March 28th marked the last day of Georgia’s 2024 Legislative session, and it was a busy evening as lawmakers worked into the late evening hours to push bills past the finish line. The legislature cleared several prominent bills, including measures to define antisemitism, create a private school voucher program, cut taxes, and expand homestead exemptions, provide $2,500 pay increase for teachers, address growing immigration concerns, election integrity, more investment in mental health and rollback hospital regulations known as Certificate of Need.
Taxes:
- House Bill 1015: decrease the state income tax by .1%, going from 5.49% to 5.39%. Plans call for more gradual tax cuts until the rate reaches 4.99%.
- House Bill 1021: state child deduction will jump from $3,000 to $4,000 per child.
- House Bill 581: increases in a home’s taxable value could be limited.
- House Bill 1019: increases the state homestead exemption by as much as $4,000.
- Senate Bill 388: Cherokee County School District, full exemption for senior and disabled residents will be on the May primary ballot for County voters to decide.
Immigration:
- House Bill 1105: requires local law enforcement to help federal agents enforce immigration law.
Elections integrity:
- Senate Bill 189: creates new rules for voter qualifications, the potential for allowing more candidates qualify for Georgia’s presidential ballot and ban the use of QR codes to count ballots after 2026.
- House Bill 1207:allows a reduced number of voting machines.
School Choice:
- Senate Bill 233: establishment of Promise Scholarship accounts funded by the state in the amount of $6,000 per school year for each student.
Health Care:
- House Bill 1339: reforms the state’s certificate of need mandate, in hopes of increasing access to quality care through health care facility expansion
Other Legislation Passed:
- Senate Bill 332: revived a commission with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors in the wake of the allegations against Fani Willis.
- Senate Bill 351: requires social media companies to get parental permission before letting children younger than sixteen create accounts and bans the use of social media using school computers and internet.
- Senate Bill 63: expansion of cash bail
- Senate Bill 420: bans foreign agents of China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia from owning farmland in Georgia or any land within ten miles of a military base.
- House Bill 1053: prohibit governmental agencies from using central bank digital currency as payment.
Notable bills that did not get across the final line, sports betting (SB 386 and SR 579), banning puberty blockers (SB 1170) and biological males playing in girls’ sports (HB 1104), Medicaid expansion (HB 1077), ban using public money for dues or programs associated with the American Library Association (SB 390), religious liberty protections (SB 180 and HB 925), gun safe tax credit (HB 971) and the AI “deepfake” election bill (HB 986).
Governor Brian Kemp now has 40 days to sign, veto, or allow legislation to become law without his signature.