HR9: HR9 General Assembly; create Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund; authorize - CA

Currently, most state revenue in Georgia flows into the general fund and is subject to constitutional rules that limit how long it can be set aside and how dedicated funding can work. This resolution proposes a constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to create a new fund, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund, dedicated to enforcing laws that protect people from carcinogens and toxic substances in drinking water and from toxic exposure caused by businesses. The amendment would let lawmakers dedicate specific revenue sources to this fund and add other money to it as well, and it would exempt the fund from certain constitutional restrictions on general fund deposits and lapsing of unspent money. Because this is a constitutional amendment, it cannot take effect on its own. It must be approved by Georgia voters in a statewide referendum, with the exact ballot language spelled out in the resolution.

• Proposes a constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to create a new Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund through general law.
• Allows lawmakers to dedicate specific revenue sources directly to this fund instead of depositing that money into the general fund.
• Exempts the new fund from constitutional rules that would otherwise require deposit into the general fund or cause unspent money to lapse at year's end.
• Directs that the enforcement fund pay for enforcing laws that protect Georgians from carcinogens and toxic substances in drinking water and in business operations.
• Requires the proposed amendment to be submitted to Georgia voters for ratification or rejection in a statewide vote, with specific ballot wording.

Georgia voters, who would decide the amendment in a referendum; state agencies enforcing drinking water and toxic substance laws; businesses whose operations involve carcinogens or toxic substances; and the General Assembly, which would gain new authority to dedicate revenue outside the general fund.

If ratified, the state could set aside dedicated money specifically for enforcing drinking water safety and toxic substance laws, rather than relying on year-to-year general fund appropriations. This could make funding for that enforcement more stable and less subject to being redirected or lost if unspent.

• Section 1 amends Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI of the Georgia Constitution by adding subparagraph (s) authorizing creation of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund.
• The fund would pay for enforcement of laws protecting citizens from carcinogens and toxic substances in drinking water and from toxic exposure by businesses.
• The General Assembly may dedicate specified revenue sources to the fund and appropriate additional funds to it.
• The fund is exempted from Article VII, Section III, Paragraph II and from Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(a) and IV(c), which normally govern general fund deposits and lapsing.
• Section 2 requires the amendment to be submitted to voters with specified ballot language asking whether the revenue may be dedicated and kept out of the general fund.
• If ratified by voters as required under Article X, Section I, Paragraph II, the amendment becomes part of the Georgia Constitution.

1. 2025-01-15House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-14House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-13House Hopper (House)

• Angela Moore (D, HD-091)Primary sponsor

• drinking water safety
• toxic substances
• state constitutional amendment
• government funding
• environmental enforcement