Under the Gold Dome 2020

We’re back for the second half of the 2019-2020 biennium Under the Gold Dome and the session is off to a slowly simmering start. Technical issues on the first days of session have abated, including the Senate chamber starting session with no power, and intermittent interruptions to legislators email systems.

SB159 – Scooters (a frequent topic on Livable Buckhead’s blogs) avoided any direct regulation from the State level as a senate committee recommended devolving eScooter regulation to localities.

HR910 – Representative Josh McLaurin has filed a bill to liberate the State Motor Fuel Tax from it’s constitutional tether to car infrastructure. Currently, those funds cannot be use to improve transit, air and seaports – only roads and bridges. All proposed constitutional amendments start life as resolutions that specify the ballot language to be used and the exact changes to the State Constitution they would make.

HB837 – Taxpayer incentives for development in Atlanta are becoming a point of contention, not only between those who say the development cycle is hot anyway and needs no public subsidy and those who argue that the long term benefits outweigh the costs – but between development agencies with overlapping jurisdictions. A bill put forward by Rep. Chuck Martin of Alpharetta would bar county agencies from acting in any county that is more than 95% incorporated.

We’ll keep you up to date with relevant transportation and development legislation here as the session progresses.