The Georgia Legislature ended its 2022 session shortly after midnight on Monday, April 4. With the exception of a few small gains, the General Assembly failed to pass good environmental legislation.
The session was dominated by social issues promoted by Governor Kemp, the GOP candidates for lieutenant governor, and most any Republican who feared a primary challenge. Many gun bills were introduced. A law allowing concealed weapons to be carried without a permit — also known as constitutional carry or criminal carry — passed. A bill to allow more guns in churches failed. The “Big Lie” election bill that would have opened our elections up to frivolous investigations, HB 1464, was gutted. The only election provision sent to the governor’s desk was in SB 441, which would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigation original jurisdiction in election cases. Thankfully, SB 171, an attack on free speech and protesters’ rights, failed.
“Bad Neighbor” bill passes
With a big assist from the Georgia Farm Bureau, the Georgia Poultry Federation passed HB 1150, the “Bad Neighbor” bill, on the final day. HB 1150 repeals Georgia’s current “Right to Farm” law passed in 1989. It gives current farmers and landowners only two years to file a nuisance lawsuit if an polluting/harmful industrial agriculture operation (like giant chicken houses or similar concentrated animal feeding facilities) moves in next door. Once that two-year period ends, the nuisance that moves in is given total immunity from nuisance litigation. Unfortunately, it typically takes time for a nuisance to develop and for property owners to try to resolve the situation without a lawsuit. HB 1150 was supported by Governor Kemp and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. It is disgusting and disgraceful that the Farm Bureau had as its top priority a bill to take away the rights of current famers in favor of industrial agricultural operators moving in.
No voltage for energy bills
On the final day of the session, the House passed a resolution blasting President Joe Biden and calling for an “end to restrictions” on new fossil fuel pipelines and oil drilling operations. Reps. Josh McLaurin, Beth Moore, Shelly Hutchinson, and Gregg Kennard pushed back on the false narrative of the bill, but the resolution, introduced by trucking company owner Rep. Emory Dunahoo, still passed.
The passage of the resolution was representative of a session in which good energy policy was ignored or blocked. Three bills to address coal ash in groundwater died. Four bills to fix the arbitrary 5,000-customer cap Georgia Power has on solar power monthly net metering (which allows property owners with solar panels to sell excess electricity back to the grid for bill credits) were killed by Georgia Power. Three bills to address electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure went nowhere. Apparently, Georgia Power is satisfied with the status quo.
Wildlands and wildlife
A Sierra Club priority, HB 1289, failed to get a hearing. The bill would have prevented any mining on Trail Ridge, the eastern rim of the Okefenokee Swamp. While the bill wouldn’t have stopped Twin Pines’ proposed mine in that area, a project the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter has been fighting against for years now, it would have guaranteed long-term protection for the area.
In the good news category, HB 748 got four hearings but ultimately failed to move forward. The bill would have made it easier to use obscure pre-Revolutionary War land grants to claim ownership of coastal marshlands that the state has been protecting for years.
Unfortunately, a bill allowing the year round hunting and trapping of possums and raccoons passed and awaits the governor’s signature. The bill, HB 1147, was supported by the Georgia DNR in spite of no evidence that such a program will increase the population of wild turkeys (possums and raccoons are being blamed for harming the turkey population by eating turkey eggs).
Restricting local control
There were many bills that sought to remove or preempt local control over various activities. Preemption is now a favorite tactic of big corporations like Georgia Power who have undue influence at the legislature. For example, HB 1301 would have prevented local governments from enacting rules for when gasoline-powered leaf blowers can be used or sold. HB 1301 failed to pass, despite attempts by its sponsor to amend the language into another bill. Hedge funds and other corporate housing operators were unable to pass HB 1093 or SB 494, which were preemption bills that would have prevented local governments from regulating rental properties.
Studies and reforms
SR 463 creating a joint study committee on the electrification of transportation passed, so hopefully some good policy gets written and proposed once that committee begins its work. There was also $112 million in the amended 2022 budget for the Rivian EV-manufacturing plant proposed for an area east of Atlanta, so EV policy did move forward in some areas.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver's HB 923 to reform the ethics of development authorities passed, as did legislation to establish study committees on development authority operations. Development authorities all over Georgia have been involved in providing tax-payer funded incentives to unethical and anti-environmental projects, such as the proposed Brightmark plastics pyrolysis plant in Macon. So progress on reform is very welcome.
A few fees and protection from lead
HB 893 by Rep. Randy Nix extends certain hazardous waste fees for five years and is waiting for the governor’s signature. Unfortunately, Rep. Debbie Buckner’s bill to dedicate those hazardous waste fees to the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund failed to pass. SB 516, which proposed to change the collection of the $1 per tire disposal fee to the wholesale level from the retail level, also failed to pass.
At the request of Dr. Toomey at the Department of Public Health, HB 1355 passed this year. HB 1355, the Child Lead Exposure Act, strengthens protections for children against lead poisoning. Thanks to Senator Elena Parent who got a controversial amendment regarding certificate of need removed from the bill by asking the Lt. Governor to rule on the relevance of the amendment.
Thanks for your help, we’ll be back at it next year!
Thanks to Georgia Chapter Conservation Organizer Angela Jiang and our intern Aliyah Elmore for their work in support of the Legislative Team. Thanks to Neill Herring, our contract lobbyist since 1989. Most of all, thanks to all of you that contacted your legislators on Sierra Club issues. It would have been a lot worse without your people power.
About the author: Mark Woodall is the chair of the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter's Legislative Committee.