HB547: HB547 Revenue and taxation; bona fide conservation use property; permit combination of multiple covenants into a single, new, ten-year covenant

Georgia law lets landowners get lower property tax assessments on land kept in conservation use, forestry, or agriculture through covenants with the county that last ten years (O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4). Owners with several parcels can end up juggling multiple covenants that started at different times. This bill lets a single owner combine all their conservation use covenants into one new ten-year covenant without it counting as breaking the old agreements, as long as all the combined land would already qualify for renewal on its own. The bill also updates the law to say conservation land can have carbon sequestration, participating in a carbon credit program, as a secondary use alongside conservation and ecological forestry. It adds rules for forest land conservation covenants when property changes hands or fails to meet its purpose, allowing a one time switch to a different covenant type. The changes would take effect once the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without a signature, applying to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2027.

• Allows a single owner with multiple parcels under separate bona fide conservation use covenants to merge them into one new ten-year covenant without triggering a breach penalty.
• Requires the owner to first file a real property tax return with the county board of tax assessors by the normal filing deadline before combining covenants.
• Bars parcels with delinquent taxes from being combined into a new covenant.
• Adds carbon sequestration, done through the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry or a similar program, as an allowed secondary use on conservation use land.
• Lets a new owner of forest land or conservation use property switch it to a forest land conservation covenant within 180 days of acquiring it, if otherwise qualified, without being penalized for breaking the old covenant.
• Limits property to only one such covenant change under the new forest land provisions.

Landowners who hold multiple bona fide conservation use property covenants, forest landowners, county boards of tax assessors who process the covenant applications and returns, and buyers who acquire land already under a conservation, forest land, or current use covenant.

Landowners with several separate conservation covenants could line up their expiration dates and paperwork into a single ten-year agreement instead of tracking multiple deadlines. Allowing carbon sequestration as a secondary use could let conservation landowners also participate in carbon credit programs while keeping their reduced property tax assessment.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.4(a)(1)(F) to add carbon sequestration, through the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry or a carbon sequestration program, as a permitted secondary use of conservation land.
• Section 1 adds new subsection (e.1) allowing a single owner to combine multiple valid conservation use covenants into one new ten-year covenant without a breach, if the combined land would qualify for renewal.
• Section 1 requires the owner to file a real property tax return by the standard deadline before combining covenants, and bars parcels with delinquent taxes from being combined.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 48-5-7.7(f) to let owners switch between forest land conservation covenants and current use or preferential assessment covenants under certain conditions, including a 180-day window after acquiring property, without it counting as a breach.
• Section 2 limits each property to only one such covenant change.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as upon the Governor's approval or the bill becoming law without signature, applying to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027.

1. 2026-03-25Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
2. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
3. 2026-03-09Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
4. 2026-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
5. 2026-03-06House Third Readers (House)
6. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-02-24House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-02-21House First Readers (House)

• Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)Primary sponsor
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• John Corbett (R, HD-174)
• Steven Meeks (R, HD-178)
• David Huddleston (R, HD-072)
• Joe Campbell (R, HD-171)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2026

   169 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 4 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #659

• property taxes
• conservation land
• carbon sequestration
• forestry
• agricultural land tax breaks