Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee amends bill to raise Georgia Housing Finance Authority bond cap to $6 billion
Summary
A House committee amended House Bill 159 to raise the Georgia Housing Finance Authority(GHFA) aggregate cap on mortgage revenue bonds from $3 billion to $6 billion, approving the measure by voice vote after an amendment reduced an initial $12 billion proposal.
During a committee meeting, members amended House Bill 159 to increase the Georgia Housing Finance Authority(GHFA) aggregate cap on mortgage revenue bonds from $3 billion to $6 billion and approved the bill as amended by voice vote.
The change replaces language in the bill that would have raised the GHFAcap to $12 billion. The bill sponsor (unnamed) told the committee, "This would change the aggregate cap for the Georgia Housing Finance Authority and the amount of bills they can issue, the mortgage revenue bonds that they can sell from 3,000,000,000 to 12,000,000,000," and indicated members could offer an amendment to lower that figure to $6,000,000,000. A committee member (unnamed) moved to amend the cap from $12 billion to $6 billion; the committee approved the amendment and then voted to pass the bill as amended.
Committee action was by voice vote; the transcript records members saying "aye" and the chairman declaring the measure carries. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally or identify individual yes/no votes.
Why it matters: raising the aggregate cap would allow GHFA to sell more mortgage revenue bonds, potentially increasing the amount of mortgage financing GHFA can support. The committee record here shows only the change in the statutory cap; the transcript does not provide details about how the additional bond capacity would be allocated, any projected dollar amounts of specific future bond issues, or programmatic details on who would benefit.
Discussion vs. decision: the transcript records a brief explanation from the bill sponsor and procedural debate about the amendment. The committee recorded a motion, a second, an affirmative voice vote on the amendment and then an affirmative voice vote on the bill as amended. No further directions to staff or implementation details are recorded in the transcript.
The transcript does not specify an effective date for the statutory change, funding sources for any subsequent GHFA bond issues, or whether further approvals (for example, full House or Senate action) are required before GHFA may issue additional bonds.
