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Senate committee approves cleanup to homestead opt-out rules; requires annual reauthorization for jurisdictions that opted out
Summary
The Senate Finance Committee approved House Bill 92, a cleanup to the floating homestead exemption law that requires jurisdictions that opt out by March 1, 2025, to reauthorize that opt-out annually and clarifies deadlines for estimated rollback rate certification.
The Georgia Senate Finance Committee on an announced voice vote moved House Bill 92 forward after adopting a technical amendment that clarifies how local governments opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption.
The bill, introduced to the committee as a cleanup to prior property-tax relief legislation, requires any levying authority that opts out by March 1, 2025, to repeat that opt-out annually to remain exempt. The draft also revises deadlines and procedures for certifying estimated rollback rates and for when a county may use the prior year’s millage if an estimated rate is not certified on time.
Committee members and counsel spent the bulk of the discussion on two interlocking issues: (1) whether the statute should allow new jurisdictions to opt out in future years, and (2) how to write the law so existing local freezes or “better” local protections are not forced into needless annual procedures. Committee members said the intent is that jurisdictions that opted out this year must reauthorize that choice each year to remain opted out, but jurisdictions that did not opt out this year should not gain a new opt-out right automatically.
The amendment adopted in committee replaces portions of the bill to (a) require certification of the current year’s estimated rollback rate to the county board of tax assessors and county tax commissioner or, if the levying authority did not certify, to default to the prior year’s millage; and (b) require levying authorities to certify estimated rollback rates to the county board and tax commissioner no less than 15 days prior to the postmark of the annual notice of assessment. The amendment was read into the record as LC# 51125S and replaces specified line ranges in the bill text as presented to the committee.
Committee members also discussed operational details the statute will affect, including: the March 1 deadline for adopting an initial opt-out (the draft references March 1, 2025), whether local legislative delegations should be added as an extra approval step, and how to treat jurisdictions with preexisting freezes or base-year protections. Members said some local jurisdictions already have freezes in place (committee members cited roughly 73 jurisdictions with preexisting protections) and that language can be tightened to avoid forcing those jurisdictions through redundant public hearings and annual revotes.
The committee recorded a voice vote on a motion to adopt the amendment; the amendment passed with one recorded “no” vote. The committee then voted to pass House Bill 92 out of committee; the chair announced the motion carried with no recorded opposition.
Next steps: HB 92, as amended, will proceed from the Senate Finance Committee to the next stage in the legislative process for floor consideration by the full chamber.
