The 2025 session of the Georgia General Assembly ended a little more than a month ago where lawmakers passed over 400 bills and resolutions. Gov. Brian Kemp has been busy signing bills over the past few weeks. While many are still on his desk awaiting his signature, others major pieces of legislation are set to be signed this week.
The Governor has 40 days to sign or veto and any measure that remains unsigned after May 15 automatically becomes law.
One of the most anticipated bills still left to be signed into law – House Bill 68 – is expected to be signed Friday. Sponsored by Speaker Jon Burns, HB 68 contains the state budget for fiscal year 2026, and allocates $37.7 billion for mental health treatment, schools, road repairs, Medicaid.
According to information from the Capitol, the Governor is also expected to sign several bills in the next few days which provide additional relief for those Georgians impacted by Hurricane Helene. Kemp has already signed HB 67, the AFY25 budget – which added $800 million to the budget for hurricane relief. If signed this week, HB 233, by Rep. James Burchette, R-Waycross, will provide income tax relief for farmers impacted by Helen, and HR 42 will ratify Kemp’s suspension of the Motor Fuel Tax for Hurricane Helene victims.
Several bills are still waiting to be signed:
Senate Bill 244– Sponsored by Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, would allow criminal defendants to recoup their legal costs from county prosecuting attorneys’ budgets in cases where the prosecutor is disqualified for personal or professional misconduct. (During President Donald Trump’s so-called election interference case in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified after an appeals court judge found that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a “significant appearance of impropriety.”) Separately, the legislation establishes a new process under Georgia law for people who have been convicted for crimes they did not commit and later exonerated, allowing administrative law judges to rule on wrongful conviction compensation cases and awarding a standardized rate of $75,000 for each year of incarceration to each exoneree, with an additional $25,000 added for each year spent on death row.
State Affairs lists House Bill 340, sponsored by Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, as another bill many are watching. This bill would prohibit elementary and middle school students from using cellphones, tablets, smartwatches and headphones during school hours. Georgia lawmakers in both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation, but some families of students at Apalachee High School want the Governor to veto the measure. Currently, a number of schools in metro Atlanta are testing out cellphone bans.
State Affairs also lists two others major bills awaiting the Governor’s signature. House Bill 136, sponsored by Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, expands Georgia’s childcare tax credit to allow parents to claim 50 percent of their expenses for childcare – up from 30 percent- and a $250 rebate for each child under 6 years old. Senate Bill 185, sponsored by Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, bars state funds from being used to pay for sex-change treatments for prisoners.
