HB92: HB92 Revenue and taxation; postpone date by which local governing authorities can opt out of base year homestead exemption

In 2024 Georgia created a statewide base year homestead exemption that caps how much a home's assessed value can rise for tax purposes, but let counties, cities, and school districts opt out by March 1, 2025. HB 92 keeps that original deadline but adds new rules: local governments that opted out and still don't have their own similar exemption in place must repeat the public notice and hearing process and refile by March 1, 2027 for the opt-out to keep applying to tax year 2027 and beyond. Governments can also rescind an opt-out decision, with special deadlines for 2025 (April 30, 2025) and later years (March 1 of the relevant year). The bill also updates what must appear on property tax bills and annual assessment notices, tightens the timeline for taxing authorities to certify their estimated roll-back rate, creates a temporary local sales tax exemption (through 2033) for construction materials used in school capital projects funded by the education sales tax, and revises the rules and caps for local special-purpose sales taxes used for property tax relief. Most of the bill takes effect when signed, but Part I applies retroactively to the 2025 tax year.

• Keeps the March 1, 2025 deadline for local governments to opt out of the new statewide homestead exemption but requires a second round of hearings and a refiled resolution by March 1, 2027 for the opt-out to continue applying starting in tax year 2027.
• Lets a governing authority rescind its opt-out election at any time, with the rescission taking effect for tax year 2025 only if filed by April 30, 2025, or for 2026 through 2029 if filed by March 1 of that year.
• Clarifies that a surviving spouse does not have to reapply for the homestead exemption after the original owner has already qualified.
• Requires tax bills to include a plain-language notice when a local government has opted out of the exemption, naming the government and providing a phone number for questions.
• Creates a temporary (through December 31, 2033) local sales and use tax exemption for construction materials used in school building projects funded by the local education sales tax, but only for school systems that have their own base year homestead exemption in place.
• Tightens the deadline for taxing authorities to certify their estimated roll-back rate (the millage rate needed to keep tax bills level after reassessment) to at least 15 days before assessment notices go out.

Homeowners with a homestead exemption, county and municipal governments and school boards deciding whether to opt out of the new exemption, county tax assessors and commissioners who issue tax bills and assessment notices, and local school systems pursuing capital construction projects funded by education sales taxes.

Homeowners in areas that opted out of the statewide exemption would get another chance, through their local government's 2027 decision, to see whether that exemption returns, and would see a clear notice on their tax bill if their government chose to opt out. School systems with their own homestead exemption could save money on construction materials for building projects.

• Section 1-2 requires tax bills in opted-out jurisdictions to carry a bold notice naming the government and a phone number, but only through tax years ending in 2029.
• Section 1-3 sets the opt-out renewal deadline of March 1, 2027 for jurisdictions without their own comparable exemption, and lays out rescission deadlines (April 30, 2025 for tax year 2025; March 1 for 2026-2029).
• Section 1-3 also removes the requirement that a surviving spouse reapply for the homestead exemption once it has already been granted.
• Section 1-6 creates a new Code section 48-5-306.2 requiring levying authorities to certify their estimated roll-back rate at least 15 days before assessment notices are mailed.
• Section 2-1 creates a local sales and use tax exemption, repealed automatically on December 31, 2033, for construction materials used in education capital outlay projects, limited to school systems with a qualifying homestead exemption in place.
• Section 3-1 keeps the 2 percent cap on combined local sales and use taxes but clarifies which existing taxes are grandfathered in if they no longer comply after July 1, 2025.
• Section 3-2 revises the special district sales tax for property tax relief, including how intergovernmental agreements and exemptions for small municipalities work.
• Section 4-1 makes the Act effective on the Governor's signature, with Part I applied retroactively to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.

1. 2025-04-01Effective Date 2025-04-01
2. 2025-04-01Act 5
3. 2025-04-01House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-01House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-27House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
6. 2025-03-25Senate Transmitted House (Senate)
7. 2025-03-25Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
8. 2025-03-25Senate Third Read (Senate)

• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)Primary sponsor
• Trey Kelley (R, HD-016)
• Noel Williams (R, HD-148)
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Dale Washburn (R, HD-144)
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 18, 2025

   173 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 5 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #40

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 25, 2025

   31 yea, 22 nay (2 not voting, 1 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Hb 92, Hb 290: Senate Vote #278

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 25, 2025

   52 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 0 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #280

4. PassedHouse voteMarch 27, 2025

   165 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 14 absent)

   Agree To Senate Substitute: House Vote #329

• property taxes
• homestead exemption
• local sales tax
• school construction funding
• tax assessment notices