Ag News
Kemp signs ag, forestry bills into state law
Posted on May 20, 2026 at 15:39 PM
In a May 6 ceremony at the Georgia Forestry Association (GFA) headquarters in Forsyth, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law 10 bills related to agriculture and forestry.
Kemp lauded farmers and forest producers for their perseverance in the face of difficult times.
“Our people are resilient, especially our forest and farm families,” Kemp said. “They’re just resilient, tough people. You can’t make it if you’re not. I always like to say that tough times don’t last, but tough people do, and that’s exactly what we’re going through right now. Our farmers and foresters and forest family, they’re certainly tough people.”
A brief review of the bills Kemp signed at the ceremony is below.
“I know that together we will continue to keep our state’s number one industry [agriculture] strong for years to come. Not only the agriculture side, but also on the timber forestry side,” Kemp said in remarks before signing the bills.
Among the bills were House Bill 1159, which exempts Farmer Bridge Assistance payments from the federal government from state tax liability. The Farmer Bridge Assistance payments were authorized by the federal government earlier this year to help farmers overcome a wide array of financial challenges.
“The goal of it is to make sure that the farmers keep all of it,” said Sen. Sam Watson. “We need every penny we can get our hands on right now with the way things are and all of our input costs being up. We need to make sure the farmers retain all of that money. The farmers are going to take that and they’re going to put it right back into the economy, and the state’s going to benefit from it overall.”
Another key measure was House Bill 134, titled the Keep Georgia Forested Act, which expands tax credits to manufacturing companies that use products and materials generated by the state’s forestry industry, which has been beset with declining demand for paper products and the closure of multiple paper mills in recent years.
“We believe this bill will position Georgia at the top of the list for companies or people that are placing capital, businesses that are placing capital in forestry manufacturing,” said GFA President and CEO Tim Lowrimore. “We believe that it is a policy that will accelerate investment into manufacturing facilities here in our state, specifically forest manufacturers.”
A review of other bills signed during the ceremony:
House Resolution 1008: Updates the State Water Plan to revise the Regional Water Planning Councils (RWPC), decreasing the number of members and extending the lengths of some appointees' terms to alleviate situations in which councils have struggled to function due to low participation. Additionally, it specifies that Memorandum of Agreements between RWPC, the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will be renewed as-needed instead of the previously held three-year term.
House bill (HB) 117: Requires all food service establishments serving shrimp imported from foreign countries to notify customers on their menu or through other signage.
HB 956: Expands the use of Solid Waste Trust Fund to include permitting, monitoring, regulation, or guidance development, inspections, and enforcement.
HB 983: Protects prescribed burning by preventing counties and municipalities from imposing additional barriers on landowners who perform this site preparation in accordance with current state law.
HB 1310: Designates cotton as the official state fabric of Georgia.
Senate Bill (SB) 306: Helps streamline the Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA) process to help protect Georgia's farmers and farmland. Changes made clarify that a landowner can trade carbon credits while enrolled in a covenant, allow notification by email and certified mail of an expiring covenant, provide an option to merge covenants on a singular timeline, and create a 180-day grace period for the conversion of CUVA to the Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) at the time of acquisition.
SB 435: Renames the Georgia Development Authority as the Georgia Agricultural Development Authority.
SB 551: Removes the egg candling code section from Georgia law, which requires individuals to candle eggs from backyard flocks before selling them. This does not remove any food safety regulations, which remain intact.
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