Transportation and Tax Reform
Move Forward
Welcome to Day 19 of the Georgia
General Assembly. Below are
highlights of action taken last
week.
Transportation
Regional Sales Tax
-
Senator Jeff Mullis’
regional transportation
sales tax legislation, SR
845, passed out of the Senate
Transportation Committee and
will soon reach the Senate
Floor. This Constitutional
Amendment would allow
counties to conduct a one
cent sales tax for
transportation and would
require the General Assembly
to enact legislation in 2009
spelling out how the tax
could be used in a voluntary
regional approach. Eighty
percent of the funds
collected from a
multi-county or regional
area would be expended in
that area and not less than
10 percent would be spent by
the state for mass transit
networks. The Cobb Chamber
strongly supports a new
funding mechanism for
transportation initiatives.
Taxes
Elimination of State Portion
of Property Tax
-
State Senator Chip Rogers’
bill (SR 859) to eliminate
the state’s .25 mill ad
valorem property tax
assessed through county tax
bills passed the Senate
49-4.
Controlling Property Tax
Assessments
-
Senator Rogers also saw
success with his bill to
control property tax
assessments. Senate
Resolution 796 passed the
State Senate this week by a
vote of 48-7. The
legislation would amend the
state constitution to freeze
property values at their
2007 values yet allow for
moderate increases of no
more than two percent a year
for residential properties
and three percent for
non-residential properties
with exceptions. If the bill
passes the General Assembly
it would be placed on the
ballot in November.
GREAT Plan Gets Retooled
-
Recognizing his broad-based
tax reform may have been
perceived as too aggressive,
House Speaker Glenn
Richardson appeared before
the House Ways & Means
Subcommittee last week to
discuss a scaled down
property tax reform measure
in HR 1246, the enabling
legislation for which is HB
979. The plan would
eliminate ad valorem taxes
on automobiles the first
year and the state would
make up the difference to
local government by taxing
lottery and grocery sales.
In the second year, 2010,
school ad valorem taxes
would be eliminated and the
revenue would be replaced to
local systems dollar for
dollar through a sales tax
on services, which would not
include medical, education,
child care or business-to-business transactions.
Tourism Development
-
Representative Jeff Lewis
re-filed his Tourism
Development Act (HB 1129),
which gives a sales tax
rebate for destination
resorts expanded or
constructed in Georgia. The
legislation passed the
General Assembly last year
but was vetoed after having
been amended before passage
with unrelated measures. The
bill is expected to go
before the House Ways and
Means Committee this week.
Water
-
SB 342, which streamlines
reservoir permitting and
provides state funds for the
expansion or creation of
reservoirs, passed the State
Senate by a vote of 44-1 and
moves to the House.
Health Care
Certificate of Need
·
The Senate Health and Human
Services Committee recommended
'do pass' last week to SB 433, a
measure that would make it
easier for destination cancer
treatment hospitals to side step
the certificate of need process.
Trauma Care
·
A state trauma care network came
closer to reality last week as
the House Governmental Affairs
Committee passed HB 1158 by
Speaker Richardson. The
legislation would add $10
dollars onto car tags to raise
$73 million for a trauma care
network across the state.
