A number of different committees of the Georgia General Assembly discussed topics important to Georgians. These committees were from both the House and Senate and addressed taxes, grants, and intragovernmental coordination.
First, the House Technology and Infrastructure Committee discussed two different bills. They began with Senate Bill (SB) 111, also known as the Georgia Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
SB 111 focuses on protecting the privacy of consumer personal data in this state. It is meant to align Georgia with twenty other states.
SB 111 balances a great business environment with data privacy. It easily passed to the Rules Committee.
Second, the Senate Finance Committee began with House Bill (HB) 136. This bill expands the tax credit program by increasing contributions to foster child support organizations.
HB 136 assists employers who can not afford to support foster care by granting them tax credits for doing so. It passed unanimously to the Rules Committee.
The committee then moved on to HB 532. This bill revises provisions concerning grants and special revenue disbursements to counties.
Essentially, HB 532 allows for counties to receive more than one grant for work done on state land. The bill passed with a contentious vote of 6-4.
The third bill discussed was HB 370 which is an enormous tax credit bill. HB 370 incentivizes small businesses to offer health insurance coverage to their employees.
These businesses would receive a tax credit per employee that is enrolled in a health insurance plan where employees receive tax-free reimbursements for health insurance premiums. After much discussion, it passed on the Rules Committee.
The committee concluded with HB 52. This bill extends the homestead tax exemption to qualified disabled veterans and unremarried surviving spouses or minor children.
HB 52 passed unanimously.
Finally, the House Governmental Affairs Committee began with SB 170. This bill creates a grant to increase generator capacity that was insufficient during and after Hurricane Helene. It easily passed to the Rules Committee.
The committee concluded with SB 175. This bill was very controversial and barely passed on to the Rules Committee. SB 175 prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting in elections and primaries.
