HB 140 Georgia House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

End Local Taxation by Citation Act; enact

Summary

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 81 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to local government budgets and audits, so as to cap the amount of funds derived from court fines or forfeiture action that local governments may use as part of their yearly budgets; to provide that any funds collected in excess of such cap shall escheat to the state; to supersede any conflicting home rule powers of local governments; to provide for applicability; to provide a short title; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2025 Last action Jan 29, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

LC 47 3297S/hs → LC 47 3928S/hs · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to gradually reduce the percentage of municipal budgets that can come from fines and forfeitures, rather than keeping the limit at 10 percent. This change allows municipalities to use more fine revenue initially but requires them to phase down to lower percentages over time.

Scope change

The bill now applies to fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with different percentage thresholds for each subsequent year through 2030.

FISCAL

The maximum percentage of municipal budgets from fines and forfeitures was changed from a flat 10 percent to a graduated scale ranging from 30 percent down to 15 percent over four years.

TIMELINE

New dates were added establishing a phased reduction schedule: 30% for fiscal years starting 2027, 25% for 2028, 20% for 2029, and 15% for 2030.

REQUIREMENT

The previous requirement limiting fine revenue to no more than 10 percent of municipal budgets was removed.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 29, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Apr 4, 2025

Committee

House Withdrawn, Recommitted

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Lower · Passed

House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Introduced

House Hopper

lower

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors