HR192: HR192 General Assembly; creation and comprehensive regulation of community development districts; provide - CA

Georgia's Constitution does not currently authorize a special type of district focused on workforce and residential infrastructure. This resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that would let the General Assembly pass general laws creating and comprehensively regulating these districts. A district could only be formed with approval from the governing authority of every county and municipality where any part of the district would sit. The amendment sets out how districts would be run: each district would have an administrative or governing body, which could be given power to levy taxes, fees, and assessments and to incur debt backed by the district itself, not the state. Districts could not use eminent domain, and local governments would keep control over their own facilities and laws inside a district. If the General Assembly agrees, the proposed amendment would go to voters statewide for ratification or rejection.

• Proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing the General Assembly to create and regulate 'workforce and residential infrastructure districts' by general law.
• Requires approval from every affected county and municipal governing authority before a district can be formed.
• Allows a district's governing body to levy taxes, fees, and assessments and to incur debt backed by the district, not the state.
• Bars any district governing body from exercising eminent domain and bars state or local delegation of that power to a district.
• Preserves county and municipal authority and control over their own facilities and laws within a district.
• Sends the proposed amendment to Georgia voters for a yes-or-no ratification vote.

County and municipal governments, whose approval is required to create a district and who keep authority over their own facilities; residents in areas where districts might be formed, who could face new district taxes or fees; and the General Assembly, which would gain power to write laws governing these districts.

If ratified, local areas could see new special-purpose districts empowered to tax residents, charge fees, and take on debt to build workforce and residential infrastructure, without pledging the state's credit, while local governments would retain control over their own existing services and facilities.

• Section 1 adds a new Section VIII to Article IX of the Constitution establishing workforce and residential infrastructure districts.
• Paragraph I requires approval from each affected county and municipal governing authority before a district can be created.
• Paragraph III lets general law authorize a district's governing body to levy taxes, fees, and assessments within the district.
• Paragraph IV allows districts to incur debt backed by district taxing power, explicitly not an obligation of the state or any state government unit.
• Paragraph V preserves local government control over facilities in a district and prohibits any district body from exercising eminent domain.
• Paragraph VI lets the General Assembly regulate, restrict, and limit district creation and powers, including by population.
• Section 2 sets the ballot question language and submits the amendment to voters for ratification or rejection.

1. 2026-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
4. 2025-02-18House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
5. 2025-02-11House Second Readers (House)
6. 2025-02-10House First Readers (House)
7. 2025-02-06House Hopper (House)

• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)Primary sponsor
• Lynn Smith (R, HD-070)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Al Williams (D, HD-168)
• Mack Jackson (D, HD-128)

• constitutional amendment
• special districts
• local government powers
• infrastructure financing
• housing