Columbus, Georgia

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Association County Commissioners of Georgia

March 8, 2002

$60 MILLION IN NEW LARP FUNDING BEING DISTRIBUTED



During ACCG's Legislative Conference, Governor Barnes indicated he was making

available $150 million in funding for Georgia's local roads. Because the money

was coming from bond proceeds, ACCG was fully apprised about the timetable and

fiscal year for the funding. Here are some of the details.



The State of Georgia sold $357 million in bonds for transportation. Of that

amount, $150 million has been set aside for local roads, and about $207 million

has been earmarked for the GRIP program. $60 million is being distributed on

the LARP formula toward the priority list from counties. GDOT, recognizing

that some counties don't have the resources to prepare existing roads for

resurfacing, can provide additional funding for patching and repairing

potholes. It is also possible to extend your agreements on LARP.



When seeking any of these funds, it is important to make sure your legislators

participate in discussions regarding your local road needs with GDOT.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TRANSPORTATION

[Staff: Althea McCoy]



HB 1523 Allocating Percentage of Motor Fuel Tax Sales to Local Roads (Rep. Tom

Murphy)

HB 1523 is intended to help address local governments' transportation

infrastructure needs by identifying a permanent, annual funding source for

local transportation projects. Under this legislation, the Georgia Department

of Transportation (GDOT) would receive 4% of the sales tax on motor fuel rather

than the 3% that it currently receives. GDOT would then be required to use 1%

of the 4% sales tax to "pay all or part of the costs of planning, surveying,

constructing, reconstructing, improving, paving, and completing public roads

not on the state highway system." This legislation would allow greater

flexibility for the way in which funds can be used to meet the maintenance and

construction needs of local road systems. Additionally, the legislation would

increase the minimum funding level for local transportation projects. It is

estimated that 1% of the sales tax on motor fuel could total $58 - $65 million.

This funding would be a significant increase over the $29 million that the

Local Assistance Road Program (LARP) has averaged over the past three years.

The funding portion of the legislation would become effective July 1, 2004.

Status: Pending in House Appropriations Committee

Action Alert: Contact your legislators immediately and ask them to urge House

Speaker Murphy to allow the bill to move forward (or...to allow the bill to be

heard in the Appropriations Committee). Increased local transportation funding

is one of ACCG's priorities. OR Contact your legislators and members of the

House Appropriations Committee and urge them to support this bill. Increased

local transportation funding is one of ACCG's priorities.



HB 1382 Provisions for Maintenance and Elimination of Railroad Crossings (Rep.

Mickey Channell)

HB 1382, which would provide a process for resolving disputes between local

governments and the railroads over the maintenance and elimination of railroad

grade crossings, was amended by Sen. Eric Johnson to provide for the sharing of

maintenance costs. The amendment would require a county or city to cover the

costs of road surface materials as its share of the costs in maintaining a

railroad crossing. Under current Georgia law, railroads are responsible for

covering all of the expenses associated with maintaining a crossing. ACCG is

concerned that counties will not be able to cover the costs for surface

materials considering the significant backlog of road maintenance needs that

they are already facing.

Status: Passed House; favorably reported by Senate Transportation; pending in

Senate Rules Committee

Action Alert: Please contact your legislators with comments on the Senate

amendment as soon as possible.



HB 1587 Waiver of Requirements for Allocating State Transportation Funds (Rep.

Jimmy Skipper)

Currently, when additional state transportation funding becomes available, GDOT

may not be able to allocate the funds among congressional districts due to

allocation requirements prescribed by Georgia law. This legislation would give

the GDOT Board the ability to waive allocation requirements to allow the

expenditure of additional funds. A majority of the Board must approve the

waiver. Any project(s) undertaken with the additional funding will be

completed in conjunction with the projects funded according to the standard

allocation requirements. However, the waiver will be valid only for the fiscal

year in which it is granted, unless a majority of the GDOT Board agrees to

allow the funds to be used in the subsequent fiscal year.

Status: Favorably reported by House Transportation; pending in House Rules

Committee



SB 386 Exempting Trucks Carrying Concrete from Weight Limitations (Sen. Nathan

Dean)

Status: Passed Senate; favorably reported by House Transportation Committee;

pending in House Rules Committee

Action Alert: Please contact your House members with comments on this bill as

soon as possible. ACCG opposes this legislation.



HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

[Staff: Suzanne Nieman]



SFY2003 Budget - Grant-in-Aid to counties

One of the more significant health reductions in the SFY2003 budget is

$3,500,000 for the Grant in Aid for County health departments. As proposed,

the reduction will affect all county public health departments, in amounts from

$3,340 to $398,351. The funding is through the Division of Public Health in

the Department of Human Resources (DHR).

Status: Pending in House Appropriations Committee

Action Alert: Please ask your legislator what the total dollar amount will be

for your local health department and how the funding will be replaced.



HB 381 Emergency transportation of patients and clients to an emergency

receiving facility (Rep. Chuck Sims)

This legislation was amended in the House committee onto HB 1400, which relates

to the transport of mental health patients between facilities.

Status: Favorably reported by House Health & Ecology; pending action on House

floor3/18/02



HB 498 Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Substance Abuse System (Rep. Tom

Murphy)

This legislation recognizes the need for ongoing improvement and greater

accountability in Georgia's system for publicly funded services for people with

mental illness, mental retardation and substance abuse.

Status: Passed House and Senate.

Note: The Senate version is different than the House version. A conference

committee has been appointed.



SB 510 Removal of DFCS Board members (Sen. Jeff Mullis)

This legislation provides for the suspension of Department of Family and

Children Services board members upon indictment for any crime involving moral

turpitude. The governing authority of the county that appointed the members

may, by resolution, suspend the board member from his or her membership

immediately. The legislation provides for the appointment of temporary and

replacement members. Currently there is nothing in the law which addresses

the removal of a DFCS board member other than when the person moves out of the

county.

Status: Pending in Senate Rules Committee





NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT

[Staff: Chris DeVinney]



HB 1406 Hazardous Waste Trust Fund Reauthorization (Rep. Tom Shanahan)

This bill increases the funding mechanisms which support the Hazardous Waste

Trust Fund (HWTF) and reauthorizes them until 2013. The funding mechanisms

include a fee paid per ton of solid waste that is disposed in Georgia, and fees

paid on hazardous waste generation, handling and reporting. Solid waste fees,

where local governments typically pay into the HWTF due to publicly-owned

landfills, will increase from $.50 / ton to $.65 / ton in 2003, and will

increase again to $.75 / ton in 2008. All landfills will be able to keep 2% of

this fee to offset administrative costs of collecting it on behalf of EPD. In

addition, half of the revenue collected annually from the solid waste fees will

be earmarked to go specifically to clean up publicly-owned hazardous sites

(such as landfills which have contaminated groundwater associated with them.)

This bill also changes the current brownfields law by allowing limited

liability for purchasers who redevelop and clean up contaminated properties by

meeting soil standards. As an incentive for redevelopment, groundwater cleanup

would not be required on these properties.

Status: Passed House; pending Senate committee assignment





REVENUE & FINANCE

[Staff: Clint Mueller]



HB 337 Limitations on Tax Sales (Rep. Glenn Richardson)

The proposed substitute to this bill would prohibit the lot block sale of tax

liens. This bill would also require counties to pay interest on any excess

funds that are not paid within 90 days after the date of the sale. Finally, the

redemption fee would be reduced from 20% to 10% in the second year after the

sale.

Status: Passed House; pending in Senate Banking & Financial Institutions

Committee



HB 878 Business and Occupation Taxes: Challenging Regulatory Fees (Rep. John

Yates)

HB 878 would create a procedure whereby businesses subject to local regulatory

fees, such as building inspection fees, could challenge those fees if they

believe them to be illegal. Upon receipt of complaints from five businesses

about a particular county or city, within six months, the Georgia Department of

Community Affairs would gather information on the dispute including data which

would explain the methodology for developing the fee structure, and bring the

parties together in an effort to resolve the dispute. This bill was amended to

provide that a business challenging a county's regulatory fee structure would

be entitled to the recovery of wrongful fees and reasonable attorney fees if

successful.

Status: Passed House; pending assignment to Senate Committee



HR 1073 Create Separate Class of Property for Low Income Building Projects

(Rep. Tom Buck)

This bill would authorize a statewide referendum to let voters decide if the

constitution should be changed to treat low income building projects as a

separate class of property. Companies that receive federal and state funds for

providing below-market rent to those who qualify for low income housing do not

want their governmental income to be considered when assessors value their

rental property.

Status: Passed House; pending in Senate Finance & Public Utilities



HB 1278 Removing Members of the Board of Tax Assessors (Rep. Anne Mueller)

This bill would change the due process for removing members of the board of

assessors to allow the county commission to remove a member for due cause after

notice has been given and an opportunity for a hearing before the commission

has taken place.

Status: Favorably reported by House Ways & Means; pending in House Rules

Committee



HR 1111 Property Tax Break for the Cleanup of Environmentally Contaminated

Property (Rep. Tom Shanahan)

This bill proposes an amendment to the constitution to create a separate class

of property for ad valorem tax purposes for those properties containing

environmental contamination. If passed in a statewide referendum, new owners

of contaminated property, who were not responsible for creating the

contamination, could recover their costs for cleanup by receiving a temporary

exemption from increased property assessment resulting from the value of the

cleanup. The rationale behind this proposal is that this would provide an

incentive to redevelop "brownfields" in Georgia.

Status: Passed House; pending assignment to Senate Committee



ACCG STAFF MEMBERS AND ASSIGNED ISSUE AREAS



Jim Grubiak - General County Government jgrubiak@accg.org

Kelly Pridgen - Courts kpridgen@accg.org

Chris DeVinney - Natural Resources & Environment cdevinney@accg.org

Althea McCoy - Transportation & Economic Development amccoy@accg.org

Clint Mueller - Revenue & Finance / Public Safety

cmueller@accg.org

Suzanne Nieman - Health & Human Services snieman@accg.org

Mari-Leigh Beckworth - Legislative Intern mbeckworth@accg.org



All bills can be accessed and downloaded through ACCG's website: www.accg.org

or by calling:

Clerk of the House: (404)

656-5015 for House bills and resolutions

Secretary of the Senate: (404)

656-5040 for Senate bills and resolutions