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2008 Georgia Legislative Session Update
Provided by BOMA Lobbyist FiveashStanley

March 28, 2008

This Week at the Capitol:

Although the General Assembly only met for two days this week, a number of items were accomplished. Of particular interest is the movement on tax reform. Speaker Richardson’s tax reform initiative, HR 1246, passed the Senate in its revised form. The bill no longer removes the ad valorem taxes on cars, but would still have property assessment freezes based on the rate of government inflation. Properties will be reassessed and fair market value determined when the property is sold, at which time the freeze will be put back in place. There is an effort to ensure that commercial properties could be assessed at a rate lower than sales price, depending on income and expense ratios. This bill now likely goes to a conference committee to negotiate the differences.

HB 1244, which originally was an income tax credit for teleworking, became the vehicle for Lt. Governor Cagle’s version of tax reform. Language was added to HB 1244 to reduce income tax by 10 percentover the next five years beginning July 1, 2008. This bill will also likely end up in a conference committee.

An adjournment date has been tentatively set for Friday, April 4th. The Legislature plans to meet Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday ofnext week. The days promise to be long as both chambers strive to tackle the bills remaining on their agenda. The pace will be quick and we will continue to update you via e-mail if something critical occurs.

Legislative Tracking

Type	Number	Title	Sponsor	Details	Status
HB	89	Guns in Parking Lots	Bearden, Tim of Villa Rica	Related to the carrying and possession of firearms. Bill would allow concealed weapon permit holders to apply for permission to bear firearms on their employer's property. Amendment: would allow guns to be carried into restaurants, sporting events, wildlife management areas, recreation areas, airports and other public transportation areas, and churches	Passed House, Passed Senate w/ amended version. Assigned to Conference Committee
HB	447	Tax conformity for REITS	O'Neal, Larry of Perry	conforms Ga tax law with federal law pertaining to real estate investment trusts	Passed House, In Senate Finance Cmte
HB	611	Electrical contractors	Maxwell, Howard of Dallas	provide for changes to the restrictions of Class I licenses for electrical contracting. Class I licenses shall be restricted to electrical contracting involving multifamily structures of not more than two levels or single family dwellings of up to three levels. In addition, the structures shall have single-phase electrical installations which do not exceed 400 amperes at the service drop or the service lateral.	Passed House. Favorably reported from Senate Regulated Industries Cmte
HB	851	Tax Credit for Historic Renovations	Peake, Allen of Macon	This bill provides an income tax credit for historic home renovations in the year the renovation is completed for 25% of rehab costs, not to exceed $100,000 in 120 months. Certified structures likewise can receive the 25% credit not to exceed $300,000 in 120 months. This is much higher than before.	Passed House, Favorably reported from Senate Finance Cmte
HB	1168	Public accommodations furnishings excise tax	O'Neal, Larry of Perry	The Senate Finance Committee just added Section 13 to this bill, which affects our industry. Landlord/innkeeper cannot let a tenant/guest pay for occupancy on a week to week basis for any period less than 30 days unless landlord/innkeeper requires a deposit in addition to occupancy payments.	Passed House, Favorably reported from Senate Finance Cmte
HB	1244	Income Tax Credit	Martin, Chuck from Alpharetta	originally was an income tax credit for teleworking, but became the vehicle for Lt. Governor Cagle’s version of tax reform. Language was added to HB 1244 to reduce income tax by 10% over the next five years beginning July 1, 2008.	Passed House & Passed Senate. Pending an agreement between Chambers.
HB	1316	Dekalb County "Project Achieve" Fund	Watson, Stan of Decatur	Would add a $3 fee to all dispossessory warrants to fund an educational initiative	In House Local Intragovt Coordination Cmte. Since this is local legislation, it can still move despite not being voted on by Crossover day.
HB	1462	Dekalb County State Court	Shipp, Robin of Atlanta	Would establish a $5 fee for every civil case filed in Dekalb County.	Failed to pass vote on House floor. Since this is local legislation, it can still move despite not being voted on by Crossover day.
HR	1022	House Ratify Water Plan	Smith, Lynn of Newnan	(Same as SR 701) This resolution seeks to ratify the state water plan and provide for its enforcement.	Signed by Governor
HR	1246	Property Tax Reform Act	Richardson, Glenn of Hiram	Senate committee substitute: language repealing ad valorem taxes on cars has been removed and freezes on property assessments would be at the rate of government inflation. Properties will be reassessed and fair market value determined when the property is sold, at which time the freeze will be put back in place. There is an effort to ensure that commercial properties could be assessed at a rate lower than sales price, depending on income and expense ratios.	Passed House & Passed Senate. Pending an agreement between Chambers.
SB	8	Interest on Tax Appeals	Johnson, Eric of Savannah	Local government is required to pay interest to property owners if a refund is due to the taxpayer following an appeal. This bill will remove the $150 cap on the amount of interest local government is required to pay a property owner.	Passed Senate, In House Ways & Means Cmte
SB	33	Creates First Responder System	Harbison, Ed of Columbus	Authorize the development and implementation of a state-wide first responder building mapping information system	Passed Senate, Favorably reported from House Judy Cmte
SB	82	Incorporate the City of Dunwoody	Weber, Dan of Dunwoody	SB 82 would incorporate the City of Dunwoody and provides for transitional provisions governing the transfer of various functions and responsibilities from DeKalb County to the City of Dunwoody	Signed by Governor
SB	83	Change certain local government provisions for municipalities	Weber, Dan of Dunwoody	This bill would ensure that residents of a qualified municipality receive full credit for taxes paid for qualified county properties and assigned capital assets to be purchased by the qualified municipality; to assure that qualified municipalities will have the facilities necessary to deliver municipal services; and to provide certainty as to how the purchase price for such properties will be determined	Passed Senate, In House Government Affairs Cmte
SB	89	Creation of the Georgia Township Act	Adelman, David of Decatur	SB 89 would create townships and states that provide that property within such townships shall not be subject to municipal annexation. Counties shall continue to provide services in the township that are not specifically delegated by law to the township	Passed Senate, Favorably reported from House Government Affairs Cmte
SB	217	Property Owners' Associations	Thompson, Curt of Norcross	provide that certain property owners´ associations and similar organizations shall have standing as a party to bring a legal action to enforce certain covenants	Passed Senate, Favorably reported from House Govt Affairs Cmte
SB	351	Joint State-Wide Water Plan Oversight Committee	Cowsert, Bill of Athens	To create a Joint (House/Senate) State-Wide Water Planning Oversight Committee that would oversee all state water planning.	Passed Senate, In House Natural Resources Cmte
SB	374	Liens	Weber, Dan of Dunwoody	This bill amends OCGA in relation to liens when concerning mechanics and materialmen. Time frames are changed from months to specific numbers of days (90 days). This requires that liens have an expiration date and that notice is sent to the property owner or contractor within 7 days of filing the lien by certified or registered mail. The same rules apply for filing a bond. Also, arbitration now would become an option for settling a lien.	Passed Senate, In House Judy Cmte
SB	463	Gray Water Recycling Systems	Pearson, Chip of Dawsonville	This allows citizens to use gray water recycling systems for residential irrigation as long as it meets certain minimum plumbing standards.	Passed Senate & Passed House
SR	686	Residential Property Value Freeze Amendment	Johnson, Eric of Savannah	This constitutional amendment would require the freezing of existing residential real property values so that such property can be appraised for ad valorem tax purposes based on the fair market value of when the property was acquired (purchase or transferred). Valuation increases are limited by an inflationary index determined by the state revenue commissioner. Revaluations occur with improvements to the property that require a building license.	Passed Senate, In House Ways & Means Cmte
SR	701	Ratify the Water Plan	Tolleson, Ross of Perry	This resolution ratifies the state water plan and provides for its enforcement.	Passed Senate, In House Rules
SR	796	Resolution to Freeze Property Values	Rogers, Chip of Woodstock	This constitutional amendment provides for limitations on assessed value increases for real property. This does not allow any increases in valuations after 2007 except for a 2% increase in residential property per year and a 3% increase per year for non-residential real property. However, a local taxing authority can adopt through majority vote as long as it follows the given guidelines. These rules do not apply to property in a tax allocation district or brownfield properties.	Passed Senate, Failed to pass House vote
SR	845	Transportation Sales tax	Mullis, Jeff of Chickamauga	This allows counties through referendum to add a 1% sales tax for a limited amount of time in order to use funds for transportation projects.	Passed Senate & Passed House. Assigned to Conference Cmte.

Now that Crossover day has passed, we can tell which bills will most likely continue to see progress. Below are bills of special interest to the industry that have been mentioned in previous reports. Please take a look over the status of this legislation:

SR 796 by Senator Rogers was not passed by the house, however, the assessment freezes of 2% for residential and 3% for non-residential real properties were passed as a portion of the Speaker’s HR 1246 Tax Reform Amendment.

HB 1107 by Representative Manning regarding an income tax credit for qualified low flush toilets failed to be voted on by Crossover day, but we expect that this legislation will be amended to another bill and will continue to see movement.

HB 956 by Representative Doug Holt relating to zoning decisions and restricting the rights of property owners in future zoning decisions is left untouched. This bill did not pass the House and therefore can only be revived by being attached to another bill.

HB 851 by Representative Allen Peake regarding a tax credit for historic renovations passed the House and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.