Georgia House approves multiple measures in morning session, appoints conference committee for budget

The Georgia House convened for a morning session that combined ceremonial recognitions with substantive floor action, adopting the day's order of business and moving several bills toward final steps.

Speaker called the House to order and asked members to remember former Representative Cicely Hill, who died the prior day. After a devotional and prayer from the chaplain, the body confirmed the journal from the previous legislative day and adopted the resolution setting the order of business for the session.

On the fiscal front, Chairman Matt Hatchett moved that the House "disagree and insist on its position" and appoint a committee of conference on House Bill 974, the appropriations measure for the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. The Speaker named Chairman Hatchett and other representatives, including the pro tempore and Representative Jan Jones, as members of the conference committee.

The House next considered a string of Senate bills. The chamber recorded passage of Senate Bill 587, creating an animal-cruelty database; the clerk announced the yeas as 163 and nays as 0. Representative Beth Camp presented the bill and yielded for no questions before the rules substitute was adopted and the measure passed.

Representative Chaz Cannon presented Senate Bill 515, a two-part reauthorization that extends the Georgia recruitment and retention tax credit for five more years and reauthorizes the Georgia conservation tax credit. Cannon said the teacher recruitment provision increases the number of teachers eligible for the credit from 1,000 to 1,200 and prioritizes turnaround and bottom-25% schools. Members asked how the program handles demand if more than 1,200 teachers seek the credit and about refundability; Cannon advised the matter could be revisited in a future session. The rules substitute was adopted and the clerk reported the yeas as 158, nays 0.

Representative Deborah Silcox presented Senate Bill 402, a five-year pilot to expand autism screening for foster children and to train Department of Community Health staff; she credited Dr. Michelle Zena of Georgia Southern University for work behind the bill. The rules substitute was adopted and the clerk recorded the vote as yeas 171, nays 0.

Representative Ray Martinez presented Senate Bill 406, the so-called Georgia Property Owners Bill of Rights. Martinez described it as creating "accountability and transparency," requiring associations that seek to collect fines or fees, or to record liens or pursue foreclosure, to register annually with the Secretary of State and file governing documents and financial statements. Members pressed on how associations without quorums or boards would opt in and whether registration would limit foreclosure authority; Martinez and supporters said the registration is voluntary unless the association seeks to collect fees and that the bill adds administrative review and limits on foreclosures tied to assessment amounts. After floor debate and several members speaking in support, the rules substitute was adopted and the clerk reported passage (yeas 155, nays 10).

The House also agreed to a series of Senate substitutes and amendments on other items of business, including agreement to the Senate substitute on House Bill 14 (creating a statewide music office under economic development) (clerk reported yeas 161, nays 5), agreement to the Senate substitute to House Bill 165 (manufactured-home tax exemption; the House recorded adoption though the transcript's numeric tally is unclear), and agreement to a Senate amendment to Senate Bill 293 (motor-vehicle/dealer tag and limited operation of unregistered vehicles for certain specialty uses) (yeas 168, nays 1).

The House recessed for lunch and will reconvene at 1:30 p.m.

Sources and attributions: passages, motions, and vote tallies are reported on the House floor and recorded by the clerk during the session; direct floor presenters included Representatives Matt Hatchett, Beth Camp, Chaz Cannon, Deborah Silcox, and Ray Martinez.