State Banking Issues

Georgia General Assembly 2025 Session

The Georgia General Assembly convened Jan. 13, 2025, for the first session of a 2-year legislative cycle.
 
GBA is represented throughout each session by our Executive Vice President for Government Relations & Advocacy Elizabeth Chandler, 404.372.7893, Government Relations Consultant Steve Bridges, 404.420.2037,  SVP, Member Services & Advocacy Bo Brannen, 404.420.2014, Tripp Cofield, 404.420.2016, president & CEO of GBA. Contact any of them with questions about legislation, information about your legislator's stance on a particular issue, or to request any other information related to the Georgia General Assembly.

GBA's Georgia General Assembly Legislation Tracker

Below are the banking and financial services bills we are tracking during the 2025 session.


GBA Priority / Supporting

Department of Banking Housekeeping Bill. HB 15 by Rep. Bruce Williamson (R-Monroe) is the annual update to the language in Title 7 of the Official Code of Georgia related to all the entities regulated by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. Of interest to bankers are the provisions in this year’s bill about procedures for filing and publishing articles of incorporation for banks and trust companies and updated considerations for the Banking Department when evaluating bank holding companies. There are also updates to the sections dealing with foreign banks and merchant acquirer limited purpose banks.

Bills Monitoring

Conservation Use Property. HR 32 by Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Mulberry), proposes an amendment to the Constitution that would increase the maximum acreage that may qualify for assessment and taxation as a bona fide conservation use property from 2,000 to 4,000 acres. HB 90 is the enabling legislation.

Guest Worker Program. HB 82 by Rep. Matt Reeves (R-Duluth) proposes the creation of a Department of Labor-administered guest worker program to address labor shortages by allowing citizens of other nations to work in the state for limited periods of time.

Homestead Exemption. HB 92 by Rep. Shaw Blackmon (R-Bonaire) would postpone the date from March 1, 2025 to May 1, 2025, by which local governing authorities can opt out of base year homestead exemption. 

Income Tax Credit. HB 8
by Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia) would renew and revise an income tax credit for certain investments in qualified businesses, remove the requirement that a qualified investor make the investment, establish an aggregate cap, allow the credit to be transferred, and introduce a reporting requirement and sunset.

Income Tax Rate Reduction. HB 111 by Rep. Soo Hong (R-Lawrenceville) would reduce the 2025 state income tax rate from 5.39 percent to 5.19 percent for businesses and individuals.

One-Time Tax Credit. HB 112 by Rep. Lauren McDonald (R-Cumming) provides for a one-time tax credit ($250 for single or married filing separately, $375 for head of household, and $500 for married filing jointly) for individual taxpayers who filed income tax returns for the 2023 and 2024 taxable years.

Pawnbrokers. HB 110 by Rep. Josh Bonner (R-Fayetteville) would prohibit title pawn transactions involving a motor vehicle or motor vehicle title with active or reserve duty military personnel and their dependents.

Property Owners’ Associations. HB 62 by Rep. Sandra Scott (D-Rex) would establish requirements for condominium and property owners' association board members. It addresses vote allocation, proxies, quorums, residency, board size, elections, filings, certification, and contesting election results. The bill also proposes an annual registration requirement.

Public Records. SB 12 by Sen. Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville) would revise the state’s Open Records Request statutes pertaining to documents and records in the possession of private persons or entities and the judicial enforcement of such requests.

Tax on Tips. SB 2 by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) would exclude tips from state taxation and require reporting by employers.

Veterans Day Paid Leave. HB 22 by Rep. Sandra Scott (D-Rex), would require employers to provide veteran employees with paid leave on Veterans Day and also provide those employers with an income tax credit for amounts paid to such veteran employees on account of the paid leave.