Senate committee approves SB 260 to shrink Central State Hospital redevelopment board

A Georgia Senate committee on SB 260 unanimously approved a committee substitute that would reduce the Central State Hospital Redevelopment Authority's board from nine members to four and make several administrative changes intended to accelerate redevelopment of the Milledgeville property.

Sen. Williams, who introduced SB 260 (LC 62 0126), told the committee the authority "has 9 members. We've just had 6 members to resign; it's become quite controversial." He said reducing the board and tightening appointment authority would allow the body to act more quickly on redevelopment plans.

The substitute approved by the committee sets the board at four voting members'one appointed by the governor, one by the lieutenant governor and one by the speaker of the House'and adds a nonvoting member to be appointed by the state property officer. The bill also designates the attorney general's office to provide legal counsel to the authority instead of the authority hiring private counsel from its own funds.

Sen. Williams described the redevelopment authority's mission as getting Central State property back on the tax rolls, finding new uses for existing buildings, creating jobs and pursuing affordable housing. He said the Central State campus in Milledgeville encompasses more than 2,000 acres and once included more than 100 buildings; the authority currently oversees about 80 buildings. "There's a lot of blight there and get it back up and and create something with it," he said.

Williams cited a specific blighted building, Culver Kidd Hospital, which he described as a 55,000-square-foot former full hospital that has been stripped of copper. "They've stripped every bit of the copper out of that building," he said.

Committee amendments the panel approved clarified two points in the bill: on line 130 the language will specify "one nonvoting member shall be appointed by the state property officer," and on line 143 the committee deleted a phrase barring further compensation and replaced it with a per-diem provision allowing "members to be paid a per diem of $100 per meeting, but not more than three meetings per month." The chair called for a motion on the amendments; the committee voted to adopt them by voice and the chair said the motions passed unanimously.

After adopting the two amendments as a committee substitute, the committee voted to give SB 260 a do-pass recommendation as amended; the chair said the measure "carries unanimously." The committee did not announce a roll-call tally in the transcript.

The bill sponsor and committee framed the measure as a governance and administrative change intended to remove barriers to repurposing Central State property, including to support local economic activity and development of affordable housing. The transcript does not specify a timetable for further floor action or whether county or local approvals would be required for proposed redevelopment projects.

Votes at a glance SB 260 (LC 62 0126) ' Committee substitute adopting (1) board reduction to four members with one nonvoting State Properties appointee, (2) attorney general's office as legal counsel, and (3) a $100 per-meeting per diem capped at three meetings per month. Committee action: do pass as amended; outcome: approved unanimously (roll-call tally not specified).