HB474: HB474 Revenue and taxation; repeal an exemption for charges paid for continuous use of rooms, lodgings, or accommodations after the first 30 days of continuous occupancy

Georgia law lets counties and cities charge a tax on hotel, motel, and other lodging bills to help pay for tourism promotion and convention centers (O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51). Current law exempts charges for continuous stays after the first 30 days, meaning long-term guests stop paying the tax once they pass that one-month mark. House Bill 474 removes that exemption. It rewrites the law so charges for continuous occupancy beyond 30 days are no longer excluded from the local accommodations tax, while keeping other exemptions in place, including for people displaced by fire or other disasters, free meeting rooms, and government employees traveling on official business. The bill does not list a specific effective date beyond the standard process of taking effect once signed into law, and it repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with the change.

• Repeals the existing exemption that stopped local hotel/motel taxes from applying to lodging charges after 30 days of continuous occupancy.
• Rewrites subsection (h) of O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51 so long-term lodging guests are no longer automatically excluded from the local accommodations tax.
• Leaves in place the separate exemptions for fire or casualty victims, free meeting rooms, and government employees traveling on official business.
• Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change once the bill becomes law.

The change affects people who stay in hotels, motels, or other short-term lodgings for extended periods, such as traveling workers, people in temporary housing situations, or long-term guests; it also affects hotel and lodging operators who collect the tax, and the counties and cities that receive accommodations tax revenue for tourism promotion.

Guests who stay in Georgia lodging for more than 30 days straight would start paying local accommodations taxes on those extended stays, raising their costs, while counties and cities that levy the tax would collect revenue on a category of stays that is currently exempt.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(h), which lists exemptions from the county and municipal accommodations tax used to fund tourism, conventions, and trade shows.
• The revised subsection removes paragraph (4), which had exempted charges for continuous occupancy after the first 30 days.
• The exemptions for fire/casualty victims (paragraph 1), free meeting rooms (paragraph 2), and government officials on official business (paragraph 3) remain unchanged.
• Section 2 repeals any other Georgia laws or parts of laws that conflict with the bill.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)Primary sponsor

• hotel taxes
• accommodations tax
• tourism funding
• local government revenue
• long-term lodging