This legislation is a restructuring of the Civil Forfeiture Procedure Act which impacts drug forfeitures and seizures.  This statute is one of law enforcement's most effective tools in bringing down criminal enterprises. The district attorney, through a judicial process, can seize cars, cash and property of drug dealers and other criminals.  Many county commissioners refer to this forfeited property as drug fund money. The funds and property are used for law enforcement training, equipment and investigative expenses. The revised HB 1 standardizes the reporting requirements for law enforcement, and creates a new process for district attorney forfeiture funds.

HB 42 is identical to HB 62.  This bill provides for a completely different method of calculating the amount of sales tax due on mobile homes. Rather than a percentage of sales price, it will be calculated at 60% of the manufacturer's invoice amount. Additionally, this bill provides a complete sales tax exemption for the retail sale of pre-owned mobile homes.

HB 62 is identical to HB 42.  This bill provides for a completely different method of calculating the amount of state sales tax due on mobile homes. Rather than a % of sales price, it will be calculated at 60% of the manufacturer's invoice amount. It is unclear if this % calculation is intended to affect local sales and use tax.  Additionally, this bill provides a complete exemption from BOTH state and local sales and use tax for the retail sale of pre-owned mobile homes.

This legislation is a substantial revision of the new state and local title ad valorem tax (TAVT) system. Among other things, the bill changes how fair market value is determined; exempts commercial trucks (IRP vehicles) used for moving products interstate from the new system and continues them under the apportioned ad valorem tax; changes registration procedures; changes numerous items regarding dealers who directly finance sales; changes numerous items regarding leases; and provides for new criminal penalties. 

 

Please have your finance officials and tax commissioner review the proposed changes and provide feedback to Clint Mueller at ACCG. Click here for a summary of the proposed changes.

This legislation is the state's supplemental budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2013.

This legislation is the state's budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.

This bill purports to impose restrictions on the enactment process of any bills proposing any tax exemptions, exclusions, deductions, credits, deferrals, or preferential rates.

This legislation, one of ACCG's top priorities, seeks to halt the now-common state practice of redirecting fees from their designated purposes to the state's general fund for other uses.  If fees for the Solid Waste Trust Fund, Hazardous Waste Trust Fund, Indigent Defense, Peace Officers and Prosecutors Training Fund and teen driver's education are not appropriated for their intended use, the fees will be reduced or eliminated, proportionate to the amount that is redirected. 

 

While the Senate once again halted this legislation, HB 276 did pass both chambers, applying the above fee-reduction mechanism to the Hazardous and Solid Waste Trust Funds.    

 

Click here for ACCG's HB 127 Press Release

 

Click here for ACCG's sectional summary of HB 127

 

Click here for ACCG's implementation timeline for HB 127        

This legislation requires a tax exemption bill to be introduced in the first year of the biennial legislative session and eligible for passage in the second year after the bill has been studied and a fiscal analysis conducted.

This legislation authorizes a county to request a fractional percentage Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). There must be an intergovernmental agreement with the cities making up at least 50 percent of the municipal population to request the fractional SPLOST in a referendum. Counties could have multiple fractional SPLOSTs collected at the same time as long as the combined fractions do not exceed 1 percent.

This legislation would prohibit counties from placing any fees or assessments on the property tax bill.  This would include fees for solid waste, storm water, street lights, speed bumps and fire services.  It would also require partial payments to be applied to ad valorem taxes before any fees.

This bill extends the sunset for two year on the sales tax exemption for engines, parts, or equipment used in the maintenance and repair of aircraft registered out of state.

This legislation authorizes a county to spend up to 15 percent of the revenues from a future SPLOST on maintenance and repair activities.  The authorized percentage would have to be approved in a SPLOST referendum and could only be used to fund maintenance and repair on capital projects acquired through SPLOST. 

This legislation addresses one of ACCG's top priorities this session. To reduce paperwork and bureaucratic morass in complying with Georgia's illegal immigration reform laws, HB 183 consolidates three local government immigration reporting mandates to one report, due once a year, to one agency; no longer mandates that businesses seeking business licenses, occupation tax certificiates  or other documents required to operate a business submit E-Verify information to local governments annually, but just once; eliminates "contracts" as a public benefit; allows those submitting documents to local governments to prove immigration status to do so by mail; and allows legal U.S. citizens to only have to prove their citizenship by affidavit once, rather than annually, to receive public benefits from the same agency. 

 

For ACCG's Sectional Summary of HB 183, please click here.   

 

For ACCG's one-stop Web shop on all things immigration for Georgia's county governments, please click here.      

This legislation allows the Georgia Department of Revenue to permit distilleries to sell package liquor in limited quantity.

This bill creates a new sales and use tax exemption for kidney dialysis equipment. It has no sunset provision.

This bill reinstates the sales tax exemption for several charitable purposes. These include exemptions for food purchased by qualified food banks, food donated for disaster relief, purchases by certain nonprofit health clinics and purchases by Goodwill Industries Inc. The restored exemptions will sunset in two years.

This legislation makes substantial revisions to TSPLOST. It allows any two counties to levy as long as they are contiguous and located in a special district that rejected the imposition of the tax in 2012.

This legislation allows title to a vehicle to be transferred without a fee if it is transferred due to the death of the owner.

This legislation makes administrative changes to the implementation, collection and distribution of the energy excise tax.

 

Click here for a complete review of the bill.

 

This legislation makes several changes to the new system for taxing motor vehicles.   

This legislation renews the fees that make up the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund (hazardous waste transporting, disposal, and the state's 75-cent-per-ton solid waste tipping fees, among others) for five years, from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2018. Since 2004, over 60 percent of these fees have been redirected to the state's general fund, not going toward their statutorily-dedicated purpose of cleaning up hazardous sites, including old county landfills. 

 

The bill applies a fee-reduction mechanism (also found in HB 127) to fix the redirection of HWTF and Solid Waste Trust Fund fees.  If fees for these two trust funds are not appropriated for their designated purposes, then the fees will be proportionately reduced the following year.

 

Addressing the redirection of these fees was one of ACCG's policy priorities this legislative session. 

 

Click here for a chart and summary of the HWTF's redirected fees since 2004.

Click here for a chart and summary of the SWTF's redirected fees since 2004.   

 

This legislation provides for the comprehensive revision of provisions regarding ad valorem taxation, assessment, and appeal. The bill was amended this week in the Senate Finance Committee. Please review the summary of amendments and provide any comments or concerns to ACCG. The mandated salary supplement to the Superior Court Clerk for providing administrative support to the Board of Equalization was removed from the bill.