest. The proposal would require that the state appropriate funds annually to each county or municipality to compensate for any loss in revenue. Passed House 3/2/2023 and Assigned to Senate Finance Committee 3/6/2023
Sens. Beach, Dolezal, Goodman, Summers, Anderson, and others This bill would prohibit the purchase of agricultural land by a non-resident foreign alien who is subject to a government that is considered a foreign adversary as defined by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. It would also restrict the purchase of agricultural land by any government of, or business domiciled in a country subject to a government that is considered a foreign adversary. There are provisions within the bill that would also limit the foreign ownership of land near certain military instillations. Passed Senate 3/2/2023 and Recommitted to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 3/29/2023
Sens. Jones, Goodman, Butler, Hickman, and Sims This bill is entitled the "Food Insecurity Eradication Act." It establishes the Georgia Food Security Advisory Council under the Georgia Department of Agriculture to advise the General Assembly on ways to alleviate food insecurity in the state. Passed Senate 3/6/2023 & Recommitted to House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee 3/29/2023
Sens. Anderson, Albers, Robertson, Williams, Payne, and others This bill prohibits any motor vehicle from operating on any highway whose suspension has been elevated or lowered six inches above or below the manufacturer's recommendation for such vehicle. No motor vehicle may operate on any highway whose front frame is more than four inches above the rear of the vehicle. Passed Senate and Assigned to House Motor Vehicles Committee 2/1/2024
Sens. Robertson, Burns, Williams, Anavitarte, and Dolezal This bill prohibits the use of rank choice voting in any elections in the state of Georgia. Passed Senate and Assigned to House Governmental Affairs Committee 1/29/2024
Sens. Hufstetler, Tillery, Dolzeal, Albers, Still, and others This bill is known as the Tax Expenditures Act of 2024. This bill creates the Joint Committee on Taxation and Economic Development to meet every other year evaluating the tax climate in Georgia. It also provides measures to ensure greater transparency through the appropriations process. Passed Senate Finance and Assigned to House Ways & Means Committee 1/31/2024
Sens. Anavitarte, Goodman, Beach, Cowsert, Gooch, and others This bill would prohibit the foreign ownership of agricultural land by any non-resident alien, government, or business from a country considered to be foreign adversary as determined by the US Secretary of Commerce. It would also restrict ownership by those individuals, governments, and businesses of any land that is within a 25 mile radius of a military installation. Any violator would be convicted of a felony with up to two years in prison or a $15,000 fine. Passed Senate 2/29/2024
Sens. Tillery, Setzler, Burns, Walker, Albers, and others This bill is a part of Senate leaderships efforts to address the legal climate in Georgia and provide relief to businesses and insurance companies. This bill is commonly known as direct action and prevents a plaintiff from suing only an insurance company in the case of an accident. Direct action directly benefits large commercial fleets and their insurers, but we are still excited to see the Senate begin to tackle this issue. Passed Senate and Assigned to House Judiciary Committee 2/15/2024 |
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Reps. Camp, Mathiak, Lim, Au, and Cameron This bill would establish the State Board of Veterinary Medicine as an independent agency attached to the Department of Agriculture for administrative purposes. The State Board of Veterinary Medicine serves as the licensing board for veterinarians in the state of Georgia. Currently, this board is administratively attached to the Secretary of State and is under the professional licensing boards division. Passed House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/22/2023 |
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Reps. Momtahan, Parsons, Dickey, Tarvin, Pirkle, and others This bill would prohibit the foreign ownership of certain types of land or properties, including farms and agricultural land, by Chinese, Russian, Iranian, or North Korean governments, citizens, or companies. It would both prohibit direct ownership but also ownership through majority stock or other specified intertest. Assigned to House Judiciary Committee 2/7/2023
Reps. Schofield, Drenner, Kennard, Evans and Hutchinson This bill would require the Public Service Commission to adopt regulations to gradually reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from every electric utility in Georgia, regardless of fuel type. It would require that by 2050 all electricity provided by an electric utility in Georgia be generated from energy sources that produce zero greenhouse gasses. Assigned to House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee 2/7/2023
Reps. Lewis-Ward, Beverly, Jackson, and Gilliard This bill would establish the Office of Equity in Agriculture to support current members of socially disadvantaged groups and to encourage the growth of socially disadvantaged groups into the field of agriculture. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/7/2023
Reps. Thomas, Schofield, and Marin This bill would establish the ability to set up and operate a Microenterprise home kitchen. This would be a noncommercial kitchen facility located in a private home or on a farm where ready-to-eat food is handled, stored, prepared, or offered for sale for consumption off the premises. The kitchen must meet the criteria to be a microenterprise as established by the Department of Economic Development. This bill would exclude food sales establishments, any food production which requires a license by the Dept. of Agriculture, and more. Heard House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/14/2023
Reps. Dickey, Houston, Gilliard, and Carpenter Over the past few years there has been discussion over how to address issues with our state's Farmers Markets, some of which are in need of substantial capital repairs and improvements. Several of the markets have also suffered from profitability issues, leading to the temporary closing of certain markets. This bill seeks to establish the Georgia Farmers Market Authority, allowing the state's markets to be run more like a business by retaining the income it generates and using it to operate and improve the markets. Recommitted to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 3/1/2023
Reps. LaHood, Parrish, Williams, Jackson, Burchett and others. This bill seeks to amend the tax credit limit for rural hospital contributions and redefines a rural hospital organization. It would increase the tax credit limit for contributions by corporate donors and increase the aggregate limit for tax credits for contributions to rural hospital organizations. This bill includes a sunset date of December 31, 2023. Passed House Ways & Means Committee 2/1/2024
Reps. Yearta, Corbett, Cannon, Jasperse, and Franklin This bill would make it unlawful for anyone other than a secondary metal recycler to sell, purchase, possess, or transport a catalytic convertor. The individual would be charged on a separate offense for every individual catalytic convertor. This, along with other similar pieces of proposed legislation, are in response to increasing frequency of catalytic converter theft in recent years. Assigned to House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee 2/13/2023
Reps. Williams, Meeks, Rhodes, Dickey, Blackmon, and others This bill seeks to grant a second round of funding to the Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs program. This bill would also increase the application fee and provide an annual maintenance fee. Passed House Ways & Means Committee 3/2/2023
Reps. Anderson, Williamson, Parsons, Frazier, Jones and others This bill says no governmental entity of this state shall adopt any policy that restricts or prohibits, or has the effect of restricting or prohibiting, the type or source of energy or fuel to be delivered to a home or the appliance to be used. Passed House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunication Committee 2/22/2023
Reps. Houston, Meeks, Dickey, Pirkle This bill would establish the Farmer's Market Trust Fund allowing for the state farmers markets to retain fees and utilize them to repair and maintain those farmers markets and for marketing and promotion of Georgia agricultural goods. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/16/2023
Reps. Knight, Corbett, Rhodes, Cannon, and Pirkle This bill would do away with an exemption provided in the Conservation Use Value Assessment (CUVA) program that allows for the installation of solar panels on land within a CUVA covenant, so long as that portion of the land is removed from the covenant and the specified breach penalty is paid. That penalty in current law is less than what must be paid for a normal breach on a property that is subject to a covenant. Under this proposal, installing solar panels on land enrolled in CUVA would constitute a breach of the covenant, and the full penalty would have to be paid. Passed House Ways & Means Committee 3/3/2023
Reps. Pirkle, Jasperse, Meeks, Rhodes, Knight, and others This bill would prohibit the foreign ownership of agricultural land by any non-resident alien, government, or business from a country considered to be foreign adversary as determined by the US Secretary of Commerce. It would also restrict ownership by those individuals, governments, and businesses of any land that is within a 25 mile radius of a military facility. The bill does allow for possession in certain special circumstances such as through an inheritance or for the collection of debts, but the land must be dispersed after a specified period of time. Passed House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/28/2023
Reps. Leverett, Petrea, Prince, and Jackson This bill seeks to address issues with bad actors improperly applying soil amendments through increased notification requirements and delegation of enforcement authority to certain local governments. GFB is actively monitoring this bill and has been in discussions with the sponsor to work towards an appropriate and balanced solution to the issue. Assigned to House Natural Resources & Environment Committee 2/21/2023
Reps. Barnes, Beverly, Clark, Au, Oliver, and others. This bill seeks to provide free school meals to all public-school students who qualify for the reduced-price meals under federal and state guidelines. It encourages the use of Georgia Grown products in school breakfast and lunch programs to promote Georgia agriculture and healthy eating. Assigned to House Education Committee 2/22/2023
Reps. Gilliard, Stephens, Willis, and Thomas This bill, titled the "Georgia Hemp Industry Growth and Business Partnership Tax Credit Act," provides for a tax credit for costs of doing business with Georgia Grown hemp owners and suppliers. Assigned to House Ways & Means Committee 2/23/2023
Reps. Lewis-Ward, Beverly, Bentley, Jackson, and Schofield This bill would require the Department of Agriculture to spend no less than 5% of the entire marketing and promotion budget on minority or women owned agricultural enterprises. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/27/2023
Reps. Cheokas, Collins, Hitchens, Yearta, and Washburn This bill would allow a county to establish a trespass enforcement program to provide any participating owner or rightful occupant of property with a method for designating any peace officer with the local law enforcement agency as his or her authorized representative for purposes of enforcing criminal trespass. Assigned to House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee 2/27/2023
Reps. Cameron, Camp, Campbell, Hagan, and Huddleston This bill is tilted the Healthy Food Development Program Act. It allows for the Department of Human Services to coordinate with the Department of Economic Development to create the Healthy Food Development Program. They could provide grants, loans, state tax credits, equipment, other financial assistance or technical assistance to grocery stores, corner stores, farmers' markets, or other retailers. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/27/2023
Reps. Taylor, Lumsden, Collins, Hitchens, and Dunahoo This bill would allow any law enforcement to enforce excess vehicle weight limitations using automated vehicle weight detection system. This would allow the use of weight detecting technology and cameras capable of determining the gross vehicle weight and individual axle weights of a passing motor vehicle and producing recorded images of such vehicle located outside of a fixed scales facility. The technology could be implemented by third party agents. Assigned to House Motor Vehicles Committee 1/09/2024
Reps. Washburn, Au, Stephens, Anulewicz, Hitchens, and others This bill would exempt Georgia from the advancement of standard time, known as daylight savings upon the exemption from daylight savings by North and South Carolina and the portions of Florida and Tennessee that observe eastern standard time. Assigned to House State Planning & Community Affairs Committee 1/10/2024
Rep. Thomas This bill would provide for a state-wide homestead exemption from ad valorem taxes for the full value of a homestead used for agricultural purposes under certain parameters. The farmer must be engaged in production agriculture for no more than 5 years and operate on no more than 5 acres. Assigned to House Ways & Means Committee 1/10/2024
Reps. Ridley, Ridley, Jasperse, Fleming, Persinger, and others This bill would require all food service establishments in the state that serve food products containing cell cultured meat or plant-based meat alternatives to display on their menus, or on placards visible to the public, disclosures stating that such food products contain cell cultured meat or plant based meat alternatives. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 1/11/2024
Reps. Vance, Tarvin, Lumsden, Collins, and Hitchens This bill would add to what is considered criminal trespass and make entrance upon property of another without consent shall be an offense of criminal trespass. Assigned to House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee 1/12/2024
Reps. Burchett, Cannon, Dickey, Meeks, and Rhodes This bill would exempt all qualified producers from paying county or municipal permit fees greater than $500 on agricultural structures. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 1/23/2024
Reps. Blackmon, Williamson, Wade, Hong, Meeks, and others This bill eliminates the Revenue Shortfall Reserve limit. Currently, the state can only hold 15% of the previous year's net revenue in the reserve. This bill would eliminate that limitation. Assigned to House Appropriations Committee 1/25/2024
Reps. Clark, Pirkle, Blackmon, Corbett, Bonner, and others This bill would prohibit the foreign ownership of agricultural land by any non-resident alien, government, or business from a country considered to be foreign adversary as determined by the US Secretary of Commerce. It would also restrict ownership by those individuals, governments, and businesses of any land that is within a 10 mile radius of a military installation. Any violator would be convicted of a felony with up to two years in prison or a $15,000 fine. Passed House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/15/2024
Reps. Camp, Carson, Powell, Persinger, Gullet, and others This bill is known as The Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2024. It gives private solar producers the ability to aggregate demand and sell excess energy to large scale utilities. Assigned to House Energy, Utilities, & Telecommunications Committee 2/8/2024
Reps. Townsend, Smith, DeLoach, Vance, Reeves, and others This bill requires the Environmental Protection Division to consider regulatory and criminal history of any applicant, including out-of-state history, seeking a permit from the Division. Assigned to House Natural Resources & Environment Committee 2/8/2024
Reps. Pirkle, Jones, Corbett, and Williams This bill is a tort reform measure that surfaces every year. When determining damages in a civil action lawsuit, whether the plaintiff was wearing seatbelt cannot be factored into damages. This bill would allow for the defendant to argue for lesser damages due to the fact that the plaintiff was not probably restrained by a seatbelt, therefore incurring greater damage. Assigned to House Judiciary Committee 2/20/2024
Reps. Williams, Meeks, Corbett, Jones, Campbell, and others This bill would make aerial applicators exclusively used for pesticides exempt from ad valorem taxes. Assigned to House Ways & Means Committee 2/22/2024
Reps. Bennett, Jenkins, Dempsey, Lewis-Ward, Newton, and others This resolution establishes the House Healthy Food Retail Study Committee to investigate the lack of access to healthy foods in both rural and urban areas. Assigned to House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee 2/15/2023
Reps. Drenner and Thomas This is a resolution creating the House Study Committee on Environmental Justice. This committee will study the impact of pollution and hazardous materials on low-income neighborhoods or neighborhoods consisting primarily of minorities. Assigned to House Natural Resources and Environment Committee 2/22/2023
Reps. Mathiak, Gunter, Hatchett This resolution would create the House Study Committee on Rural Medical Personnel Recruitment. This study would look to raise awareness of the challenges rural hospitals face to recruit personnel and retain surgical support personnel. Recommitted to House Special Rules Committee 3/29/2023
HR1166: This resolution creates the House Study Committee on the Exchange, Storage, and Bond Coverage of Agricultural Products, Grain, and Livestock. Assigned to House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/22/2024
Sens. Jackson, Goodman, Summers and Butler This bill, called the "Georgia Hemp Farming Act," would change the limitations for individuals seeking a license or permit to grow hemp. It would change current law to allow individuals who are convicted of a misdemeanor involving the sale of a controlled substance, to apply for and be given a license or permit to grow industrial hemp. It would also allow someone convicted of a felony to apply for and receive a license or permit after 10 years has passed from said felony. Recommitted to Senate Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee 2/28/2023
Sens. Anderson, Brass, Burns, Anavitarte, Robertson and others This bill changes the definition of what is considered a dangerous or vicious dog. This bill revises the definition to include the following: a dog who is unprovoked barking, growling, or snarling, aggressively running along fence lines, or escaping confinement when people are present. It requires the owner of a dangerous dog as defined by the bill to maintain a $500,000 insurance policy covering any damage or bodily harm caused by the dog. Passed Senate Insurance and Labor Committee 2/26/2024
Sens. Still, Dolezal, Robertson, Anavitarte, Payne, and others This bill which at one time would have only prohibited local regulations that create differing standards for gasoline-powered leaf blowers from similar equipment, now includes an additional 33 pages of language that addresses numerous other issues. Senate Disagreed to House Amendment 3/29/2023 & House Insisted 3/29/2023
Sens. Goodman, Sims, Walker, Brass, Mallow, and others This bill is a companion bill to HB 189. The current state law sets the gross vehicle weight (GVW) of any 5-axle truck at 80,000lbs. Agriculture and forestry receives a 5% variance exemption to allow them to haul 84,000lbs. The bill would allow for these industries and a few additional ones to haul using a 12.5% variance, setting allowable weights at 90,000lbs. This bill only pertains to state roads. Due to federal regulations, trucks traveling on interstates are only allowed to haul at 80,000lbs with no variances. Heard by Senate Transportation Committee 2/27/2023
Sens. Dolezal, Still, Gooch, Kennedy, Watson and others This legislation deals with premises liability action and seeks to make changes to tort law provisions that are significant to landowners. It states no landowner shall be liable in a premises liability action to anyone who is injured on the landowner's property as the result of the willful, wanton, or intentionally tortious conduct of any third party who is not a director, officer, employee, or agent of the landowner unless the invitee can prove specific items as laid out by the legislation. Senate Tabled 3/6/2023
Sens. Jones, Harbison, Rahman, Merrit, Butler and others This bill is entitled the Right to Repair Act. It seeks to require manufactures of digital and electronic products to provide diagnostic and repair information, parts, and tools to independent repair providers. Assigned to Senate Science and Technology Committee 2/27/2023
Sens. Kirkpatrick, Hufstetler, Payne, Echols, Dugan, and others. This bill is known as the Outdoor Dog Protection Act. It would make it unlawful to leave a dog outdoors or unattended for more than 24 hours under the defined circumstances within the bill. It provides an exemption for livestock herding dogs, dogs sued within production agriculture, and hunting or field training dogs. Assigned to Senate Public Safety Committee 3/27/2023
Sens. Goodman, Watson, Strickland, Walker, Parent, and others This bill requires disclosures and notices for real estate offers that are lower than the fair market or county assessed value for the property. It is a consumer protection bill geared toward landowners facing predatory real estate offers. Passed Senate Judiciary Committee 2/26/2024
Sens. Summers, Kennedy, Goodman, Walker, Anderson, and others This bill would grant a state-wide exemption for aircraft used for aerial applications of fertilizers and pesticides. Assigned to Senate Finance Committee 2/13/2024
Sens. Goodman, Watson, Summers, Hodges, Anderson, and others This bill would designate blueberries as the official state berry of Georgia. Assigned to Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee 2/13/2024
Sens. Anavitarte, Gooch, Anderson, Summers, Cowsert and others. This resolution will form the Senate Study Committee on the Benefits of Solar Energy in Georgia. It will report on the pros and cons of solar generated energy in the state of Georgia. Passed Senate Rules Committee on 3/23/2023
Sens. Hickman, Goodman, Watson, Anderson, and Gooch This resolution creates the Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia's Farmlands. Passed Senate 2/15/2024
Sens. Goodman, Watson, Anderson, Walker, Echols, and others This resolution reconginzes March 2024 as Georgia Peanut Month. Senate Read and Adopted 2/27/2024
Sens. Goodman, Watson, Anderson, Walker, Echols, and others This resolution commends the Georgia Department of Agriculture for their 150th anniversary. Senate Read and Adopted 2/27/2024
Sen. Watson This resolution is a constitutional amendment to increase the CUVA acreage cap from 2,000 acres to 4,000 acres per individual. Assigned to Senate Finance Committee 2/26/2024 |
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Save the Date March 5 - PB&J Day at the Capitol March 13-15 - GA Cattlemen's Association Annual Convention March 15 - FFA 17th Annual Blue & Gold Gala |