For a summary of some of the major provisions of the Illegal Immigration and Reform Enforcement Act of 2011, click here.   

HB 129 prohibits any transfer of property or covenant from including a requirement that anyone pay a fee for any future transfers of the property.  There are several exemptions to this prohibition, including transfers of property because of judicial foreclosure, non-judicial foreclosure and conveyances by court order or operation of law. 

This bill reduces the fine for state agencies and their contractors that violate the Georgia Water Quality Control Act.  It also gives them 30 days to cure any violations before being subject to the fine.  Further, the bill expands the authority of the Erosion and Sediment Control Overview Council to include the mediation of disputes over the issuance of orders or levying of fines by EPD.

HB 164 prevents counties from prohibiting the use of coin operated amusement machines or limiting the number of coin operated amusement machines to less than nine per business. Counties may provide limited regulation of these machines, including requiring business owners to inform all employees of the state prohibitions against disbursing certain types of prizes. Counties may provide that an alcoholic beverage license may be suspended or revoked for failure of a business owner to comply with the state law regarding the use of coin operated amusement machines. Counties may also regulate the distance required between the coin operated amusement machines and other structures, so long as the distance requirements are no more stringent than those provided for the sale of alcoholic beverages. Businesses may be required by the county to keep the coin operated amusement machines in plain view.

HB 178 removes the county sales tax on food, food ingredients and alcoholic beverages.  Instead, it imposes a "prepaid local consumable tax" which must be paid when alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tobacco products, food and food ingredients when the distributor ships these items to a seller.

Under current law, a peace officer is required to transport mental health patients who need emergency or involuntary treatment. HB 231 would allow a peace officer to request that medical transport provider be used, which could result in savings and redirect some offenders from the local jails.

This bill provides that cash bonds must be accepted for offenses in violation of commercial vehicle or driver safety; hazardous material transport; motor carrier insurance or registration; or road taxes on motor carriers. It further requires compliance with all federal motor carrier requirements.

This bill allows members of a mobile crisis response team contracted with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to assist in the transport and admission of individuals who are mentally ill. Currently, only law enforcement officers provide this service.

HB 259 eliminates sales tax and ad valorem tax on motor vehicles. Instead, a "local title fee" of 3.51% of the fair market value of the vehicle less any trade-in value would be imposed for 2012. The local title fee would increase to 3.645% in 2013, to 3.78% in 2014, to 3.915% in 2015 and then to 4.05% for 2016.

The tag agent will distribute the money to the county, the cities and school board in an amount to offset any reduction in ad valorem tax on vehicles that each local government collected during 2011. The remaining funds collected would be distributed to each local government based upon their proportional share of the local sales taxes. ACCG is working with the author to increase the local share over a 10 year period.

Under current law, the sheriff has the option of whether to allow private process servers to serve certain court papers in the county. To become a certified process server, a person must file an application with the sheriff. The sheriff has to approve a process server to operate in the county.

HB 284 removes the sheriff's authority to decide whether private process servers can serve papers in the county. The applications will now be handled by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

This bill would require everyone arrested for a felony offense submit to a DNA test before being eligible for bail.  The approximate cost to the counties would be $5 per test.

Requires testing of all convicted felons in the custody of the Department of Corrections and the county jails.

This bill statutorily specifies that a board of trustees of public retirement systems and public pension plans have the same duties that common law places on trustees.

This bill creates a new class of personal transportation vehicles that go no faster than 20 mph. The vehicles are required to meet minimum equipment standards and obey certain traffic laws as defined in the bill. Counties may adopt additional traffic regulations and require drivers to register with the county as long as doing so does not conflict with any state law. Vehicles currently registered with a county are grandfathered in and do not have to meet the minimum standards.

This bill prohibits counties from requiring bidders, offerors, contractors, subcontractors and material suppliers on county construction projects over $100,000 to enter into pre-hire agreements, labor agreements, collective bargaining agreements, etc. Also, counties cannot give preference to companies who have agreements with labor organizations.

This bill defines "family violence order."

This bill would not allow contracts requiring motor carrier transportation providers to indemnify someone from any loss or damage resulting from an intentional act or omission.

This bill updates the job tax and investment tax credit system in Georgia. The bill creates a standard base job tax credit for job creation, changes current thresholds in the Quality Job Tax Credit, and establishes a sliding scale of investment credits for direct investment. While it does reduce significantly the impact of a county's "tier status," it still recognizes Tier 1 counties and "less developed areas" with additional credits. To learn more, click here.

This bill incorporates all of the recommendations that came out of the Tax Reform Council.  See ACCG summary on the Tax Council recommendations.

This bill includes assisted living communities as a type of business from which counties can collect a regulatory fee.

This language was added to SB 178 and passed both chambers.