2024 Georgia Legislative Guide

Legislators will attend to a full plate of lawmaking this year and probably want to make a fast start after scrambling to come up with new district maps in time for the session.

Gov. Brian Kemp is requesting $1.5 billion to help the state Department of Transportation make highway improvements. State School Superintendent Richard Woods has asked for a $3,000 pay raise for teachers, the ability to put paraprofessionals in all K-2 classrooms and more funding for transportation. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents requested a $198 million capital budget including expansion at five campuses.

Affordable housing is a hot topic. Cobb County is lobbying for the ability to create workforce housing zones to waive or reduce impact fees, fast-track permit approvals and allow more flexibility in design in order to receive state assistance, and the authority to implement rental registries to track code violations. Savannah is seeking the ability to waive development impact fees for affordable housing, as well as an expansion of State Enterprise Zones to include affordable housing development, and the authority to issue Housing Opportunity Bonds through an Urban Residential Finance Authority.

The Georgia Municipal Association supports expanding funding for Downtown Development Revolving Loan Funds, OneGeorgia Authority funds and Enterprise Zone programs. The Georgia Downtown Renaissance Fund, created in 2014 by the Department of Community Affairs to facilitate low-interest loans for redevelopment projects in downtowns, has not received an appropriation since it was established.

Mental health legislation that stalled last year will likely survive in some form in 2024 – both Kemp and House Speaker Jon Burns have made it a priority. There are efforts to free up millions in settlement funds from lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies available to Georgia to fight the opioid crisis. There may even be a vote to fully expand Medicaid, tied to certificate of need reform.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who leads the Senate, intends to introduce legislation to streamline the process for issuing professional and occupational licenses and expand the definition of small business from 100 to 300 employees in the Administrative Procedure Act. He also supports sports betting.

Public safety will be a contentious issue. There is a proposal to require body cameras for Georgia State Patrol officers and another authorizing the state to fire elected district attorneys and county solicitors. One bill adds 53 crimes and misdemeanors that will require cash or property bail for release. ACCG, the legislative organization for all Georgia counties, seeks to implement Next Generation 911 (NG911), updating the current 911 network from an analog system to a digital system.

As always, we can only hope Georgia leaders will resist the impulse to go wild politically and instead will come together to get things done.

About the Guide

Georgia Trend’s Legislative Guide provides contact information for legislators and other elected officials. Information that was not available at press time, including some committee assignments, is indicated by NA. All other information in the guide was correct as we went to press but may have changed since.

Information for the Legislative Guide was compiled by Christy Simo.

For updated information and a full list of committee assignments, go to Georgia’s Elective Officials or georgiatrend. com/special-sections.