by Dave Williams | Jul 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The state closed out fiscal 2025 at the end of last month with a slight increase in net tax collections compared to fiscal 2024, Gov. Brian Kemp reported Tuesday.
Net tax revenue for the 12 months ending June 30 was up $197.4 million over the previous fiscal year, an increase of 0.6%. Gross tax receipts compared to the previous fiscal year were significantly higher, reflecting two and a half months during the fall quarter of fiscal 2024 when Kemp suspended collection of the state sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels.
Net tax revenue for June was up 4.1% over June of last year. Individual income taxes rose by 12.5% last month, as tax return payments soared by 118% and refunds issued by the revenue agency fell by 4.3%.
Net sales tax collections increased by 2.8% last month compared to June of last year.
On the other side of the ledger, corporate income taxes dropped in June by 9.8%, a result of corporate tax payments declining by 4.0% and tax refunds increasing by 157.5%. While individual taxes make up the lion’s share of tax payments to the state, the smaller corporate tax collections typically are more volatile month to month.
Motor fuel tax revenues fell slightly in June – by 0.3% – compared to the same month a year ago, a number that’s likely to rise as Georgians hit the highways in July for summer vacations.
by Dave Williams | Jul 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lt. Gov. Burt Jones announced Tuesday he’s running for governor, a long anticipated move that sets up a primary race next year among Republican heavyweights.
Jones, a former state senator from Butts County, posted his first campaign video on YouTube, touting Georgia’s accomplishments in recent years under Republican rule and laying out his stands on key issues moving forward.
“Today, I see a Georgia where families are prospering, a Georgia where businesses are moving here and growing here, a Georgia where our families are safer thanks to tougher crime laws, and our schools strengthened thanks to empowering parents’ rights,” Jones said as he drove along in a pickup truck.
“Working for the families of Georgia, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has brought real conservative leadership that protects our freedom, our values, and our families,” a narrator intones.
If elected governor, Jones vowed to eliminate the state income tax and end fentanyl overdoses in Georgia through tougher penalties and stepped-up efforts to educate Georgia’s young people on the dangers of illegal drugs.
Jones represented Middle Georgia’s 25th Senate District for a decade before being elected lieutenant governor in 2022. An executive in a family-owned oil company, the 2002 graduate of the University of Georgia co-captained the Bulldogs football team that year to its first Southeastern Conference championship in 20 years.
Jones’ campaign video touts his ties to President Donald Trump. Jones was investigated for alleged involvement in attempts to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election but was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
The lieutenant governor is the second Republican to enter the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced his candidacy last November.
Democrats vying for their party’s gubernational nomination include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, and former pastor Olujimi Brown.
In a prepared statement, Georgia Democratic Chairman Charlie Bailey accused Jones of “failed leadership” that doesn’t deserve a promotion to governor.
“Georgia has a top-ten ranking for rural hospital closures, a top-five ranking for uninsured rates, a bottom-half ranking for every metric that measures our kids’ educational opportunities, and a tax code that rewards billionaires, big corporations, and the latest lobbyist to buy him a steak and a bourbon,” Bailey wrote.
by Dave Williams | Jul 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Certification of election results in Georgia is a mandatory duty of local elections officials – not a discretionary decision – the state Court of Appeals has ruled.
The decision dismissed a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration who refused to certify the results of last year’s presidential primary and maintained she had the legal authority to do so. The appellate court ruling upheld a lower-court decision Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued last October.
“A [local election] superintendent is empowered to request and review election documents … and to share concerns about fraud or errors with the appropriate authorities,” appellate Judges Elizabeth Gobeil and Brian Rickman wrote in an 11-page ruling dated July 2. “However, these concerns are not a basis for a superintendent to partially or entirely refuse to certify election results.”
Monday’s appellate court decision came nearly a month after the Georgia Supreme Court invalidated four of seven controversial rules changes the Republican-controlled State Election Board (SEB) passed shortly before last November’s elections. The justices ruled unanimously that board members exceeded their rulemaking authority under the Georgia Constitution.
In that case, lawyers for the plaintiffs – including a Georgia-based advocacy group headed by Republican former state Rep. Scot Turner – argued such rules changes came under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly rather than the SEB.
Lawyers for the state, the Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party countered that the board was within its legal rights to approve the new election rules.
Civil rights and voting rights groups and their Democratic allies had fought the rules changes, charging Republicans with trying to sow chaos and confusion in the electoral process to aid the candidacy of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who ended up carrying Georgia’s 16 electoral votes on his way to recapturing the White House.
Members of the SEB who supported the rules changes said they were trying to restore public confidence in Georgia elections, which was shaken by uncertainties over the 2020 election results in Georgia.
by Dave Williams | Jul 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp named Dr. Dean Burke Monday commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH).
Burke, 67, a former state senator now serving as the state agency’s chief medical officer, will take up his new role on Aug. 1.
Before serving in the Georgia Senate for a decade representing a district in Southwest Georgia, Burke worked as chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge. He also served as a member of the Hospital Authority of the City of Bainbridge and Decatur County and practiced obstetrics and gynecology for 27 years.
“Given his extensive background in medicine and health-care policy, he is uniquely qualified to fill this role at a pivotal time for this important agency,” Kemp said. “I’m confident he will demonstrate that same level of commitment as commissioner that he has shown throughout his many years of public service.”
Before entering state politics, Burke was a member of the Bainbridge City Council for five years. He was elected to the state Senate in 2012.
Burke will succeed current DCH Commissioner Russel Carlson, who is leaving state government for a position in the private sector.
by Dave Williams | Jul 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Whether the quick rise of data centers in Georgia will ultimately prove good or bad for the state’s economy is a hotly debated topic this summer.
Georgia boasts the fastest growing data center market in the nation, behind only Virginia – the world’s largest data center market – in volume. Data centers are creating jobs and boosting local tax bases, particularly in tax-revenue starved rural communities.
“Data’s the new oil,” said Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
But critics say data centers are more of a drain on host communities than a benefit, sucking up huge quantities of electricity and water in exchange for an uncertain impact on local tax rolls.
Amy Sharma, executive director of the nonprofit Science for Georgia, which tracks the use of science in public policy, compares data centers to plagues of locusts.
“They come in and max out, then move on to the next place once they run out power or communities start paying attention, ” she said.
Estimates of the number of data centers that have set up shop in Georgia vary. A list compiled by Science for Georgia shows 97 data centers operating in the Peach State, with 27 more in the planning stages.
Dallas-based DatacenterHawk, which conducts research for the industry, reports 72 data centers operating in Georgia with 14 more under construction.
Through 2023, data centers contributed $25.7 billion to the Peach State’s Gross Domestic Product and $1.8 billion in state and local tax revenue while supporting 30,070 direct jobs and 176,790 total jobs, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms.
Clark said new data centers announced this year alone take up about 30 million square feet of space, representing an investment of $40 billion. By comparison, shopping malls typically occupy 400,000 to 800,000 square feet.
With such a huge footprint, data centers have been getting pushback from state and local elected officials worried about their potential adverse effects.
The General Assembly passed legislation last year calling for a temporary suspension of a state sales tax exemption aimed at attracting data centers. But Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed the bill after the Georgia Chamber and other business groups argued that doing away with the tax incentive would discourage corporate investment.
This year, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns formed a special committee to develop a plan for coping with the growing demand for energy and water data centers and other “large-load” electric customers put on supplies.
Also this year, state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler introduced legislation to prohibit utilities in Georgia from passing on the costs of providing electricity to data centers to their residential and small business customers. The bill cleared the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee but failed to reach the Senate floor after lobbyists representing utilities including Georgia Power opposed it.
Hufstetler said he plans to bring the legislation back for consideration when lawmakers convene for the 2026 session in January.
“If we could get these costs off of residential and small business customers we could lower their rates in Georgia,” Hufstetler wrote in an email to Capitol Beat. “I hope we can pass it and codify into law that everyone pays their fair share of the costs.”
Some local governments have weighed in by restricting data centers or banning them outright. The Atlanta City Council voted last month to prohibit data centers from setting up in some neighborhoods and require developers to seek a special-use permit for construction.
In May, the Coweta County Commission approved a moratorium on data centers after a developer proposed Project Sail, a massive 13-building data center on more than 800 acres along U.S. 27 near Newnan.
Todd Edwards, director of governmental affairs for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said the reception counties have given data centers is “a mixed bag.” Residents who live near data centers often complain about the noise.
“Counties usually look at the benefits of the [property] taxes,” Edwards said. “But neighbors may not be warm and fuzzy about it.”
Sharma said data centers don’t tend to create enough permanent jobs in their host communities to justify the tax incentives they receive. Those cities and counties don’t even get a clear picture of the tax revenue data centers will bring in because developers aren’t forthcoming with details on the projects they’re planning, she said.
“The tax benefits are hard to pin down because there’s not transparency,” she said.
Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Virginia-based Data Center Coalition, an industry trade association, said the number of jobs data centers create often are undercounted because they don’t include jobs generated by data-dependent companies that locate near data centers.
“Data centers create strong business ecosystems around them,” he said.
Diorio said even the construction jobs data centers create – typically considered temporary – can last for years because workers tend to move from one data center to another once a project is completed or from one building within a large data center complex to another.
“We’re seeing these construction jobs turn into seven, eight, nine, 10-year jobs,” he said.
Clark said data centers also don’t impose the high costs of local infrastructure like schools and roads that accompany new manufacturing plants, while the permanent jobs they do create tend to be high-paying.
But Sharma said momentum against data centers is building in Georgia as residents become more aware of their potential negative impacts.
“Now that people are starting to understand what they are, we’re getting a lot of people stepping up,” she said. “The outcry is going up, not down.”
