House Bill 1226

Chair's Name: Lynn Smith

Committee: Natural Resources & Environment

House Sponsor: Mike Coan

This committee substitute comes to the Floor under the Modified Structured Rule.

Sponsor’s Opinion of the legislation:

This bill is designed to address two major issues: Water Supply and Conservation. In addressing water supply, this bill gives us a new division under the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority and resources to address future water supply needs by expediting the construction of reservoirs. The bill sets up a revolving fund by which local governments can access needed funds for building or upsizing existing reservoirs. The State gives these local governments access to experts in environmental, legal, and technical fields to speed up the process by at the state and federal level for permitting.

In addressing conservation, this bill allows local governments through GEFA to access funds for infrastructure improvements such as running new sewer lines to get homes off septic tanks and on sewer. This allows us to reclaim and reuse more water. This bill creates tax credits for water saving devices, allowing homeowners to receive an instant tax deduction at the point of sale. The Department of Revenue and GEFA may enter into agreements to use the Georgia Reservoir Fund to cover the costs of credits.

This bill also establishes legislative oversight. The Georgia Water Supply Act Legislative Oversight Committee will be composed of the members of the House and Senate Natural Resources Committees.