SB38: SB38 Development Impact Fees; provide for education

Georgia's Development Impact Fee Act (O.C.G.A. Chapter 71 of Title 36) currently lets cities and counties charge developers fees to help pay for roads, parks, and other public facilities needed because of new growth. It does not let local school systems charge similar fees. This bill adds a new article letting a 'high growth school system,' defined as one with at least 20 percent enrollment growth and $250 million or more in new school construction spending over the prior ten years, adopt educational development impact fees in fast-growing parts of its district. Before charging the fees, a local board of education must formally find it qualifies as high growth and set up an advisory committee to help calculate the fees, which local governments would then collect alongside other impact fees, keeping 3 percent for administrative costs. The fees last ten years and can be renewed in five-year increments if enrollment keeps growing. The whole law only takes effect January 1, 2027, and only if the General Assembly proposes, and Georgia voters ratify, a state constitutional amendment authorizing these fees in the 2026 general election; otherwise it is automatically repealed.

• Creates a new legal category of 'educational development impact fees' that qualifying local school systems can charge developers for new construction.
• Limits eligibility to 'high growth school systems' with 20 percent or more enrollment growth and $250 million or more in new school construction spending over the prior ten years.
• Requires a local board of education to adopt a public resolution and form an advisory committee before imposing the fees.
• Directs local governments that collect the fees to keep 3 percent for administrative costs and forward the rest to the school board.
• Sets the fees to expire after ten years unless renewed in five-year increments tied to continued enrollment growth.
• Makes the entire Act contingent on voter approval of a state constitutional amendment at the November 2026 election, with automatic repeal if that vote fails.

Fast-growing local school systems and their boards of education, real estate developers and builders in high-growth areas, county and municipal governments that would collect and administer the fees, and residents and families in rapidly growing school districts.

If both the bill and a companion constitutional amendment pass, developers building in fast-growing school districts could face new fees that help fund school construction, potentially easing pressure on local property taxes and bond debt while adding a new cost to development projects.

• Section 1 rewrites the legislative findings in O.C.G.A. § 36-71-1 to add local school systems alongside cities and counties as entities that can require growth to pay its share of public facility costs.
• Section 2 reorganizes existing law into Article 1 and Article 2 and adds a new Article 3 (O.C.G.A. §§ 36-71-20 through 36-71-23) creating educational development impact fees.
• Section 2 (§ 36-71-20) defines 'high growth school system' as one with 20 percent enrollment growth and $250 million in new facility spending over ten years.
• Section 2 (§ 36-71-22) requires a resolution, an advisory committee, and a public fee schedule sent to local governments before fees can be imposed, and lets collecting governments keep 3 percent for administration.
• Section 2 (§ 36-71-23) sets a ten-year validity period for the fees, renewable in five-year increments if enrollment grows by 3 percent or more in at least one prior year.
• Section 3 makes the Act effective January 1, 2027 only if a state constitutional amendment authorizing these fees is adopted by the General Assembly and ratified by voters in the 2026 general election, otherwise it repeals automatically.

1. 2025-01-29Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-01-28Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)Primary sponsor
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)

• development impact fees
• school construction funding
• property development
• education finance
• constitutional amendment