HB619: HB619 Donalsonville, City of; election schedule for mayor and councilmembers; revise

This bill amends the 1997 charter of the City of Donalsonville, a small Georgia municipality, to adjust when the mayor is elected relative to city council members. Currently the charter sets four-year terms for both offices; the bill keeps four-year terms as the general rule but restructures the timing so the mayor's and council's elections do not always fall in the same cycle. Under the revised schedule, general municipal elections continue to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, every two years starting in 2025. The mayor elected in November 2025 will serve only a two-year term instead of four, so that the next mayoral election in November 2027 realigns the mayor's term with a new four-year cycle going forward. The bill also protects any term already underway before the law takes effect from being shortened or lengthened outside normal legal procedures, and it repeals conflicting laws.

• Revises Section 2.11 of the Donalsonville charter to keep four-year terms for mayor and council members, subject to the new staggering rule in Section 5.12.
• Sets a one-time two-year term for the mayor elected in the November 2025 general election instead of the usual four-year term.
• Restores the mayor's term to four years starting with the mayor elected in November 2027, aligning future mayoral elections on a staggered schedule with council elections.
• Protects any officeholder's term that began before the bill's effective date from being shortened or lengthened, except through normal state legal procedures.
• Repeals any prior laws that conflict with these charter changes.

The bill directly affects the mayor and city council members of Donalsonville, Georgia, along with city voters, since it changes when mayoral elections occur and how long specific mayoral terms last.

By shortening the term of the mayor elected in 2025 to two years, the bill changes when Donalsonville residents next vote for mayor, spacing out mayoral and council elections so they no longer coincide, which affects local election planning and campaign timing.

• Section 1 revises Section 2.11 of the city charter, keeping four-year terms for mayor and council but making that subject to exceptions in Section 5.12.
• Section 2 revises Section 5.12: subsection (a) sets general municipal elections for the Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2025 and biennially after, with four-year terms starting January 1 of the following year.
• Subsection (b) creates a one-time exception: the mayor elected in November 2025 serves only a two-year term, with the next mayor elected in November 2027 serving a full four-year term.
• Subsection (c) bars shortening or lengthening any term of office begun before the bill's effective date, except through state-law procedures.
• Section 3 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with this Act.

1. 2025-05-13Effective Date 2025-05-13
2. 2025-05-13Act 206
3. 2025-05-13House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-18Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-03-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
7. 2025-03-06Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
8. 2025-03-04House Passed/Adopted (House)

• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)Primary sponsor

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 4, 2025

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

   Local Calendar : House Vote #148

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 18, 2025

   51 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 3 absent)

   Local Consent Calendar: Senate Vote #235

• municipal elections
• city charters
• Donalsonville
• local government terms of office