Tracking Our Priorities in Georgia Legislature

Steps for a Georgia Bill to Become Georgia Law

Where Are We In the Legislative Session?

As of May 21st, 2024 (this page’s last update), we have past Sine Die, and the Governor’s set deadline to sign or veto bills. This means that bills can only become law this year if they have passed both chambers and were signed (and not vetoed) by the Governor. 

To learn more about the key policies we focus on, you can view the 2024 Policy Priorities page.

This tracker was last updated on May 21, 2024 at 10:00 am. 

Bills We Are Watching

We are watching several bills that would either improve the ability for all Georgians to thrive, hinder equity or prosperity or change the revenues that make investments in our people possible. You can learn more about how we define our priorities here.
 
You can make change by encouraging your lawmakers to approve or disapprove of any measures by writing them. Find your lawmakers here. You can find the contact information for your Senator here and your Representative here.
 
This tracker was last updated March 30, 2023 at 9:00am.

Promote State Government Transparency

Without data and state adherence to established statutes and rules for sharing information related to government activities, Georgians cannot hold elected officials accountable for their actions and decisions, and the ability of our state’s people to meaningfully participate in the legislative process is compromised.  

Fund State Government Transparently, Equitably and Responsibly

Analyze state budget proposals to ensure the result is fair and sufficiently appropriates funding for critical services and programs like health and education. 

Advance fiscally responsible tax reform proposals that strengthen state revenue, protect existing revenue streams and support working families.

Oppose

Senate Bill 364

Senate Bill 364 (one of several bills focused on either a cap or a freeze on assessed home property value or related taxes) Provides for a statewide homestead exemption (typically governed at the local level), capping annual changes to the property’s assessed value at no more than three percent over the base year established. GBPI has concerns about the long-term effects of this bill on local school funding.

House Bill 581/ HR 1022

Allows for a statewide referendum to cap annual assessment increases for homesteaded property taxes (owner-occupied primary residences) at the rate of inflation. Also includes a measure that allows local governments to substitute some of property tax revenues with a 1-cent sales tax. Importantly, the measure includes a provision that allows local governments to opt-out of the cap.

House Bill 1021

Increases the exemption allowed for a dependent, such as a child or elder parent, from $3,000 to $4,000, amounting to about $54 per year in tax savings per dependent.

House Bill 191

Modestly adjusts the tobacco tax from 37 cents per pack to 57 cents.
Learn More >

House Bill 192

Adjusts the tax on vaping products from a non-uniform system of taxation to a flat 15% rate, estimated to raise about $25 million in FY 2025 if passed.
Learn More >
Oppose

House Bill 413

Authorizes $100 million in new tax credits to finance an expensive tax credit program that operates through state-sponsored quasi-venture capital funds, seeking to replicate a failed multi-level lending scheme that has been discontinued in multiple states after failing to produce promised jobs or revenues and serving as a magnet for waste, fraud and abuse.
Learn More >

House Bill 1015

Accelerates reduction of the state’s income tax rate ahead of the previously determined schedule, reducing the personal income tax rate from 5.49% to 5.39%, effective on January 1, 2024. The bill maintains other provisions from last year’s SB 56.

Senate Bill 366

Makes modest improvements to transparency laws around tax expenditures, including requiring annual cost estimates alongside appropriations legislation, improving the current process of evaluating the effects of existing and proposed tax provisions and requiring at least 12 economic analyses per year to be considered by the Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee

House Bill 1180

Implements common-sense safeguards to Georgia's Film Tax Credit, including an annual cap on the amount of credits that can be transferred (equivalent to 2.5% of the revenue estimate) and new requirements to obtain the full 30% credit that prioritize hiring in-state vendors and workers.

House Bill 1181

Adds sunsets to a series of tax credits and new limitations to the time limit in which tax credits must be used.

House Bill 1192

A measure originating from the Joint Tax Review Panel to discontinue the state's sales tax exemption for high-technology data center equipment"
Oppose

House Bill 1023

Lowers the state's corporate income tax rate from 5.75 to 5.39% and pegs it to match the state's individual income tax rate in the future

House Bill 79/ Senate Bill 118

Creates a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit that is fully refundable and matches the federal version at a 25 percent value; creates a state Child Tax Credit and increases the current Child and Dependent Tax Credit from 30% to 100% of the federal level (fully refundable).
Oppose

House Bill 808

Increases the statewide tax exemption for all personal property from $7,500 to $20,000" The status is passed originating chamber

Ensure Equitable Education

Creating and funding an Opportunity Weight to provide additional money to educate students living in poverty, shining a light on efforts to divert state dollars away from public schools and increasing state investment in pupil transportation through formula increases.

House Bill 3

Would provide an additional 25% in funding for each student living in poverty to create an opportunity weight. Was not announced.

Learn More >

House Bill 668 and Senate Bill 284

These bills propose a $1,500 per-pupil and $1,750 per-pupil weighted supplement for students living in poverty by amending Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding formula, thus creating an opportunity weight. Was not announced.

Learn More >

House Bill 131

Reinstate in-state tuition for DACA and undocumented students.

House Bill 1124/ SB 237

A version (HB 249) was vetoed last year by the governor. Expands the eligibility criteria for a completion grant so that students who finish at least 70% of a four-year degree program or 45% of a two-year degree program can qualify to receive need-based financial aid. HB 1124 did not advance far enough in time, but SB 237 is still on the table. 

Learn More >

Senate Bill 386 / Senate Resolution 579

Legalizes sports betting but relies on the passage of a constitutional amendment and a vote by a majority of Georgia voters to take effect. The legislation would tax income generated from online sports betting at 20 percent. SB 386 also makes a needed adjustment to the state’s lottery reserves, requiring 10 percent of excess reserves (over 50% of average program costs) to be allocated for education purposes and programs annually. While GBPI does not have a stance on sports betting in itself, we do support an equitable investment of the revenue.
Learn More >
Oppose

Senate Bill 233

Establishes a state school voucher program that would give $6,000 to parents to cover the cost of private school tuition. 

Learn More >

House Bill 941 and Senate Bill 360

Calls school systems to consider projected pre-k student counts when considering capital improvements. This should support the creation of more pre-k classrooms in public schools. Currently SB 360 has progressed out of the first chamber but HB 941 has not. 

Senate Bill 476

Offers in-state tuition to non-US citizens of the state who have obtained a high school or high school equivalency diploma and are legally authorized to work in Georgia. This bill would cover beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and refugees as well as individuals with special immigrant visas who have assisted the US armed forces in Afghanistan and other countries.
Learn More >

House Bill 853

Repeals the Drug-free Postsecondary Education Act of 1990. This bill removes provisions that make students convicted of certain drug offenses ineligible for loans, scholarships, and grants.
Learn More >

House Bill 579

Revises the Special Needs Scholarship, a private school voucher, to provide additional data reporting to increase transparency.

Senate Bill 105

Raises the pension amount for those enrolled in the Public Schools Employee Retirement System (e.g., bus drivers, custodial workers) and gives the Employees Retirement System of Georgia the latitude to raise the amount in the future without legislative action.

Enhance Georgian's Economic Security

Enact policies like paid family medical leave and protect Georgia’s safety net programs from budget cuts and legislative proposals that threaten an equitable economic recovery.

House Bill 565

Increases the TANF time limit from 48 months to 60 months and increases the savings and assets limits.

House Bill 1010

Building on momentum in recent years around providing parental leave to state employees, this bill doubles the maximum parental leave from 120 hours to 240, but without state funding to back it up. This bill also ignores other reasons workers need paid leave, like an extended health concern.
Oppose

House Bill 348

HB 348 seeks to address school safety concerns by transferring authority, from schools to law enforcement, to apply for automated speeding camera permits from the Department of Transportation and hold jurisdiction over the school zone of interest. As one of several policy options to address school safety challenges, this bill could cause exponential growth in speeding camera uses in school zones and provide a heightened revenue source for local governments and law enforcement. Without added safeguards, it could add another layer of fines and fees-induced economic strain for Georgians at or below the margins.
Oppose

Senate Bill 63

Mandates cash bail to anyone facing criminal charges who failed to appear for a court date in the past 10 years, including for those related to traffic offenses.
Learn More >
Oppose

Senate Bill 362

Seeks to charge and enforce repayment of "any and all" economic incentives to employers that automatically recognize and accept union representation in response to worker requests. This bill says that employers can only recognize union representation through secret ballot union elections that are coordinated through the NLRA. Ultimately, this bill would allow employers to carry out union-busting, employee intimidation and time-stalling tactics that are commonly done during secret ballot union elections.
Oppose

Senate Bill 63

Across several layers, this bill expands the criminalization of Georgians experiencing poverty. It adds 30 additional charges that require mandatory cash bail, including those commonly associated with protesting and those often charged to unhoused Georgians. It limits the number of instances that an individual or organization can post bail for someone, places greater limitations on the types of judicial actors that are authorized to set bail terms, and places greater restraints on the functions of bail funds.
Oppose

Senate Bill 475

SB 475 seeks to raise additional revenue for Georgia’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund by raising the share of penalty revenues from UI fraud that can go into the trust fund. This bill’s provisions could be paired with upcoming UI system modernization designs guided by framing that has not balanced people’s needs for greater access with concerns for fraud detection, threatening to impact Georgia’s hardest-to-serve dislocated workers. While those workers honest access challenges could be wrongly flagged for fraud, this bill could create perverse incentives to rely on new trust fund revenue from those Georgians who are wrongly flagged and criminalized for UI fraud.
Learn More >
Oppose

House Bill 501

House Bill 501 would repeal the requirement that certain employers need an employment certificate to hire 14- & 15-year-olds for work outside of school hours. This bill requires no training and exposes young teenagers to potentially dangerous work conditions in the landscaping industry.

Build Healthy Communities

Ensure all Georgians have a fair and just opportunity at good health by fully expanding Medicaid without a harsh work requirement or burdensome monthly reporting, ensuring Medicaid-eligible children retain coverage during and after the Medicaid unwinding, and strengthening our state’s ability to deliver behavioral health and developmental disabilities’ services.

House Bill 1339

HB 1339 enacts modest reforms to the way the state approves the creation of new or expansion of existing health care facilities; increases the cap for the Rural Hospital Tax Credit; and establishes a Comprehensive Health Coverage commission to advise on issues related to healthcare for uninsured/low-income Georgians.

House Resolution1231

HR 1231 is a resolution to create a House Study Committee on maternal, prenatal, and pediatric care, access, and funding

House Bill 1037 / House Bill 1046

creates the Georgia Commission on Maternal and Infant health

Senate Bill 293

SB 293 revises the qualifications for district health directors and makes minor changes to the state's public health governance structure
Status: Discussion in committees or subcommittees of originating chamber

House Bills 38, 62 and Senate Bills 17, 24

Close the healthcare coverage gap; however, if access to healthcare for uninsured, lower income adults is to be expanded this year, it will come as an amendment to an existing bill that has already crossed over. 

House Bill 215/ Senate Bill 524

HB 524 did not cross over; however, it was stripped and made into HB 215. HB 215 would create the Georgia Community Health Worker Certification Committee, enabling the certification of community health workers and allowing them to receive reimbursement for their services.

HB 1077

HB 1077 was amended after crossing over to become the PeachCare Plus Act. It would close the coverage gap by enabling Georgia to seek a federal waiver to purchase private insurance plans for those in the coverage gap. The bill failed to pass out of committee.

Empower Immigrant Communities

House Bill 127 / 282

Establishes rules and regulations for foreign language interpreters working with students in educational settings and requires that parents and children be informed of the availability of interpretation services in Individual Education Plan.

Oppose

Senate Bill 420

Provides limitations on the acquisition of agricultural lands by certain foreign nationals, subject to specific conditions, and establishes a new felony for intentionally violating the statute (if the bill becomes law). We have concerns that this bill could, if passed, lead to unfair treatment of immigrant communities due to their vagueness and breadth.  
Oppose

House Bill 1105

Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act of 2024”—expands the narrative that immigrant communities engage in illicit behavior. It essentially creates a statewide 287(g) jurisdiction, defunds local law enforcement, strips them of discretion and threatens them with prosecution. Much of the language in HB 1105 appeared previously in other bills such as SB 452 (2018) and HB 136 (2023).

Senate Bill 264

Would classify special immigrant visa (SIV) holders (who supported the US military in foreign conflicts) as well as humanitarian parolees and refugees as in-state students so that they might be able to pay in-state tuition at Georgia public colleges and universities. This group would include students from Ukraine and Afghanistan to authorized to resettle in Georgia.

Senate Bill 478

The Freedom to Drive Act expands driving authorization for non-US citizens, helping them get to work, take care of their children and more fully participate in their communities.
Learn More >
Oppose

House Bill 1359

This bill would permit a resident to submit a claim for a property tax refund in the event their local government does not enforce immigration law because of a "sanctuary policy" as defined in OCGA 36-80-23.
Oppose

House Bill 301

Opens up local law enforcement to costly lawsuits for alleged failure to follow "immigration sanctuary policies", strips law enforcement of discretion to adapt to the specific needs of their local communities, and perpetuates a negative narrative toward Georgia's immigrant communities287(g) participation (a voluntary program whereby local law enforcement agree to with work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure that federal immigration laws are adhered to), with state funding withheld from agencies that fail to comply.

Empower Immigrant Communities

Support tuition equity legislation, expand driver’s licenses, expand language access, and ensure state policies are inclusive of the immigrant community.

Support GBPI Today

The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute is a 501(c)3 organization. We depend on the support of donors like you. Your contribution makes the work that we do possible.
Donate Today
GBPI Footer Logo Small

The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute works to advance lasting solutions that expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians.

Twitter Facebook-f Linkedin Youtube

Pages

Resources

Contact Info

Georgia Budget & Policy Institute

  • 50 Hurt Plaza SE, Suite 720 Atlanta, GA 30303
  • gbpi@gbpi.org
  • (404) 420-1324
  • Privacy Policy

Start typing and press enter to search

Subscribe to our Newsletter