by Mark Niesse | Feb 18, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Move over, peaches, peanuts, and pecans.
Lemon pepper wings could soon join the ranks of official Georgia foods, according to a bipartisan bill considered by lawmakers Wednesday.
Lemon pepper wings are a “cultural and culinary phenomenon,” said state Rep. Eric Bell, D-Jonesboro, the bill’s sponsor.
“Lemon pepper is something that’s synonymous with the state of Georgia, and people across our nation have come to know Georgia as famous for its lemon pepper wings,” Bell said. “This is a homegrown identity.”
The renown of Georgia’s lemon pepper wings has grown in recent years through references by hip-hop artists Rick Ross, Quavo and Gucci Mane, Bell told the House Special Rules Committee.
Forget Buffalo wings, invented in Buffalo, New York.
Lemon pepper wings have become a source of Georgia pride and heritage that could attract tourists to local restaurants, Bell said.
Based on the reaction from the committee’s chairman, the bill has a chance of becoming law.
“I’ll have to agree with you that is my favorite wing too is the lemon pepper wing. I do like them better than any other kind,” said Special Rules Chairman Mitchell Scoggins, R-Cartersville.
The committee could soon vote on House Bill 1013. If approved, it would advance to a vote in the full state House of Representatives.
by Mark Niesse | Feb 18, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Republican senators are pitching giant income tax cuts to make Georgia more affordable, a plan that Democrats warn could lead to fewer government services or sales tax hikes.
The income tax relief proposal, which passed the state Senate last week, would exempt the first $50,000 of annual earnings by an individual and $100,000 for a married couple while lowering the income tax rate.
To fund such sweeping tax cuts, the Senate’s Republican majority is seeking to end tax breaks for new data centers and other business interests. But eliminating those tax breaks would save less than $3 billion a year, and the income tax overhaul would cost the state government $6 billion.
Another Republican-sponsored bill would slash the state’s income tax rate, from 5.19% to 3.99% by 2028, adding another $3 billion to the loss of government revenue.
If sales tax rates rise or the government scales back public spending, residents will pay the price, said Danny Kanso, a budget analyst for the liberal-leaning Georgia Budget & Policy Institute.
“The working class and middle-class folks might get hit twice — they might see their taxes going up and they might lose services,” Kanso said. “There are a lot of losers, and there might be very few winners.”
Republican supporters of the tax cuts dismiss those concerns, saying the middle class needs relief from rising prices.
The total amount of Georgia’s annual tax breaks for businesses is $30 billion, a ready funding source to reduce income taxes paid by residents, said state Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, during a Senate debate last week.
“Are we going to vote to allow corporate welfare and corporate subsidies at the expense of families who are trying to pay for gas, groceries, and child care?” Tillery asked. “Or are we going to comb back those credits … and eliminate that tax burden on those hard-working families?”
State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Decatur, called the income tax cut bills a “scam” and a “fairy tale.”
She said she’s worried that Republicans will try to make up for the revenue loss by raising sales taxes, cutting public services or shutting down public universities.
“It is complete magical thinking,” Parent said of the income tax cut bills during a Senate speech. “It’s about delivering a headline without telling you what happens next when politicians promise you something for nothing. It’s usually you who will end up paying.”
So far, the income tax bills don’t seek those kinds of sales tax increases or government downsizing.
The proposals would be partially funded by eliminating a series of tax breaks for data centers, rent-controlled apartments, insurance companies, business headquarters, banks, crab fishermen, electric vehicle chargers, telecommunications facilities, and boat repairers, among others.
The fate of the income tax plans is in flux now that they’re in the hands of the state House, which could amend Senate Bills 476 and 477, or move forward with its own ideas.
House leaders are promoting a different way of trimming residents’ tax burden: They want to eliminate property taxes on a homeowner’s primary property, replacing them with different kinds of taxes for services such as schools, police and fire departments.
“If you don’t decrease your cost of government, then all you’re doing is shifting around the burden of paying for government,” said Clint Mueller, deputy director of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, which advocates for county governments. “If you take it off one type of taxpayer, it has to be paid by a different type of taxpayer.”
by Mark Niesse | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Republican Steven McNeel won a runoff for a Macon-area Georgia Senate seat Tuesday, holding off Democrat LeMario Brown, who had sought to flip the district.
Democrats had hoped to gain ground in the Republican-dominated Senate after victories in statewide Public Service Commission elections last November and in a special election for an Athens-area state House seat in December.
But most voters in the conservative-leaning district decided to keep it under Republican control, according to unofficial results. McNeel received nearly 60% of the vote.
McNeel, an attorney who manages a timber farm, will join the state Senate midway through this year’s legislative session, replacing former Sen. John F. Kennedy, who resigned to run for lieutenant governor.
McNeel will represent Senate District 18, which includes Crawford, Monroe, Peach and Upson counties along with parts of Bibb and Houston counties.
Brown, a former Fort Valley councilman and small business owner, had emerged as the leader in the initial election last month, but a runoff was required because none of the candidates received a majority. Brown was the only Democrat in the race, and the other five candidates split the Republican vote.
With McNeel’s victory, Republicans will hold a 32-23 majority in the Senate.
One Senate seat is vacant after former state Sen. Colton Moore resigned to run for the congressional seat previously held by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green. The special election for Green’s former northwest Georgia seat is scheduled for March 10.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are again targeting corporate landlords in a bid to address housing costs during an election year when voters are concerned about affordability.
“I have a grave fear that we are becoming a nation of renters and not homeowners,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Regular home buyers do not have the deep pockets to compete with institutional investors when trying to buy a home, he said. His solution is Senate Bill 463, which would cap corporate ownership at 500 single-family rental homes.
A Senate committee passed his measure Tuesday despite industry opposition.
SB 463 would allow tenants and other aggrieved parties to sue if they found that a corporation was in violation of the ownership limit. Dolezal said that would skirt constitutional challenges against state overreach with direct enforcement.
But Austin Hackney, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Georgia, still questioned whether that would pass legal muster.
The use of lawsuits rather than state enforcement is “walking a constitutional tightrope” rarely seen in legislation, Hackney said, adding it “is a strong indicator that that the right to private property is on the chopping block here.”
A critic representing Realtors said they oppose the bill because it would affect “mom and pop” Georgia landlords who had amassed “generational wealth” through real estate.
Current owners of more than 500 homes would be held harmless by the legislation.
The bill also targets foreign owners because, Dolezal said, “we are trying to prevent foreign entities from buying American homes that we believe should be for American families to own.”
The measure now moves to the full Senate. The House already has similar legislation.
House Bill 555 sought to limit companies from having an ownership interest in more than 2,000 single-family residences or 10 multifamily residences in Georgia. A House committee approved it last March despite constitutional concerns. It has not had another hearing.
The issue has become bipartisan.
Lawmakers passed a more limited measure into law last year that was led by a Democrat. House Bill 399, by Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, required out-of-state investors, such as hedge funds, to have a local broker and property manager for their Georgia rental properties.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is fending off a Republican challenge for his seat, launched a public inquiry last spring into the way corporate landlords treat tenants.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia’s main electric power monopoly filed requests with state regulators Tuesday to set new billing rates for customers that will recover the cost of storm-related repairs and adjust for changes in fuel prices.
The company said its new rate requests will “protect customers from future fuel price volatility” by locking in prices for future supply while also reducing bills. The company burns coal and natural gas to make electricity that it transmits to customers.
Hurricane Helene lashed Georgia in late 2024, causing major losses for agriculture and other sectors. Georgia Power said nearly $800 million of the $912 million in storm damage it wants to bill customers for over the next four years was caused by Helene.
Georgia Power is allowed to pass on recovery and fuel costs to customers, but it must have permission from the Georgia Public Service Commission, the elected body that regulates utilities.
So the company filed documents with the agency that make the case for adjusting its billing rates. It said favorable fuel costs would benefit customers.
“If approved, expected fuel savings will be more than enough to offset storm costs resulting in a 1 percent rate decrease for the average retail customer, and savings of approximately $1.32 per month for the typical residential customer using an average of 1,000 kWh per month,” Georgia Power said in a statement.
