HB249: HB249 Public utilities; solar power facility agreements; revise provisions

Georgia law already requires solar companies (called 'grantees') that lease land from landowners to eventually remove their equipment and restore the property. This bill revises those rules in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A. Title 46, Chapter 3). It updates definitions, including adding the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources (called the 'Division') and clarifying what counts as an 'electric supplier.' The bill tightens requirements for the financial assurance, essentially a bond or insurance policy, that solar companies must post to guarantee they will pay for removing their facilities. It requires that assurance be delivered and proven to the Division before a solar facility starts generating electricity for sale, and lets the Division issue cease and desist orders against companies that fail to comply. Companies that keep operating after such an order can face a $1,000 per day civil penalty. The bill also blocks counties and cities from imposing their own separate financial assurance rules on covered solar leases. It would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Requires solar companies to prove to the Environmental Protection Division that they have delivered required financial assurance before their facility starts selling electricity.
• Gives the Environmental Protection Division authority to issue cease and desist orders against solar companies that fail to provide that proof or otherwise violate the financial assurance rules.
• Creates a $1,000 per day civil penalty for any company that keeps operating a solar facility after being served a cease and desist order.
• Bars counties and cities from imposing their own separate financial assurance requirements on solar leases that already meet the state's rules.
• Sets detailed rules for removing solar equipment, foundations, underground cables, and roads from a landowner's property once a lease ends.
• Requires updated cost estimates for removal and financial assurance amounts at least once every five years and no later than 20 years after a facility starts commercial operation.

The bill affects solar power companies (grantees) that lease land for solar facilities, landowners who lease their property for solar projects, the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources, and county and city governments that currently or might otherwise regulate solar facility removal bonds.

Landowners who lease property for solar farms would get stronger guarantees that companies will pay to remove equipment and restore the land, backed by state enforcement rather than relying solely on private lease terms. Solar companies would face new compliance deadlines, state oversight, and daily fines for noncompliance.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 46-3-67 definitions, adding terms for 'Division' (the Environmental Protection Division) and 'Electric supplier.'
• O.C.G.A. § 46-3-68 revises the rule voiding contract waivers of grantee duties, adding an exception tied to the new financial assurance waiver process in § 46-3-69.
• O.C.G.A. § 46-3-69 details decommissioning duties: removing equipment, foundations to at least three feet deep, underground cables, and roads, with soil restoration.
• O.C.G.A. § 46-3-69.1 sets financial assurance requirements, including that the bonded amount be based on an independent engineer's estimate and updated every five years, and bars local governments from imposing additional bonding rules.
• New O.C.G.A. § 46-3-69.2 requires proof of financial assurance be given to the Division before commercial operation and authorizes the Division to issue cease and desist orders for violations.
• Section 46-3-69.2(b) sets a $1,000 per day civil penalty for operating in violation of a cease and desist order, enforceable through the courts.
• Section 2 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without the Governor's signature.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
3. 2025-02-24House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
4. 2025-02-18House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-02-06House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-02-06House Second Readers (House)
7. 2025-02-05House First Readers (House)
8. 2025-02-04House Hopper (House)

• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)Primary sponsor
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)
• David Huddleston (R, HD-072)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Joe Campbell (R, HD-171)

• solar power regulation
• land leases
• environmental enforcement
• utility law
• renewable energy