First Week of 2014 Legislative Session Marked with Changes to Election Calendar, Budget Discussions

Monday, Jan. 13, marked the return of the Georgia General Assembly and the beginning of the 2014 legislative session.  As expected, legislators were off to a quick start with committee meetings, Governor Nathan Deal’s State of the State Address and the FY2014 supplemental and FY2015 budgets. Legislators will be in session again next week, eliminating their traditional week off to review the budget and focus on budget hearings with state agency heads. Be sure to read each week’s legislative update as well as any action alerts to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings under the Gold Dome. For additional perspective of key bills from the ACCG policy team, watch the electronic legislative updates.

FACT Act to Help Local Governments Gain Access to More Sales Tax Distribution Information

ACTION ALERT: FACT Act (HB 713) - The FACT Act is a joint ACCG and Georgia Municipal Association bill that authorizes the Department of Revenue to share more information with local governments about their sales tax distributions.

This legislation would allow local governments to designate someone from their county to enter into a confidentiality agreement to have access to sale tax distribution data in order to provide summary information to other county officials and alert DOR representatives of concerns. Please contact your state representative and ask them to support this legislation which may be heard in the Ways and Means Committee as early as next week. Click here for the Georgia Dept. of Audits report on DOR Sharing of Tax Data.

Move to Align State and Local Elections Calendar with the Federal Calendar Moves Early

On the first day, the Senate Ethics Committee voted to adopt a substitute to HB 310 (Rep. Wilkinson) to include provisions that would align the state and local elections calendar with the court ordered federal elections calendar. The substitute also reduces the time period required to call for a special election to be held in conjunction with a statewide primary or general election from 90 days to 60 days for 2014. The bill will now go back to the House for its members to vote whether to agree or disagree on the changes. After the House vote for agrees or disagrees, the bill will go to the Governor’s desk where it will become law upon his signature.

Governor’s State of the State Address and Budget Recommendations

Governor Deal delivered his State of the State Address on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in which he outlined key reasons why Georgia has witnessed overall improvements over the past three years. The Governor attributed the improvements to lower taxes due to the state’s tax reform, job creation, a strong focus on education and comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform. The 2014 State of the State transcript may be accessed, in its entirety, by clicking here.

The Governor’s budget recommendations FY2014 Supplemental Budget and FY2015 Budget were also released this week. One proposed budget recommendation of major significance to counties includes $26 million to the Department of Revenue (DOR) in the FY2014 amended budget to reimburse counties and schools under the Forest Land Protection Act which will cover all local grant requests from 2012 and 2013. The Governor also included $14 million in the FY2015 budget for these grants. Click here for a link to the Georgia Dept. of Audits 2013 state audit of the Forest Land Protection Act and local government assistance grants. Click here for a full list of outstanding amounts due to all local governments within the county.

·         The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) received an increase for Regional Economic Business Assistance (REBA) Grants in FY 2014 by $10 million. In addition, DCA received an additional $40 million in the FY 2014 amended budget for the OneGeorgia Authority - $25 million of this is for broadband access to local school systems while $15 million is for economic development.

·         Budget recommendations for the Department of Natural Resources include an increase for the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund by $630,000 (FY 2015) and an increase in the Solid Waste Trust Fund by $855,000 (FY 2015).

In other budget news, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) received additional appropriations for its Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB) in both the Governor’s 2014 amended budget and his FY 2015 budget (AFY 2014 $10,133,736; FY 2015 $9,399,055) from motor fuel funds. The additional appropriations are timely for local governments now that counties and cities are eligible to apply for the GTIB grants that were previously limited to Community Improvement Districts.

ACCG is preparing a more detailed budget overview that will highlight recommendations of interest to counties for distribution next week.