Redistricting, QR codes, property tax relief and the gas tax are on the agenda for a called, special session of the Georgia General Assembly slated to begin today, June 17, in Atlanta.
Gov. Brian Kemp issued a call for the special sesion in May to redraw district lines and to address legal concerns with the state’s voting system. Last week, he expanded the call for the special session to allow lawmakers from each county to vote on a sales tax-funded subsidy for homeowners. Pierce County’s delegation, State Representative Steven Meeks (RScreven) and State Senator Russ Goodman (R-Cogdell), appears ready to approve the tax relief locally.
A public notice for the county and the cities of Blackshear and Patterson are included in today’s edition.
A 1% Local Homestead Option Sales Tax (LHOST) would go before voters in each county in November if their local legislative a referendum at the special legislative session.
Meeks
Goodman
The sales taxes, which would go into effect in 2028, would subsidize property taxes owed by homeowners.
The new sales tax was authorized by Kemp’s signature on Senate Bill 33, which will cap increases in county valuations of owner-occupied homes at the rate of inflation.
The law is aimed at restraining rapid rises in value that have been driving up property tax bills.
Any LHOST approved under SB 33 would apply to a variety of products and services, including food, alcohol and motor fuels up to $3 in retail sales price per gallon.
Kemp’s revised proclamation also calls on lawmakers to ratify after the fact his extended suspension of the 33-cent a gallon motor fuel tax. Kemp suspended the fuel tax shortly after the conflict in Iran began. Lawmakers temporarily waived that tax in March and Kemp extended it last month using his authority after declaring a state of emergency.
The gas tax suspension ended at midnight last Tuesday.
The session will also consider redrawing legislative districts, pointing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April that invalidated a new majority-Black legislative district in Louisiana.
The order for a special session also calls on the Legislature to address a lingering problem with the state’s voting process.
Georgia’s current voting process will become illegal July 1 under a 2024 state law that banned the use of Quick Response barcodes, known as QR codes, for tallying votes. Despite meeting for two regular legislative sessions since passing that law, state lawmakers have neither authorized nor funded an alternative process.
Kemp’s proclamation calls lawmakers to the Gold Dome at 2 p.m. on June 17, the day after the runoff elections to decide the outcome of the May 19 primary elections.
They will be redrawing election maps without the same limitations previously imposed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which strengthened protections for Black and other minority voters by barring practices that diluted their votes.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that a new majority-Black legislative district was unconstitutional, raising questions about future legal interpretations of the Voting Rights Act. Lawmakers in several Southern states moved to redraw district lines after the ruling.
Local political observers don’t expect any changes in south Georgia, where virtually all of the local districts currently heavily Republican and have been since 2002.
Story courtesy Ty Tygami of the Capitol Beat News Service.
