The Georgia Legislature’s 2025 Session was very unproductive for environmental advocates. Nothing passed to address the massive increase in electricity demand from data centers and crypto miners. Nothing passed to address the failure of the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to protect consumers. Nothing passed to allow Georgia Power customers to deal with six rate increases in two years by subscribing to community solar or installing rooftop solar. Nothing passed to protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Nothing passed to promote transit or electric vehicles. Nothing passed to do something about “bad actors” such as BioLab.
As the AJC headline stated: "Legislative session ends with few wins for Georgia environmentalists.”
What did pass was legislation making it harder for Georgians to sue chemical companies who damage our communities’ health. What did pass was legislation adding allowing the state to invest in natural gas infrastructure through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority through low interest loans.
After the Senate adjourned on Day 40 (April 4) over a dispute with the House on regulating school zone speed cameras, the House did pass one Sierra Club priority just before quitting. HB 652 delays the implementation of a new per-kilowatt hour tax on electric vehicle charging until 2027.
On the bright side, numerous bad rollbacks of good policy, effective regulation, and well-considered laws failed to pass, most notably Burt Jones' “Red Tape Rollback” legislation (also known locally as Georgia’s “DOGE” bill in a nod to Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle the federal government). Other rollbacks that failed to pass include a bill to allow for “Private Cities,” legislation that would shield certain entities from legal liability for using PFAS (also known as "forever chemicals"), a bill that would have increased penalties for removing land from property tax covenants for solar projects, and Sen. Greg Dolezal's bill to allow the State Treasurer to invest in Bitcoin.
Georgia’s Legislature operates in two-year cycles, meaning that any bill introduced this year is still on the table and could be passed next year, including many Sierra Club priority bills.
Meanwhile, I wanted to shout out recent efforts by folks in Bulloch County and South Dakota, shining examples of how to make an impact in your communities. Bulloch County farmers and other landowners were infuriated by groundwater being shipped by pipeline down to the new Hyundai plant in Bryan County. So they defeated incumbent county commissioners and began a petition drive to reverse the approval of the wells. Suddenly, more than $500 million dollars was added to the state’s supplemental budget to address coastal water issues. The funds should speed up delivery of Savannah River surface water to Hyundai to replace Bulloch County groundwater.
In South Dakota, farmers were incensed by the hundreds of eminent domain actions filed against them in order to build a carbon dioxide pipeline. Their response was so strong that the South Dakota legislature took away the right of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines.
We must always remember that local organizing is what moves decisionmakers, including those in the Georgia Legislature, to make positive changes.
The Bills That Passed
Energy: As mentioned above, one Sierra Club priority bill passed in the 2025 session. HB 652 delays the implementation of a new per-kilowatt hour tax on public electric vehicle charging stations.
In 2023, the state legislature passed legislation to levy a new tax on public electric vehicle charging. The idea behind the new tax was to try to capture revenue from EV owners who no longer pay the state’s gasoline tax, which funds road projects. Lawmakers used the same argument when they imposed a $200+ annual fee on EV owners that must be paid to renew their registration. This new tax on public charging would be paid in addition to the annual fee.
As introduced this year, HB 652 exempted the EV charger installed by The Ray on Interstate 85 from the new EV charging tax. The bill was later amended in the Senate Rules Committee to delay the imposition of the EV charging tax until January 1, 2027. This is the second straight year that implementation of this new tax has been delayed as the state Department of Agriculture, which is tasked with ensuring the EV chargers are accurately recording the amount of electricity it dispenses the same way they inspect gas pumps, does not expect the technology to assess the accuracy of the charging stations will be ready by the start of 2026. Senator Steve Gooch has said that the Georgia Tech Research Institute is working on the technology.
Georgia is one of a handful of states that has imposed a “fuel” tax on electricity used for charging EVs. Charging at single and multi-family homes is exempt from the tax. Georgia already has an unfairly high annual EV registration fee, so this new tax is another anti-EV policy. Oklahoma and Kentucky have exempted Level 2 chargers from their states’ EV charging fees because they do not use nearly as much electricity as the fast direct current chargers. The amended HB 652 was one of the last bills passed by the House on Day 40.
Another bad energy bill that passed was SB 13 by Sen. Carden Summers The bill allows the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, which provides loans for public water infrastructure, energy programs, and more, to invest in methane gas infrastructure.
Adding methane gas service expansions to the mission of the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) is a bad idea. GEFA was mainly created to handle all the millions of dollars of federal drinking water and wastewater funding. There are no such funds for natural gas. GEFA Executive Director Hunter Hill's presentation to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Economic Development showed that GEFA already had more applications for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund than they could finance. So why add more funding on top of that shortfall for methane gas?
Rollbacks: SB 144 by Sen. Sam Watson (R-Moultrie) would shield companies who make pesticides and fertilizers from lawsuits if their products are approved by the EPA. The bill passed the Senate on March 4 with only 12 votes in opposition and passed the House the following week by a vote of 101-58.
To pass the bill, its supporters, including Bayer, the multinational Germany-based chemical company that produces Roundup, the Georgia Farm Bureau and the Georgia Agribusiness Council resorted to some trickery. House members thought they were about to adjourn and go home for the weekend. Instead, House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro) called a meeting and put SB 144 up for an immediate consideration on the House floor. Hundreds of emails and growing opposition to the bill seems to have caused the fast action.
The legislation is a classic example of how large corporations undermine the public interest in state legislatures across the U.S. Similar legislation is reportedly being considered in more than 20 state legislatures. Relatedly, Bayer lost a jury trial in Georgia in March and was ordered to pay more than $2 billion to a man who told the court that Roundup weed killer caused his cancer. If Gov. Kemp signs SB 144, suits like that one to hold companies like Bayer accountable for the damage their products may cause will be much more difficult if not impossible.
The Bills That Failed
Data Centers: Three important bills dealing with data centers, SB 34, HB 528, and HB 559, never got a floor vote in either chamber of the legislature this year.
SB 34 by Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome) requires that any costs incurred to provide power to new data centers, such as power generation infrastructure or transmission lines, must be paid for by the data center owners. The bill follows up on a recent rule adopted by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) that allows utility companies to charge data centers higher rates.
However, during a committee hearing about SB 34, experts testified that the new PSC rule was full of loopholes and could be rescinded by the PSC at any time, so legislation like SB 34 is necessary to ensure that these costs don’t get passed on to other utility customers.
Stanley Dunlap with Georgia Recorder has interesting details on the failure of SB 34 in spite of overwhelming support from members of the Senate.
HB 528 by Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City) and a bipartisan group of other lawmakers addresses revenue, taxation, and disclosure. It would require large data centers to state their impacts on community resources, like water and power, to the Georgia Department of Revenue in order to inform all of the state’s tax-levying bodies of these facts about the facilities coming to their communities.
HB 559 by Rep. John Carson (R-Marietta), another bipartisan effort, would have ended a state tax break for data center equipment in 2026, instead of its current sunset date of 2031. It failed to get out of committee.
Last year, lawmakers passed HB 1192, which would have put a two-year “pause” on this state tax break in order to give the state more time to assess the impact data centers and the tax break were having on our state. The bill was vetoed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Energy: As with the data center legislation, many bipartisan and even Republican-sponsored bills dealing with energy issues failed to make it out of committee and onto the floor.
SB 94 Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome) would have reinstated an independent attorney, known as a Consumer Utility Counsel (CUC), to represent the public’s interests in cases before the Georgia Public Service Commission and other agencies. Georgia used to have a CUC, but the office was shut down in 2008 due to spending cuts during the Great Recession. SB 94 made it out of the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, but was held up in the Senate Rules Committee.
HB 212 and HB 213 by Rep. Sam Park (D-Lawrenceville) and others would have created tax credits for clean energy investments. Maybe these good ideas will inspire Republicans to take action to continue to move Georgia to a clean energy future as it's good for jobs as well as the environment.
HB 248 by Rep. Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper) would have created a tax credit for residential geothermal equipment, like heat pumps. The bill passed the House 170-3 but was held up in the Senate Finance Committee. However, it is a measure supported by House Leadership and can pass in 2026.
HB 402 by Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens) and others would have required the PSC to push for more renewable energy in Georgia Power’s portfolio and set goals for the amount of that offered to customers.
Solar: Multiple solar bills failed to advance this session.
HB 389 by Rep. Eric Bell (D-Jonesboro) and others would have prevented HOAs from interfering with rooftop and other solar power installations. This is a perennial offering by legislators whose constituents are tired of being hassled by their Homeowners’ Associations.
HB 507 by Rep. Beth Camp (R-Concord) and others would have allowed for community-scale solar projects that those living nearby could buy into and receive power from. Community solar projects are currently illegal in Georgia Power’s territory. HB 507 was scheduled to get a committee hearing, but was pulled from the agenda and never came back up. Georgia Power continues to oppose community solar (or most anything else that would help their customers).
Transportation: HB 638 by Rep. Deborah Silcox (R-Sandy Springs) would have allowed MARTA and the City of Atlanta to dedicate lanes to Bus Rapid Transit and provided for photo enforcement of parking violations. HB 638 passed the Senate Transportation Committee and Senate Rules but was tabled after it got to the Senate floor.
Water & Wildlife: As has been the case for the last several legislative sessions, lawmakers once again failed to pass legislation to protect one of the most unique ecosystems in Georgia: The Okefenokee Swamp.
HB 561 by Rep. Darlene Taylor (R-Thomasville) and a bipartisan group of lawmakers would have prohibited mining on Trail Ridge, the eastern hydrological boundary of the Okefenokee Swamp. Experts say mining on this ridge could have catastrophic and irreversible impacts on the Okefenokee.
The bill received a hearing in the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee, chaired by Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan), but the committee never voted on it.
HB 562, also by Rep. Taylor, would have placed a five-year moratorium on permits to mine on Trail Ridge. It was also held up in committee.
HB 611 by Rep. Eddie Lumsden (R-Armuchee) would have required anyone discharging wastewater into a sewer line to disclose whether they use so-called “forever chemicals” or PFAS so that the receiving system’s treatment plants can be modified to keep these chemicals out of streams. The bill also stalled in the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee.
SB 190 from Sen. Kenya Wicks (D-Fayette) is a bipartisan measure to provide certain fee waivers at state parks, historic areas, etc. for active duty members of military, veterans, and Gold Star family members. This bill costs the state very little, but can be impactful for veterans seeking recreation and treatment after service-related injuries.
Odds & Ends: HB 555 by Rep. Derrick McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain) would have capped the number of single-family homes that one business can own at 20,000.
SB 28, Lt. Governor Burt Jones' “Red Tape Rollback” bill, would completely overhaul Georgia’s regulatory process, making it more difficult to keep health, safety, and environmental protections in place while making it easier for legislators to block rules that implement the laws that they just passed. The bill requires state agencies, like the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Division, to review all its rules every four years. The bill also requires any rule with an economic impact of more than $3 million over five years to be approved by the
state legislature.
SB 28 will result in “paralysis by analysis.” It will keep our state agencies swamped with busy work, make it harder to approve and keep good regulations, and take power away from the expertise of our state agencies. The bill passed the Senate but never received a vote on the House floor.
The five-year regulatory sunset is a model state law of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
HB 201 by State Rep. Eric Bell (D-Jonesboro) would have outlawed lab-grown meat.
HB 211 by Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) gives carpet makers immunity from liability in future PFAS litigation even if they knowingly contaminated water (and therefore people, land, and wildlife).
SB 178 by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) and other Republicans would have allowed the state treasurer to invest in Bitcoin.
Thanks to all of you who contacted their state legislators.
Mark Woodall
Legislative Chair
Sierra Club Georgia Chapter