2009 Georgia Legislative Session
In 2009, BOMA-Atlanta had another successful year working with the state legislature, successfully advocating favorable legislation while defending against industry threatening bills.

Georgia’s 2009 legislative session will go down in history as one with some of the worst budget issues to date.  The General Assembly finally approved an $18.6 billion budget for fiscal year 2010.  The budget for the upcoming year includes $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money to help make up for the shortfalls.

The legislature adjourned ‘sine die’ late Friday, April 3 at midnight with a few critical topics unresolved including the ever-important matter of transportation funding.  While they did pass legislation dealing with governance of the Department of Transportation, the House and Senate failed to agree on transportation funding during waning hours of the session.

Both chambers gave final approval of HB 481, known as “The J.O.B.S. Act of 2009,” which would have given tax breaks to businesses and potentially create jobs.  The bill would have also cut long term capital gain tax in half.  The Governor later vetoed the legislation.

HR 1, a constitutional amendment to cap increases in the assessed value of all property types, failed to pass this year.  In a final attempt to pass this legislation, the House Rules Committee replaced the content of an unrelated Senate Resolution (SR 1) with the language contained in HR 1.  However, SR 1 was never brought up for a vote.

SB 240 will amend the current arbitration process regarding property tax appeals. A taxpayer currently has the option of electing to go to an arbiter to establish value during a reassessment process. SB 240 seeks to establish a third option for property tax appeals. This third option is a ‘baseball arbitration’ type approach and is intended to be an additional method of determining fmv rather than a replacement. The House and Senate agreed to a final version and the bill was signed by the governor later in the month.

Below is a list of some of the key legislation at the state level in which BOMA-Atlanta was monitoring. In addition to the legislation below, BOMA-Atlanta also tracked several other bills and resolutions affecting the commercial real estate industry.

Legislative Tracking
*Indicates new legislation

Type	Number	Title	Sponsor	Details	Status
HB	127	The Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act	Lindsey, Edward of Atlanta	Enacted by at least 44 states.  To provide for standardized, uniform real estate documents, pursuant to the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.	Adopted.  Signed by Governor.
HB	233	Ad valorem taxation of Property	Lindsey, Edward of Atlanta	Will cap all property types at 3%. Protects uniformity in assessments.	Adopted. Signed by Governor.
HB	304	Appraisers duties	Porter, DuBose of Dublin	Would change certain provisions regarding appraisers and assessors going upon property in the performance of their duties.	Adopted. Signed by Governor.
HB	473	Department of Community Affairs, clean energy property	Harbin, Ben of Evans	Department of Community Affairs, so as to provide for grants for clean energy property	Adopted. Signed by Governor.
SB	31	Georgia Nuclear Energy Financing Act	Balfour, Don of Snellville	Authorizes utilities to recover any financing costs for the construction of a nuclear generating plant already certified by PSC.	Adopted. Signed by Governor.
SB	55	Ad valorem taxation	Pearson, Chip of Dawsonville and others	Would change the factors to be considered in determining fair market value of real property, including foreclosed property.	Senate agreed to House substitute. Adopted. Signed by Governor.
SB	82	Secondary metal recyclers	Unterman, Renee of Buford	Would regulate the payments to persons selling copper items to secondary metals recyclers.	Adopted. Signed by Governor.
SB	240	County Boards of Tax Assessors	Rogers, Chip of Woodstock	Relating to county boards of tax assessors, so as to provide for the comprehensive revision of the appeal of assessments for ad valorem tax purposes.	Adopted. Signed by Governor.

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