Committee advances HB 43 to update addresses and guarantee tribal representation

The State Planning & Community Affairs committee voted to move HB 43 forward after Representative Lim presented the bill and asked the panel to pass it as written.

Representative Lim said the bill, listed in the packet as LC 44 2 1 5 6, "both ensures that the membership from our council on American Indian concerns will always have representation by at least 1 member from each of our state recognized tribes" and updates the tribes' addresses so they can be properly located and notified. He identified the currently state-recognized groups in his remarks as the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee, the Cherokee of Georgia and the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe and stressed the importance of respecting the wishes of the group currently recognized by the state.

Lim acknowledged longstanding disputes over tribal claims but told the committee that evidence presented by the Department of Natural Resources and the council supported the current recognition. He said he also supports a separate process to consider recognition of a group calling itself the Chickamauga and asked that the committee not "hamstring" the interests of the three groups currently recognized.

The chair entertained a motion to take HB 43 off the table and later to advance the bill; both motions were seconded and decided by voice vote with the chair announcing approval. The transcript records the committee chair asking for motions and calling "All in favor, say aye," and later instructing Representative Lim to proceed to the Rules committee.

The bill's immediate effect, if enacted, would be to update official contact information for the listed tribes and to codify a committee membership expectation that each state-recognized tribe have at least one representative on the Council on American Indian Concerns. Representative Lim framed the measure as a technical but important step to ensure the tribes can be reached and represented; he urged the committee to pass it "as is."

The committee did not conduct a roll-call vote on the transcript; outcomes recorded in the session were voice votes with no named tallies. The next procedural step referenced on the record was referral to the Rules committee.

Officials and documents cited in the presentation included the Council on American Indian Concerns and the Department of Natural Resources. Representative Lim said supplementary materials were available on the committee desk.