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2008 Georgia Legislative Session Update
Provided by BOMA Lobbyist FiveashStanley

April 9, 2008

This Week at the Capitol:

Georgia’s forty day session closed at midnight on Friday, April 4th, to the cry of “sine die.” Friday held a number of important votes for pending legislation. One of the biggest issues for this year’s session, tax reform, failed to receive agreement between the House and the Senate despite negotiations nearing midnight. An agreement on some sort of transportation funding was also not reached, thus legislation failed. Since this is the end of a two-year session for legislators, all bills which failed to pass both chambers must be re-introduced next year and start anew if legislators wish to take up the issue again.

By law, the General Assembly must pass a budget for the upcoming year. Both chambers reached an agreement and a $21.2 billion spending plan was passed successfully on Friday afternoon. The budget now sits on Governor Perdue’s desk for his consent.

Legislation that passed both chambers is now subject to the governor’s approval. The governor has 40 days to sign legislation and holds the power to veto any bill that does not meet his standards.

Following is a summary of two important issues of the 2008 session.

Taxes: Tax cuts and property tax reform absorbed a great amount of time and energy over the past year, but in the end, all proposals fell from their own weight. The House and Senate disagreed on whether to eliminate car taxes or reduce income taxes and during the closing weeks of the session linked all other tax reform measures to a resolution of that disagreement. The other reform measure in play would have placed a cap on increases in property assessments. Significant uncertainty surfaced from commercial property owners in the closing weeks in terms of the assessment cap proposals. Although later versions of the proposal would have provided for a property owner’s ability to argue values down (from sales price), the proposals would have eliminated equalization as it currently exists. Legislation to further define and implement the measure would be considered in the 2009 session had it passed. Concerns voiced by various tax consultants and property owners over the concept of assessment caps led the Legislature close to applying the caps to homesteaded properties only. This would have left commercial owners and businesses to absorb future property tax increases.

Fiveash-Stanley is in the process of gathering and analyzing the final property assessment proposals and will elaborate on this issue in later reports. For now, however, all aspects of tax reform died for the year.

Guns in Parking Lots: BOMA-Atlanta has taken an active role in the debate over who should control parking lots–the owner and lessors or merely an individual who wants to carry a gun. HB 89 has surfaced as the legislation that seeks to address the issue. A Senate version of the ‘guns in parking lots’ issue was significantly watered down and largely satisfies property owner concerns. Both Chambers agreed to a watered down version, which ultimately passed and is waiting for Governor Perdue’s approval. The version would allow concealed weapon permit holders to apply for permission to bear firearms on their employer's property with their employer's permission. HB 89 would also let permit holders carry firearms in restaurants, state parks and MARTA.

Legislative Tracking

Type	Number	Title	Sponsor	Details	Status
HB	89	Guns in Parking Lots	Bearden, Tim of Villa Rica	Bill would allow concealed weapon permit holders to apply for permission to bear firearms on their employer's property with their employer's permission. Bill would also let permit holders carry firearms in restaurants, state parks and MARTA.	Passed House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
HB	611	State Construction Industry Licensing Board	Maxwell, Howard of Dallas	This bill 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 & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
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 & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
HB	1132	"Uniform Environmental Covenants Act"	Lindsey, Edward of Atlanta	This outlines how environmental covenants should be constructed and what authority they should have. This places the EPD of DNR in authority over these covenants and is required to keep a registry of all covenants and amendments. Courts have the right to terminate covenants.	Passed House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
HB	1168	Public accommodations furnishings excise tax	O'Neal, Larry of Perry	Section 13, which affects our industry, was added to this bill late during Session and was modified in Conference Cmte. Whenever a landlord provides accommodations on a day-to-day or weekly basis and the landlord wishes to terminate the occupancy, the landlord must provide notice to the occupant equal to the period of time for which the occupancy is paid for.	Passed House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
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
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 House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
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	374	Materialman/Mechanic's 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 House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
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 House & Passed Senate. Awaiting Governor's approval.
SB	1167	Create Senate Study Cmte - Local Sales Tax Collection	Rogers, Chip of Woodstock	This committee would study of Georgia’s local sales and use tax collection laws generally and the application of these laws to local governments in this state to determine whether it is feasible and advisable to permit local governments to exercise the option of making their own arrangements for the collection of local sales and use taxes in lieu of collection of those taxes by the state revenue commissioner. The	Passed Senate & Committee will be created
SR	701	Ratify the Water Plan	Tolleson, Ross of Perry	This resolution ratifies the state water plan and provides for its enforcement.	Passed Senate
SR	819	Create Senate Study Cmte - Comprehensive Firearms Law	Seabaugh, Mitch of Sharpsburg	Senators on this committee will study Georgia's firearms laws generally and the application of these laws to Georgia's peaceable and law-abiding citizens to ensure that constitutional rights, the right of self-defense, and public safety are properly protected and that persons involved in the firearms licensing process are treated fairly and equitably	Passed Senate & Committee wil be created
SR	996	Tax Allocation Districts	Weber, Dan of Dunwoody	SR 996 is a constitutional amendment which would authorize community redevelopment and authorize counties, municipalities, and local boards of education to use tax funds for redevelopment purposes and programs, including the payment of debt service on tax allocation bonds	Passed House & Passed Senate. Will appear on November ballot
HB	257	Concealed weapons	Yates, John of Griffin	Bill in its original form would allow constables to carry firearms at public gatherings. It was *amended* to allow persons with a concealed weapons permit to carry their guns into restaurants and public transportation systems.	Failed to find final agreement between House and Senate
HB	447	Tax conformity for REITS	O'Neal, Larry of Perry	conforms Gad tax law with federal law pertaining to real estate investment trusts	Failed to be voted on
HB	1244	Income Tax Credit	Martin, Chuck from Alpharetta	HB 1244 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.	Failed to find final agreement between House and Senate
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	Failed to be voted on
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 House vote
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.	Failed to find final agreement between House and Senate
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.	Failed to be voted on
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	Failed to be voted on
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	Failed to be voted on
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	Failed to be voted on
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.	Failed to be voted on
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.	Failed to be voted on
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.	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.	Failed to find final agreement between House and Senate

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.