After a week away to haggle over the budgets, representatives and senators returned to "official session" on this day for their sixth day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly.  The House met in the morning, and the Senate gathered in the early afternoon.  Both met only briefly.

The real point of interest on this day was an afternoon meeting of the Ad Valorem Tax Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, where Representative Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) had his first chance to present HR 1, his party's latest attempt to put a lid on the annual growth in the assessed value of real property.  After Rep. Lindsey's presentation of the resolution, subcommittee chair Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla) allowed a literal parade of witnesses to testify on the merits (and, demerits) of the proposed legislation.  While the Fulton County Taxpayers' Association spoke in favor of the bill, a number of witnesses raised issues with the legislation.  Those raising the strongest objections were the city manager of Savannah, who objected strongly to the inclusion of commercial property in the proposed "capping" legislation, and the mayor of Macon (a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives), who reminded members of the majority party of their "local control" mantra (which this legislation seems to ignore).  Representatives from GSBA, ACCG, and GBPI also testified at this "hearing only" meeting, and House Ways and Means Chairman Larry O'Neal raised legitimate questions about the legislation toward the end of the session.  The subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday, as it appears that an attempt is being made to "fast track" this bill.

More legislation is beginning to be introduced as the session picks up speed, and as usual, some of it raises eyebrows but never sees the light of day again.  In that vein are such bills as HB 67 (seeks to remove the sales tax exemption on food and beverages), HR 27 (would abolish and prohibit state and local taxes), and HR 30 (limits sales tax exemptions to four years).  Others that have popped up and do have a good chance of moving are HB 63 (seeks to place restrictions on education money being spent on TAD's and PILOT's) and HB 91 (a conflict-of-interest bill).  Click on the bill numbers to read GSSA's summary of any of these bills and/or to read the actual legislation.

Day seven of the 2009 session will be on Tuesday, January 27.