With Crossover Day now out of the way, both chambers of the General Assembly are at work on the remaining legislation with only three weeks left in this year’s legislative session.
Here’s an update of what happened under the Gold Dome this week:
House lawmakers continued moving the internationally licensed physicians bill. Senate Bill 427, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, advanced out of the House Health Committee on Monday, advancing a proposal to create a pathway in addition to the traditional residency programs for practicing foreign physicians to obtain their medical licensure in Georgia.
Tax legislation also saw some post-Crossover sorting and early movement. Rep. Matthew Gambill’s House Bill 1000, a one-time income tax credit for individual taxpayers who filed Georgia income tax returns for both the 2024 and 2025 tax years, passed out of the Senate Finance Committee on Monday.
A couple of big ticket tax policy items that passed on Crossover Day include House Bill 880 and House Bill 1116, both introduced by Rep. Shaw Blackmon. HB 880 is a multi-year income tax rate reduction, cutting Georgia’s individual rate by 0.10 percentage points per year starting in 2026, until the rate reaches 3.99%.
HB 1116 was originally introduced to phase out property taxes on owner-occupied homes by 2032. It required a constitutional amendment, which meant a two-thirds vote (instead of a simple majority) from lawmakers and subsequent ratification by Georgia voters. After failing to muster the two-thirds support required for HR 1114, the House passed a revised version of HB 1116 that would limit growth in property tax revenue to the greater of 3% or the rate of inflation, and also includes a “Truth in Taxation” provision, which requires notification for all property owners when revenues will exceed the roll-back rate.
This year saw several proposals in both chambers related to Georgia’s handling of its growing data center industry. Two notable bills passed: Senate Bill 410, sponsored by Sen. Matt Brass and House Bill 1063, sponsored by Rep. Brad Thomas.
SB 410 would repeal the data center equipment sales tax exemption while preserving previously issued data center exemptions, and HB 1063 would require electric utilities to contract with new large data centers using terms that would protect residential and other retail customers from the costs of serving such facilities. SB 410 was assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee, and HB 1063 was assigned to the House Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.
Finally, an education bill worth watching is Senate Bill 472, sponsored by Sen. Billy Hickman. This bill would give the state stronger tools to intervene when a local school district shows serious signs of financial mismanagement. That includes allowing local school board members to be suspended or removed and superintendents to be terminated for cause in certain cases involving financial misconduct. SB 472 was approved by the House Education Policy and Innovation Subcommittee on March 11.