HB224: HB224 Highways, bridges, and ferries; construction or maintenance of roads upon military bases or installations paid for by the United States Department of Defense or other entities; authorize

Georgia law currently makes it illegal for state or local officials, including the Department of Transportation, the State Road and Tollway Authority, the Georgia Highway Authority, or any county or municipality, to build or maintain private roads. Roads on military bases count as private roads under this rule, which has blocked the state from helping construct or maintain roads on military installations even when the federal government wanted that help. This bill creates a specific exception. It amends O.C.G.A. § 32-1-8 so that the Department of Transportation can construct or maintain a private road on a military base or installation, but only when it is acting under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense or another federal entity, and only when the money for the work comes entirely from that federal department or entity. The general ban on building private roads otherwise stays in place for all the listed state and local authorities.

• Creates a new exception letting the Department of Transportation build or maintain roads on military bases or installations.
• Limits that exception to situations where the work is done under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense or another federal entity.
• Requires that funding for such road work come solely from the U.S. Department of Defense or the other federal entity, not from state money.
• Keeps the existing ban on constructing or maintaining private roads in place for the State Road and Tollway Authority, the Georgia Highway Authority, counties, and municipalities.
• Repeals any existing state laws that conflict with this new exception.

The Georgia Department of Transportation, which gains new authority to work on military base roads, and the U.S. Department of Defense or other federal entities that fund such projects. Military installations in Georgia and the communities around them may benefit from improved road access.

Roads on military bases in Georgia could be built or repaired by the state's transportation agency when the federal government pays for it, potentially speeding up projects that were previously blocked by the state's ban on building private roads, without using state tax dollars.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 32-1-8 by adding subsection (b), which authorizes the Department of Transportation to construct or maintain a private road on a military base or installation.
• This authority applies only when the department acts pursuant to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense or another federal entity.
• Funds used for the road work must be solely derived from the U.S. Department of Defense or the other federal entity, not state funds.
• The existing prohibition in subsection (a) on officials authorizing construction or maintenance of private roads remains in force except as provided in the new subsection (b).
• Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with the Act.

1. 2025-05-13Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-13Act 180
3. 2025-05-13House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-09House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-04-04Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-04-04Senate Third Read (Senate)
7. 2025-04-04Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
8. 2025-04-02Senate Tabled (Senate)

• Josh Bonner (R, HD-073)Primary sponsor
• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)
• Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
• Vance Smith (R, HD-138)
• Steven Sainz (R, HD-180)
• Al Williams (D, HD-168)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   172 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #216

2. PassedSenate voteApril 4, 2025

   51 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #484

• road construction
• military bases
• Department of Transportation
• state and federal agreements