Rules Committee advances SB447, a 45-day shot clock for land-disturbance permits

The Georgia State Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously Feb. 25 to advance SB447, a bill that sets a 45-day deadline for municipalities to act on land-disturbance permit applications and a 14-day turnaround for applicant resubmittals.

Senator Dixon, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee the substitute contains two key changes: defining when an application is complete (to start the 45-day clock) and replacing proposed liability and sovereign-immunity waivers with a provision that a project would be “deemed approved” if the municipality does not respond. “What it does, it's a it's a permitting bill, dealing with land disturbance permits, and it puts a shot clock, 45 days for a municipality to turn around that permit,” Dixon said, adding the resubmittal window is 14 days.

Senator Gooch asked whether local governments could repeatedly mark up and return applications to game the deadline. Dixon replied that a resubmittal restarts the clock and said the bill requires municipalities to publish clear criteria of required materials and to keep a permit-status website updated every 24 hours to improve accountability. “Even including, I know of a development last year where the font size kicked it back,” Dixon said, noting the language aims to stop frivolous rejections.

Committee members had no public opposition during the hearing. Senator Anavatar Te moved that the committee give the bill a favorable report; Senator Albers seconded the motion. The committee approved SB447 by voice vote and moved it out of rules to the Senate calendar.

Next steps: SB447 will go to the Senate floor for further consideration. The committee did not adopt the version that retained municipal liability or attorney-fee penalties and instead used the deemed-approval remedy included in the substitute.