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Legislative Watch

Georgia House of Representatives – 2.12.2025 Committee Meetings

By February 21, 2025No Comments

On February 12, 2025, the following Georgia House of Representatives committees met to discuss bills to potentially advance:

Select the associated links to read each bill in full.

Agriculture and Consumer Affairs

HB 91

This bill, discussed earlier (see HERE) allows graduates of foreign veterinary medical schools to become board certified in Georgia as long as the graduates meet the requirements to become licensed through associations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association or the American Board of Veterinary Specialists. Since the first reading, additional information has been added to clarify the certification requirements needed for the veterinary medicine graduates.

The bill passed committee.

HB 117

This bill, discussed earlier (see HERE) requires food service establishments to display from where they imported their seafood. The bill is intended to allow consumers where the food they eat comes from and to make the process more transparent. The bill was revised to note that only commercial food services need to display this information and that these services only need to note whether shrimp is imported; additionally, instead of listing the specific country, food service entities may use posted placards or notices that say “Foreign Imported”.

The bill passed committee.

HB 158

This bill seeks to streamline the process of doing business in Georgia by changing the organization in which companies register trade names. Currently, that is filed with the county, and consumers would potentially have to search through many county databases to find information about a company. Other business information is typically held with the office of the Secretary of State. This bill would require businesses to register trade names and similar information with the Georgia Superior Court Clerk Cooperative Authority

The bill was only introduced and heard; it will come back to the committee at a later date.

HB 163

This bill would require Georgia-based food service establishments that serve food products containing cell-cultured meat, plant-based meat alternatives, or both to conspicuously display on their menus or on placards visible to the public that such food products contain cell-cultured meat and plant-based meat alternatives. 

The bill passed committee.

Public and Homeland Security

HB 205

The United States Government, the US Department of Defense, and other authorities have recognized that the use of drones in the US that were designed, manufactured, and/or assembled in China present a threat to US security. Two Chinese companies—DGI and Atel—with close ties to China’s ruling Communist Party control 90% of the global drone market. 

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have deemed these drones a threat because these drones can store data and because Chinese law requires these companies to disclose any hardware or software vulnerabilities to the Chinese government before alerting the public, allowing the Chinese government to hack into these systems. 

HB 205 requires the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to work with the Department of Administrative Services to compile and maintain a list of drones that are determined to be secure against this hacking threat. The list will also include devices cleared by the Department of Defense. 

The bill also requires state and local agencies to purchase drones only from this list and to remove all other drones by 2028.

The bill passed committee. 

HB 246

This is a bill regarding sheriffs’ qualifications. Under the current Georgia code, within six months of becoming sheriff, an individual must have received the required training to be a sheriff. This bill is intended to ensure anyone who becomes a sheriff has the required training at the time of qualifying for the position. This does not prohibit anyone from running for sheriff, as anyone can receive that training and run for that position. 

The bill passed committee. 

HB 288

This bill aims to allow law enforcement officers to defend themselves in a court of law if a prosecutor questions their credibility. 

Currently, if an officer is called to court to testify in a case and the prosecutor believes there is an issue with the officer’s credibility, the prosecutor must provide that defense counsel with that information. HB 288 will require the prosecutor to take the information to the judge first so that the judge can make a decision about the officer’s credibility. If the judge finds the officer’s credibility to be an issue, they must give that information to the defense. Otherwise, the issue is disregarded.

The bill also creates a process for the removal or suspension of a law enforcement officer. There must be a hearing before an officer can be removed or suspended.

If there is an official or unofficial list of officers whom the prosecution will never call to a court case, the officers will be notified that they are on that list and can take that information to a judge to fight it with due process. 

This bill was only heard and will return to committee at a later date.

HB 295

This bill aims to ensure that local government municipalities enforce the law. If the local government authority is found not to be enforcing the law, this bill requires the citizens to be reimbursed either for the security costs they have had to incur or for their diminished property value. If a local authority decides against enforcing laws (for instance, HB 1105 from last year, which bars cities from being sanctuary cities for immigrants), the local government must reimburse the citizens. This bill aims to combat patterns of policy conducted by local authorities rather than written policy.

This bill will be amended and will return to the committee at a later date.

Technology and Infrastructure Innovation

HB 58 

This bill would not allow unmanned aircrafts to fly over ticketed event zones. This bill defines a ticketed entertainment event for the purpose of creating a zone within which operating a drone will be a misdemeanor unless the drone meets one of the listed exceptions. It also provides a 400 ft buffer from the event location, aligning with existing FAA practices. Listed exceptions include the following: 

  • A person who has obtained consent
  • A person who is operating under FAA authorization
  • Employees of the event
  • Utilities conducting official business

The bill passed committee. 

HB 156 

This bill has been tabled due to objections that the federal government may have different definitions than this bill. More discussion is needed.  

Higher Education

HB 56

This bill, discussed earlier this month (see HERE), relates to Georgia Public Security Memorial Grant (GPSMG), which provides free college and university tuition for children of law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency technicians, paramedics, and prison guards killed in the line of duty. This bill seeks to expand the list of potential recipients to the spouses for these public servants as well as to allow the spouses to be part-time students rather than requiring them to be full-time students. This grant is provided for the children and spouses of on-duty, off-duty, and volunteer public servants

The bill passed committee.

HB 150

This bill creates transparency regarding funding to Georgia’s higher education institutions, particularly from any country whose government is deemed a foreign adversary by the United States Secretary of Commerce. The university system will be required to report any funding from these countries quarterly to the General Assembly, to the Governor, and to the chairs of the Higher Education Committees in the Georgia House and Senate. This does not include simple tuition payments from an individual. The institutions must report the type of funding, its source, its amount, and its purpose. The bill does not prohibit the university system from taking any funding.

The bill will return to committee at a later date. 

HB 172

This bill, discussed previously (see HERE) relates to a tuition-reimbursement program for large food animal industry veterinarians in Georgia. Instead of applying each year, this bill allows these veterinarians to apply every four years and receive reimbursement of up to $90,000 in that time frame

The bill passed committee. 

HB 217

In 2021, the legislature created a dual achievement pilot program that allows students who failed out of high school or are no longer in high school to have a path to join technical colleges to get their high school diploma as well as a technical certificate. The program was to operate for five years with the option for students to attend Albany Technical College, Athens Technical College, Central Georgia Technical College, and Chattahoochee Technical College; some students may also use partner sites.  

Students who participate must have completed at least six high school courses, have withdrawn from high school, signed a waiver, and be between the ages of 16 and 21; they are eligible for the HOPE grant. To graduate, they must complete their remaining high school courses, which are taken at the technical colleges, and earn college credit credentials and a high school diploma. This program helps expand the workforce and give Georgians another path to education and careers. 

HB 217 seeks to make this program permanent.  

The bill will return to the committee at a later date. 

Rural Development

HB 51

The state’s capacity to transport natural gas cannot keep up with the need, specifically in Coffee County. This bill clarifies that the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) can offer low-interest loans to municipalities for expanding natural gas distribution similar to what has been offered for water and wastewater systems. These loans would alleviate concerns that rural counties would have to turn down capital investment opportunities due to a lack of available natural gas.

The bill is nearly identical to SB 13.

The bill passed committee.

HB 262

This bill would create a grant program for the purchase and installation of backup generators for “critical access hospitals”. Under Georgia law, a critical access hospital is defined as “a hospital that meets the requirements of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to be designated as a critical access hospital and that is recognized by the department as a critical access hospital for purposes of Medicaid.” Rural hospitals are struggling financially, and this would assist them with keeping up with costs.

The bill passed committee.

Ways and Means

HB 112 

This bill is a one-time tax credit for taxpayers who filed returns for both 2023 and 2024. The credit will be $500 for those filing jointly, $375 for head of households, and $150 for individual filing.

The bill passed committee. 

HB 90 

This bill aims to increase the maximum acreage farms can use to qualify for assessment and taxation. Acreage would be increased from 2,000 acres to 4,000 acres. This would help preserve farmland, specifically family farms

The bill passed committee. 

HB 111

This bill aims to accelerate the income tax cut schedule as voted on in previous years. The schedule would be amended from 5.39% to 5.19% for tax year 2025 and will include a schedule that will eventually allow Georgia to reach a 4.99% tax rate by 2027. This would also give corporations the same tax cut. 

Governmental Affairs

HB 113

This bill aims to increase the security of the state-purchasing process, ensuring the protection of the state’s infrastructure and citizens from growing cyber threats. It directs the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA)—Georgia’s state-designated cybersecurity experts—to establish and maintain an updated list of companies and products produced or sold by entities linked to foreign adversaries as defined by the United States Secretary of Commerce. It prohibits state agencies from purchasing or contracting with the entities determined to be a security risk to prevent Georgia from inadvertently introducing cybersecurity threats to the state. 

The bill also institutes a fine if one of these state agencies knowingly purchases from these entities; the fine can be $250,000 or triple the entire purchase value, whichever sum is greater. 

The bill passed committee. 

HB 140

This bill caps the revenue generated and collected from civil and criminal fines at 10% of the city’s total budget; once a city or municipality has gone over that 10%, the rest of the generated funds would go to the state. This means that cities can no longer receive large portions of their funding from citations. The goal is to reduce citations and thereby reduce tension between law enforcement and the community.

The bill passed committee. 

SB 16

Under current law, a bail bondsman may only become an elected official for positions on the school board. This bill seeks to add two other elected positions to that exemption: county commissioner and city council. A caveat requires that any elected official cannot issue bail bonds in that jurisdiction while serving in that elected position. This will mostly affect smaller counties.

The bill passed committee. 

Industry and Labor

HB 82

This bill seeks to aid small businesses that have a workforce problem by implementing a pathway for legal, merit-based temporary guest workers in Georgia. It sets up a presence in state government that small businesses can contact after exhausting all other state and national workforce avenues. These businesses can reach out to the state so the state can contact federal immigration authorities to help locate legal guest workers.

This program must go through the proper appropriations process. The bill allows the Governor to decide where in state government this program best fits and requires businesses to have a proven need.

Employers who abuse this program will be fined.

This bill sends a message to the federal government that Georgia should decide how many guest workers can come into the state to fill a workforce shortage rather than allowing the federal government to decide the state’s needs. The bill determines how many guest workers need to be in the state based on analysis rather than allowing guest workers to come into the state solely by lottery.

There were many arguments for and against the bill. It will return to committee at a later date after addressing some issues.