by Ty Tagami | Jan 29, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A Republican House proposal to eliminate homeowner property taxes will face stiff opposition if it makes it to the state Senate, where Democratic leadership labeled it “draconian” and “unserious.”
Georgia’s property tax is essential, Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, said Thursday.
“It funds your schools and it funds your police,” said Jones, the Senate minority leader. “And that’s exactly what you would be defunding, quite frankly, if you actually went for either one of these proposals.”
The other proposal he was referring to was by Republican leaders of his own chamber to eliminate the state income tax.
Republicans would not necessarily need support from Democrats to change the income tax, but an overhaul of the property tax would require an amendment of the state constitution.
To pass the General Assembly, a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of approval from both the House and Senate. Republicans do not have a two-thirds majority in either chamber, so Democrats would have a say in the outcome.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, unveiled the broad strokes of his chamber’s plan Wednesday, with a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to gradually reduce and then eliminate the property tax on the primary residence of homeowners. He said the rapid rise in home values was driving an “unsustainable” increase in property tax bills.
The resolution requires companion legislation that gets into the details of how the tax break would work.
On Thursday, Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, the architect of the plan, filed some of that companion legislation.
House Bill 1116 would gradually increase the tax break on primary residences, starting with a $10,000 maximum exemption off the taxable value through 2028, up from the current $2,000.
Blackmon said Wednesday that jurisdictions would be allowed to use up to 2 pennies of local sales tax revenue to make up for their lost property tax revenue, though the total sales tax rate that jurisdictions would be allowed to levy would remain at 5%.
Factories, offices, stores, apartments, second homes and other non-primary residences would still be subject to the traditional property tax.
But HB 1116 would require that cities, counties and school districts reduce their property tax rate to cap annual revenue growth at 3%. And it would require that these jurisdictions roll back their property tax rate if the amount of their sales tax revenue dedicated to offsetting the revenue lost to the homeowner property tax break were to exceed the cost of that tax break.
Jones said the increase in sales taxes needed to pay for the homeowner tax break would raise costs for families when they go shopping. And he said the tax break would also force local service cuts.
“Any idea of getting rid of the property tax is just draconian,” he said.
Jones also said the two-thirds vote requirement was a tough hurdle. “I think that’s going to be a hard one to get over,” he said. “I hope it will be a hard one to get over.”
by Ty Tagami | Jan 28, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Republicans in Georgia’s state House say they want to take steps to erase homeowner property taxes this legislative session, which is getting underway ahead of an election cycle seemingly dominated by concerns about the cost of living.
The proposal unveiled at the Capitol Wednesday by House leaders, would gradually chip away at the amount of property taxes homeowners pay on their primary residence, until the amount vanishes to zero in 2032.
“This historic tax relief will be delivering on our commitment to make life more affordable,” House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said Wednesday before releasing a resolution with outlines of the proposal. The way property taxes are levied now, based on fast-rising home values, is “unsustainable” for most homeowners, he said.
The abolishment of a core revenue stream for local communities is a major undertaking. Property taxes are not collected by state government, but they pay for most local services, from police to teachers.
The proposal, still being drafted by Burns’ team, would let cities, counties and schools make up some of the lost revenue by either increasing sales taxes or by shifting revenue from their current sales tax if it is already at the maximum under state law. It also would allow them to levy more property assessments for specific services, much like some jurisdictions bill for fire services.
Burns said that would increase transparency, since taxpayers would be able to see the line-item bill for each service.
But sales tax revenue is currently a larger revenue stream. Much of it is dedicated to road projects or to supplanting a portion of homeowners’ property tax bill. Sales taxes are also less reliable than property taxes, especially during a recession. That would make budgeting more difficult.
And some lost property tax revenue probably could not be replaced, some observers said, leading to cuts to local services.
Property taxes deliver at least $5 billion to fund operations in cities, counties and schools, said Clint Mueller, deputy director of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.
“It means cutting services. It means raising taxes through assessments. It means shifting sales tax from other purposes like capital and general property tax relief across the board,” he said. Costs don’t “magically go away,” he said.
The biggest local cost is typically the operation of school systems, a mandate under the state constitution. They are so big they are often the largest employer in the community, with 90% of revenue typically going to employee pay and benefits.
And property taxes cover all of that.
“No question that is the primary source of local revenue that school systems have, and it’s really the only way they can raise revenue,” said John Zauner, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
Many districts levy a 1% sales tax, but it is typically used to cover capital costs, such as construction or technology purchases.
Zauner noted that some areas would find it difficult to raise much sales tax revenue to replace residential property taxes because they lack a significant industrial or commercial tax base.
“Some of the counties don’t even have a grocery store, let alone a Dollar General,” he said. “It’s just an imbalanced way to collect taxes.”
Striking the right balance of alternative revenue streams versus cuts will not be the only challenge.
To untie the Gordian Knot of Georgia’s property tax system, lawmakers will need voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution.
Before they can even get it to voters, they will have to get it through both chambers of the General Assembly with two-thirds votes in favor. That would mean securing votes from Democrats. It would also require collaboration from the Republican-controlled Senate, which has its own affordability priority.
Senate leaders have said they want to make deep annual cuts to the income tax, eventually eliminating it.
Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that his chamber’s proposal does not call for an increase in the state’s portion of the sales tax.
The House has yet to release legislation with full details about how its property tax cut would work. Tillery said he looks forward to reading the details and to “working with the house to reduce the tax burden on all Georgians.”
by Ty Tagami | Jan 28, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia high school sophomores are looking ever more likely to lose their phones during the school day in their senior year, as lawmakers consider expanding a ban on personal devices.
New surveys suggest overwhelming support for the idea from parents and teachers. A ban from kindergarten through middle school takes effect next fall after state lawmakers passed it last year.
Now, the author of that law has legislation that would extend the ban to high schools starting in fall 2027.
Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, said he expects House Bill 1009 to get a first hearing in a couple of weeks.
Hilton said he had heard universal support from parents and teachers about his K-8 ban. Although the prohibition will not be enforced statewide until the fall, many schools have voluntarily banned phones ahead of schedule. He said he expects an expansion to high school to be similarly popular, with some caveats about logistics for older students.
“The concerns I’ve heard thus far are more around scheduling, you know, after school activities, things like that,” Hilton said.
New surveys indicate broad support for phone-free schools.
More than two-thirds of the roughly 3,000 administrators, teachers and other educators surveyed in 176 school districts by Georgia’s largest teacher association liked the idea, according to results out this week. High school teachers were even more enthusiastic, with 83% calling for a cellphone ban.
“Why do they want these bans? Because they believe that phones are very disruptive,” said Margaret Ciccarelli, director of legislative services for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, which surveyed its members last fall.
Similarly, a survey released this week by the Emory Center for Child Health Policy found 71% of responding Georgia parents want the K-8 cellphone ban extended to high schools.
Their answers in the survey, also taken last fall, indicate that they believe a ban would lead to more learning and social interaction and would improve mental health.
The 29% of parents who opposed a high school ban were mostly concerned about being disconnected from their child during a school emergency.
“Parents’ concerns about emergency access are valid and understandable. However, effective cellphone policies can address this by establishing rapid parent notification systems and guaranteed access to phones when needed,” Julie Gazmararian, professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, wrote in a report about the survey. “Strong support for high school cellphone bans among parents suggests broad public readiness for policy action.”
Safety experts have testified at the Capitol that a phone in a student’s hand during an emergency can be a dangerous distraction from safety instructions given by teachers and emergency responders.
But Layla Contreras, 24, said people who think high school students do not need their phone in an emergency have never lived through one.
Her sister, Sasha, is a senior at Apalachee High School in Barrow County and texted her when a gunman entered the school in September 2024, killing four.
Contreras said her sister, 17, texted her to tell her the emergency was real — and that she loved her.
Layla Contreras added that the school was locked down again last week after a false alarm. Sasha texted her that time to relay the news, too.
Layla Contreras said high school students need their phones in an emergency and should be taught how to use them responsibly the rest of the time.
“We need to teach our kids more discipline and more responsibility rather than just taking it away, because when they enter the workforce,” she said, “they’re not going to take away their phones.”
The ban expansion has high-powered support. House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said in early January that he expected a “lively discussion” about banning cellphones in high school, acknowledging the competing views of those who see devices as a liability on regular school days versus those who see them as an asset during a crisis.
“Some of that communication certainly is good for the parent to understand that the child is safe,” Burns said, “but it also interferes with the safety protocols in the schools.”
On the Senate side, a bipartisan study committee empaneled by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, recommended a ban on cellphones in high schools.
And in a hearing last week, Richard Woods, the state superintendent of schools, asked lawmakers for such a ban. The Republican elected official said his teacher and student advisory councils, the latter including a student shot at Apalachee High, rank mental health as the top concern for students.
Studies show the negative academic impact and emotional strain of screen time, Woods said. “This is both an academic and a mental health issue.”
by Ty Tagami | Jan 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly will be down another lawmaker during this legislative session after the suspension of a state representative who was indicted last month in federal court.
Gov. Brian Kemp ordered the suspension of State. Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington, after a committee of elected officials determined that her indictment “does relate to and adversely affect” her duties as a lawmaker.
The suspension, which Kemp signed Thursday, is in effect until Henderson’s term ends or her case is closed.
A quick disposition appears unlikely. Henderson has retained a lawyer, and her case in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta is scheduled for a pretrial conference Feb. 19.
Henderson is accused of two counts of theft of government funds and 10 counts of making false statements in connection with claims that she filed for federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors alleged she collected $17,811 in unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled.
Another member of the state House quickly resolved charges related to defrauding the same unemployment program.
Former Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, pleaded guilty in the same federal court to making false statements to fraudulently obtain $13,940 in federal emergency relief funds during the pandemic, Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, announced Wednesday.
Kemp was required by the Georgia Constitution to assemble the review committee on Henderson’s status.
On Jan. 8, he appointed three members. Two were Republicans: Attorney General Chris Carr and Rep. Jan Jones, R-Milton, the House speaker pro tem. The third was Sen. Harold Jones, II, D-Augusta, the Senate minority leader.
They issued their finding Thursday, the same day Kemp suspended Henderson.
Several other seats in the legislature remain open for a variety of reasons, but Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been scheduling special elections to fill them, with one for Bennett’s vacated seat on March 10.
by Ty Tagami | Jan 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Most of Georgia dodged the punches of the winter storm that has been pummeling the nation, but state emergency officials warned Sunday afternoon that it is not over yet.
“Although we have had a lull in the storm this morning, we are still expecting another round of freezing rain in northeast Georgia this afternoon,” state emergency management director Josh Lamb said.
Winter Storm Fern was expected to dump more rain as temperatures drop below freezing across northern parts of the state, raising the likelihood of treacherous road conditions Monday and more downed trees and power lines.
As of Sunday afternoon, there were about 80,000 power outages, mostly in metro Atlanta and the northeast corner of the state, concentrated in a wedge fanning out east and south from Ga. 400 to I-20.
Transportation workers have treated 18,000 miles of roadway with 1.5 million gallons of brine and 2,500 tons of salt and rock fragments. Traffic volume was down 70% to 80% from a typical Sunday.
Even so, a couple dozen state routes were closed at some point during the storm, and there had been 25 crashes by Sunday afternoon, including one involving a brine truck.
Col. Billy Hitchens of the state Department of Public Safety urged those who take to the roads to drive at an “appropriate” speed, which may be below the posted limit, and to leave more space than normal between themselves and other vehicles.
Gov. Brian Kemp authorized the use of 500 members of the National Guard, but so far Maj. Gen. Dwayne Wilson said he had deployed only about 120 of them. They are primarily helping to clear roads for first responders and power crews, mostly in Raybun, Stephens and White counties, he said.
In many areas, temperatures are forecast to remain above freezing into Sunday night before dropping below 32 degrees in the early morning. That would leave the rain less time to freeze onto limbs, making trees top heavy.
But the wet ground combined with high winds can still increase the risk of power outages.
“You can still see downed trees and power lines this evening because the ground is saturated, and we have the winds gusting 20 to 30 miles per hour,” said Will Lanxton, the state meteorologist. “It doesn’t take that much wind to down trees and power lines, but any areas that do see ice accumulations this evening and tonight are much more likely to see those downed power lines.”
As for Monday’s commute, Lamb urged people to stay home. Anyone who feels they must drive should carefully assess the road conditions in their area, he said. “But the best thing to do is stay off of it.”
