House Governmental Affairs Committee adopts rules, removes cityhood feasibility restriction and names subcommittee leadership

The House Governmental Affairs Committee adopted its rules at an organizational meeting, removing a provision that had specified which universities and entities could conduct feasibility studies for proposed cityhoods and naming subcommittee chairs and schedules, Representative Eddie Lomson, chair of the committee, said.

The change matters because Lomson said the committee will seek to move the city-creation process into state code rather than leave it solely in committee rules. "Item 13 is the definition or the process to create a city in the state of Georgia. It exists in our committee rules... We do have a bill that is being worked on ready now that will take it out of committee rules and actually put it in code," Lomson said, adding he expects to present the bill within the next week or two.

Committee rules and vote A member moved to approve the committee rules, a member seconded, and the committee adopted the rules by voice vote. Lomson said the committee—s quorum remains six members and emphasized that "Committee rules can be changed with a simple majority vote of the committee." The transcript does not include a roll-call tally; the action was recorded as adopted by voice vote.

Rule change and rationale Lomson said the only substantive change from last year—s rules was removal of language that had "specifically delineated, universities and entities that were allowed to do the feasibility studies for proposed cityhoods." He said several listed institutions had either refused or delayed participating "due to volume in other areas," and the committee removed the specific list to simplify the rule.

Subcommittees, chairs and schedule The committee will maintain two standing subcommittees: an elections subcommittee chaired by Rob Leverett with Houston Gaines as vice chair, and a state and local government subcommittee chaired by Brad Thomas with Steven Sainz as vice chair. Lomson said subcommittee hearings will begin next week, with subcommittee meetings scheduled on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. He asked chairs and members to be prepared for back-to-back, hour-long hearings depending on bill volume and said the committee may consolidate or adjust early schedules to accommodate room and timing constraints. The full committee is scheduled to meet in the same room on Wednesdays at the standing time unless changed.

Procedure and bill intake Lomson said he reserves the right, depending on timing and consultation with bill authors, to call a bill directly to the full committee even if it had not completed subcommittee consideration. For tracking and scheduling, the committee will use a bill hearing request form; Lomson said copies will be available from Chelsea Bell, his administrative assistant, and that staff member Molly will likely have an electronic copy.

What was not decided The meeting was an organizational session and did not finalize any substantive legislation. Lomson said a bill to move the city-creation process into state code is being prepared and will return to the committee for consideration; the text and timing of that bill were not specified at the meeting.

The meeting adjourned; Lomson said regular hearings will begin next week.