The text of this bill was added to HB 329 and adopted, effective July 1, 2019. This bill would make several changes to the calculation and distribution of title ad valorem tax (TAVT). Rather than the current law which provides for annual adjustment of the state/local split based on prior year collections, local governments will continue to collect ad valorem taxes on pre-2013 vehicles. TAVT proceeds be split between the state and local governments on a 65/35 (state/local) basis. The local share would be distributed as follows: 1) for vehicles registered in unincorporated areas, 51% of the local proceeds would be paid to the county and 49% to the school system; and 2) for vehicles registered in incorporated areas, 49% would be paid to the school system, 28% to the county, and 23% to the city. There are also provisions to accommodate MARTA in the three counties in which MARTA sales tax is collected. 

As adopted, the formula for calculating TAVT on used cars is unchanged. The TAVT rate for out-of-state registrations is lowered from 7% to 3%. Certain minor changes are also included, such as no longer charging full TAVT when a vehicle is retitled as a result of a divorce from one spouse to the other.

 Following recommendations of the Governor's Court Reform Council and in response to several recent Georgia Supreme Court decisions, this bill would allow for a limited waiver of the state's sovereign immunity so as to allow lawsuits against the state for injunctions and/declaratory judgments where a state law is alleged to be unconstitutional. As amended in House committee, the substance of HB 674 was added to this bill, waiving county and city sovereign immunity for injunctive/declaratory relief for allegations that the local government has violated a constitutional provision, statute, state rule/regulation, or local ordinance. Immunity would still apply to any  related monetary damages. The amended version also permits direct appeals of trial court orders ruling that immunity does not apply to a claim (from HB 256).

A substitute version approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee removes local governments from the scope of this bill but retains the direct-appeal authorization. 

This legislation renews the fees that make up the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund (HWTF) for one year, from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019. Most of the fees come from the state’s 75-cent per-ton tipping fee on solid waste going into Georgia’s landfills – a fee counties pay if they own/operate landfills. 

• Host fee minimum increases from $1 to $2.50 per ton but not effective until July 1, 2019. This increase only applies to a municipal solid waste disposal facility that is owned by a private entity. 
• Coal ash minimum fee is $1 per ton until 2025 when it will then increase to the $2 per ton minimum fee.
• Inert waste, construction and demolition waste minimum is $1 per ton.
• All of these fees are the minimum, not the ceiling. Counties can negotiate host fees, other fees and charges above the minimum. No host fees are to be reduced if they are in existence on July 1, 2019.
• 50% of the host fee collected shall be used for these purposes:
  • To offset the impact of the facility
  • Public education efforts 
  • Cost of solid waste management
  • Administration of the local/regional solid waste management plan
  • Repair of damage to roads and highways associated with the facility
  • Enhancement of litter control programs
  • Ground-water and air monitoring and protection
  • Remediation and monitoring of closed or abandoned facilities
  • Infrastructure improvements associated with the facility
  • Reserve fund allocation
  • Acquisition of property adjacent or in reasonable proximity to the facility to serve as beautification, environmental, buffering or recreational purposes
  • Fees not used for the above purposes (the remaining 50%) can be used for other governmental expenses.

This legislation, mirroring SB 403, allows only optical scanning voting equipment to be used for federal, state and county primaries and elections by January 1, 2024.  Paper ballots will be utilized to cast votes, but they can be marked by electronic ballot markers, which will then be scanned.  By August 1, 2018, the Secretary of State must issue a competitive public solicitation to select a vendor to supply this equipment statewide, with the selection announced by December 31, 2018. The purchase of this equipment, by the Secretary of State, is specifically conditioned on the General Assembly appropriating monies by July 1, 2019, and equipment must be in place, statewide, by the 2020 presidential preference primary.  All polling places utilizing these optical scanning voting systems will be equipped with at least one electronic ballot marker, which must be certified by the Secretary of State.  The bill sets out conditions which ballot markers must meet; procedures by which markers are examined, tested, approved and audited; public transparency; responsibilities of elections superintendents in examining and utilizing the equipment; and includes election superintendents in these processes.