HR32: HR32 General Assembly; increase maximum acreage to qualify for assessment and taxation as a bona fide conservation use property - CA

Georgia's constitution currently lets landowners get a special property tax assessment, called bona fide conservation use, on farmland and timber land up to 2,000 acres per owner. This resolution proposes raising that cap to 4,000 acres. The conservation use program lets qualifying land be taxed based on its current use and productivity rather than its full market value, as long as the owner signs a covenant to keep the land in that use. Because this is a constitutional change, it cannot take effect on its own. The resolution sends the question to Georgia voters as a ballot measure asking whether to raise the acreage limit to protect family farmland. If voters approve it, the higher 4,000-acre cap becomes part of the state constitution.

• Proposes a constitutional amendment raising the maximum acreage for bona fide conservation use property tax assessment from 2,000 to 4,000 acres per owner.
• Leaves unchanged the five-acre cap for bona fide residential transitional property and the existing rules requiring a covenant to keep the land in qualifying use.
• Keeps the existing penalty structure, requiring recapture of tax savings if an owner breaches the covenant within ten years.
• Sends the proposed amendment to Georgia voters as a ballot question for ratification or rejection.

Large landowners who farm or manage timber land, since more of their acreage could qualify for reduced property tax assessments; county tax assessors and local governments that collect property taxes; and Georgia voters, who will decide the measure at the ballot box.

If voters approve the amendment, owners of large farms and timber tracts could get reduced property tax assessments on up to 4,000 acres instead of 2,000, potentially lowering their tax bills while affecting the property tax base local governments rely on for revenue.

• Section 1 amends Article VII, Section I, Paragraph III(e)(1) of the Georgia Constitution to raise the conservation use acreage cap from 2,000 to 4,000 acres per single owner.
• Section 1 retains the requirement that a property owner sign a covenant to continue the land in bona fide conservation use or residential transitional use.
• Section 1 retains the rule that breaching the covenant within ten years results in recapture of tax savings and possible additional penalties.
• Section 2 sets the ballot language asking voters whether to raise the acreage limit from 2,000 to 4,000 acres to protect family farmland, and directs how the amendment is submitted for ratification.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date 2025-05-14
2. 2025-05-14Act 363
3. 2025-05-14House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-18Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-03-18Senate Third Read (Senate)
7. 2025-03-18Senate Engrossed (Senate)
8. 2025-03-13Senate Read Second Time (Senate)

• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)Primary sponsor
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)
• Debbie Buckner (D, HD-137)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

   168 yea, 5 nay (1 not voting, 6 absent)

   Adopt: House Vote #134

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 18, 2025

   29 yea, 23 nay (1 not voting, 3 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Hb 90, Hb 223, Hr 32: Senate Vote #236

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 18, 2025

   50 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 4 absent)

   Adoption Of Constitutional Amendment: Senate Vote #240

• property taxes
• conservation use
• farmland
• constitutional amendment
• ballot measure