House committee approves substitute to HB 351 removing specified submission requirements for local consistency letters

At a Natural Resources subcommittee meeting and later before the full committee, lawmakers approved a substitute to House Bill 351 that deletes two provisions requiring applicants to include local ordinances or resolutions and written reconfirmation from local governments when seeking zoning and solid-waste management plan consistency letters from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

The change matters because it alters what must be included in statute for landfill and solid-waste facility applicants and clarifies how EPD will confirm local consistency. Supporters said EPD already can check ordinances and request reconfirmation directly from local governments, so the specific language is unnecessary.

A legislator introduced the substitute and said the measure removes lines 127–130 and 137–148 from the current draft. The deleted lines previously would have required the applicant to submit a copy of any ordinance or resolution identifying the official authorized to submit zoning and solid-waste management plan consistency letters and would have allowed the EPD director to require written reconfirmation from the local government if the director believed the facility description differed substantially from the local submissions.

Sarah Visser, assistant branch chief for land protection at the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, told the committee: "No. So that provision that is struck is strictly related to the special solid waste provisions that have been deemed unconstitutional. So all of the existing siding requirements are all the same. It's just removing that special solid waste provision." Visser said EPD can look up ordinances and can request reconfirmation directly from local governments when necessary.

Representative Buckner raised a concern about groundwater recharge areas after the deletions, asking whether removing the language would allow a regional landfill to be sited in a significant recharge area. Committee discussion noted that the struck language related to a special solid-waste provision aimed at excluding out-of-state waste and that courts had previously struck similar language as unconstitutional. Representative Davis said the bill adds a requirement that local governments designate an authorized official to send consistency letters, or that the head of the elected body or chief elected official serve that role, which the presenter said resolves a prior ambiguity about who should be contacted.

In subcommittee, a member moved that the substitute "do pass," a second was recorded, and the measure passed by voice vote; individual tallies were not recorded. The substitute then was considered by the full committee, where another motion to pass received a second and passed by voice vote.

The committee record shows the bill advanced out of committee by voice vote; no roll-call vote totals were provided in the transcript.

The meeting moved on after the committee vote. The transcript does not specify subsequent steps, calendar placement, or any amendments beyond the deletions described during the discussion.