A number of conservation-related bills came up this session, some of the fairly standard variety (whether or not to allow mining somewhere) and some of the more unusual (whether a land grant from King George III in the 1760s will mean property ownership changes in the 2020s).
A handful of them did make it all the way across the finish line and head to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature or potential veto (that one about King George grants, HB 370, didn’t make it past Crossover Day).
Just a sampling of the bills that did pass by Sine Die:
HB 1172 – Spawning out of the House Study Committee on Fishing Access to Freshwater Resources, the bill clarifies the language regarding public access to rivers and the rights of landowners with adjacent properties. There was also companion legislation in the Senate – SB 542 – but only the House bill passed by Sine Die, the Senate bill stalled out in the House Judiciary Committee. Both bills support the right of public passage on navigable streams, conservation and outdoor recreation advocates like the Georgia Conservancy preferred the stronger language in the Senate bill. As it is an election year, all legislation will reset next year and without further issues on the public access question, it seems unlikely the Senate bill will get brought back next session. However, House Resolution 1554 passed 167-0, creating a new House Study Committee on Navigable Streams so the issues will continue close monitoring, potentially warranting new legislation next year.
SR 470 – This Senate Resolution creates a Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmland. Georgia has lost nearly 15,000 acres since 2017, not as bad a percentage of total land as many other states, but still a concern with development pressure continuing in many parts of the state. Since 1974, the state has lost 2.6 million acres of crop, hay and pasture land. And not just in metro Atlanta. All the economic development projects in rural areas, such as the Hyundai plant in Bryan County, mean more jobs for these regions but the employees that are not hired locally need to live somewhere and farmers are tempted by rising real estate prices. Last year, the legislature passed Senate Bill 220, which created a financial incentive for farmland owners to conserve lands under development pressure. The committee was created specifically to determine if “additional legislative measures may be necessary to give local communities the ability to protect Georgia’s farmlands as a vital state resource and to slow the permanent conversion of this resource to other uses.”
Did not pass:
HB 436 – Sponsored by Republican Rep. John Corbett (R- 174 Lake Park) whose district covers the Okefenokee Swamp, the bill increases the maximum penalties for surface mining violations from $1,000 to $10,000. Each day of noncompliance constitutes another offense so mining violations that are not resolved quickly could add up to big bucks for the would-be violator. As the titanium mining in the area continues to make progress to moving forward, the bill has a lot of support from advocates. It passed the House last session and passed the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment this year but never received a full vote from the Senate.
