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Three Legislative Days Remain in the 2017 Legislative Session
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Only three days remain in the 2017 legislative session. During these final critical days, ACCG will be sending Action Alerts regarding bills with a significant impact on county governments. Please watch for the alerts and be sure to communicate with your legislators so that the voice of counties can be heard.
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IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED: SB 2 - the FAST Act
SB 2, also known as the FAST Act, has a scheduled committee hearing for Monday, March 27. The bill is currently in the
House Small Business Development Committee. SB 2 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.
In addition, the latest substitute version of SB 2 being considered by the House Small Business Committee now includes the original language of
HB 204 - which prohibits counties from putting fees on property tax bills.
Because of this language, ACCG opposes the current version of SB 2. Please contact your Senators to urge them to oppose the addition of HB 204 to SB 2.
Click here to access talking points when discussing HB 204.
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Ongoing Effort to Add HB 204, Fees on Property Tax Bills, to SB 2
HB 204, regarding fees on property tax bills, continues to stay alive. As passed in the House, this bill would prohibit counties from placing any other fees or assessments on property tax bills. At least 58 counties currently place one or more fees or assessments on tax bills, which enhances collection rates and therefore allows counties to keep fees lower. The Senate has stripped that language from the legislation, but it can be anticipated that the author will seek to add it back in Conference Committee if HB 204 passes the Senate. As noted, there is also an effort underway to add the language of HB 204 to
SB 2, which is pending in the House.
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911 Legislation Still Pending
SB 222, an ACCG legislative priority, creates the 911 local government authority and is still alive for the session. The bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and is now headed to House Rules next week.
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Single County T-SPLOST Bill on Senate Floor Today
HB 134, another ACCG legislative priority, which adds flexibility, clarifications, and enhancements to Single County T-SPLOST, will be heard on the Senate floor today. Upon approval in the Senate, the bill will return to the House for an agree/disagree vote on the Senate changes.
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Title Ad Valorem Tax Bill Amended
HB 340 was amended in the Senate Finance Committee this week. Of particular note, the amendments remove the important provisions that shift more TAVT proceeds from the state to local governments. HB 340 will be heard on the Senate floor today. If passed, ACCG will continue to work on the language regarding distribution of TAVT revenue as the bill proceeds to an expected conference committee.
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HB 181 Pending in Senate Rules
HB 181 is pending in the Senate Rules Committee. This bill gives counties access to additional information from the Department of Revenue (DOR) regarding sales tax collections such as a list of current vendors submitting sales tax returns to DOR. Further, this bill allows counties to ask DOR to verify whether particular vendors'/businesses' sales taxes are being paid to the correct local jurisdiction (at present, DOR believes it lacks the authority to respond to such inquiries).
HB 181 allows counties to assist DOR in identifying errors in sales tax distributions sooner rather than later. Therefore, ACCG encourages counties to contact the Senate Rules Committee and urge them to place HB 181 on the Senate Rules calendar. A list of Rules Committee members can be found
here.
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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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