As 2017 Legislative Session Heads for the Finish Line
Many County Priorities Still in Play
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Following a busy Crossover Day just one week ago, legislators marked an additional three days off for their 40-day calendar this week leaving just nine official days left for bills to pass this year. The pace will continue to quicken as legislators race to get their bills across the finish line. Several ACCG priorities are still moving through the process, so please continue to talk to your legislators and watch for ACCG Action Alerts as these bills hit critical points in the process.
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Changes to Valuation for Forest Land Protection Properties Could Result in Major Impact on Counties
HR 51 and
HB 85 make changes to the valuation of Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) properties. In exchange for placing forestland under restrictive covenants preventing other development, forestland owners currently can obtain preferential assessed values on that property, thereby lowering their property taxes. At present, local governments can obtain grants to make up for the loss of tax revenues as compared to 2008 values. HR 51 and HB 85 would remove the 2008 valuation and change to annual valuation going forward.
Because that change will benefit some counties but result in less grant funds for others, ACCG is working with the author to revise these bills to develop a phase-in for this change in FLPA valuation. Separately, this legislation would create a separate class of property: commercial timberland property of over 20 acres, which would also receive preferential assessment under an income methodology. Unlike FLPA properties, such commercial timberland would not be bound by restrictive covenants and no grant program is included to address the potential impacts to local government taxes. ACCG is also working with the author, county assessors, and other interested parties to further analyze these issues prior to this bill being heard in the Senate Finance Committee.
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SB 222, 911 Legislation, Now in House
SB 222 creates the Local Government 911 Authority that will provide coordination, planning, enforcement of statutory requirements for the payment of 911 fees, auditing, and development of best practices and standards for the operation of 911 centers.
Access the following links for more information:
section-by-section summary and
talking points. SB 222 is an ACCG legislative priority. Please contact your House members and encourage them to support this legislation.
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Firefighter Cancer Bill Passes Senate and Returns for House Approval
Thursday, the Senate unanimously passed
HB 146, Firefighter Cancer Insurance. The bill was amended in the Senate and must return to the House for final approval before it is sent to Governor Nathan Deal.
HB 146 would require fire departments to provide a lump sum payment to any firefighter diagnosed with certain types of cancers and up to three years of disability payments if the firefighter can no longer perform his/her job as such due to illness or injury. The coverage is estimated to cost about $1 a day per firefighter, whether an employee or volunteer of the fire department. If a firefighter is an employee of one fire department and a volunteer at another, only the department which employs the firefighter would be required to provide coverage. Click here for more information.
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SB 2, the FAST ACT, Now in House Small Business Development Committee
SB 2, also known as the FAST Act, is now in the House Small Business Development Committee. This legislation mandates that cities and counties which either charge any regulatory fees (license or permit fees), or have any regulatory requirements, must establish a schedule for those fees and requirements. The schedule shall include timelines necessary for processing completed applications and a list of all documentation needed by applicants to meet regulatory requirements. Whenever the local government does not meet its deadline for acting on a "complete" application, the associated fees will be reduced by 10 percent for each 10 day period that the application is not acted upon. Several other requirements are also imposed. For more information, please click
here. Please contact members of the
House Small Business Development Committee and express any concerns you may have with this legislation.
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Single County T-SPLOST Legislation Continues to Move
HB 134, an ACCG Legislative Priority that revises the Single County T-SPLOST, was heard this week in the Sales Tax Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. Click
here for the most recent version of the bill. An updated one page summary can be found
here.
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Important Revenue and Finance Bills Still Up for Consideration
HB 181 allows counties to obtain some county-specific information from the Department of Revenue (DOR) relating to sales tax reporting. A county can now ask DOR to review and validate that particular businesses’ sales taxes are being remitted to the correct jurisdictions. While specific dollar amounts would not be available, this legislation allows counties to assist DOR in identifying errors at an early stage. The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill on Thursday and it is now in the Rules Committee. Please contact your Senators to let them know you support HB 181.
HB 340 makes substantial changes to the calculation and distribution of the Title Ad Valorem Tax (TAVT) on motor vehicles. More information can be found here. While no Senate committee meetings on this bill have yet been scheduled, ACCG is continuing to work with legislators, GMA and school systems on the potential impact of this legislation.
HB 204 prohibits local governments from placing any non-tax-related fee, charge, or assessment on property tax bills. More information on this bill can be found here [link to last week’s info sheet]. At present, no Senate Committee hearing on this bill has been scheduled. Please continue to talk to your Senators about the impact of HB 204 on your counties.
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Click on "This Week's Bills" to review the bills included in this week's Legislative Update.
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Access the Legislative Tracking Database for a compilation of all bills ACCG is following.
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