--- title: HB 1090. Echols County; Board of Commissioners; county commissioners shall be elected from the county at large; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb1090 cite_as: HB 1090, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1090 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1090.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1090/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72596 date: 2026-05-11 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1089.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1091.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 887 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1090.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 1090 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-05-11 last_action: Effective Date 2027-01-01 sponsors: - John Corbett text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB1090/2025 upstream_id: 2102313 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - local government - county commissioners - election rules - Echols County --- # HB 1090. Echols County; Board of Commissioners; county commissioners shall be elected from the county at large; provide ## Text House Bill 1090 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representative Corbett of the 174th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws creating and governing the Board of Commissioners of Echols County, approved February 3, 1953 (Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 2054), as amended, particularly by an Act approved April 11, 2022 (Ga. L. 2022, p.5446), so as to provide that all of the county commissioners shall be elected from the county at large; to repeal the commission district plan; to provide for continuation in office of current members; to provide for related matters; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. An Act revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws creating and governing the Board of Commissioners of Echols County, approved February 3, 1953 (Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 2054), as amended, particularly by an Act approved April 11, 2022 (Ga. L. 2022, p.5446), is amended by revising Section 2 as follows: "SECTION 2. (a) There shall be a Board of Commissioners of Echols County, to consist of five persons to be elected as provided for in this Act. The board shall consist of five posts, designated Posts 1 through 5. In order to be elected as a member of the board from a commissioner, a person must have resided in the county for at least 12 months prior to election thereto and must receive a majority of the votes cast for such office countywide. At the time of qualifying for election as a member of the board, each candidate for such office shall specify the post for which that person is a candidate. A person elected as a member of the board from a district must continue to reside in the county during the person's term of office or such office shall thereupon become vacant. Elections of members of the board shall be held in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the O.C.G.A., the 'Georgia Election Code.' (b) Members of the board of commissioners shall serve four-year terms of office and until their successors are elected and qualified. (c)(1) The initial member of the board from Post 1 shall be the commissioner serving from District 1 Post 1 on January 1, 2027. (2) The initial member of the board from Post 2 shall be the commissioner serving from District 1 Post 2 on January 1, 2027. (3) The initial member of the board from Post 3 shall be the commissioner serving from District 2 Post 1 on January 1, 2027. (4) The initial member of the board from Post 4 shall be the commissioner serving from District 2 Post 2 on January 1, 2027. (5) The initial member of the board from Post 5 shall be the commissioner serving from District 3 on January 1, 2027." SECTION 2. Said Act is further amended by striking in its entirety Appendix A containing the descriptions of the commissioner districts which is identified as "User: Echols Plan Name: EcholsCC-2022 Plan Type: Local." SECTION 3. Those members of the Board of Commissioners of Echols County who are serving as such on the effective date of this Act and any person selected to fill a vacancy in any such office shall continue to serve as such members until the regular expiration of their respective terms of office and upon the election and qualification of their respective successors. SECTION 4. This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2027. SECTION 5. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. House Bill 1090 changes how Echols County elects its five-member Board of Commissioners, moving from district-based elections to countywide at-large voting for every seat, starting January 1, 2027. ### Plain-language summary Echols County currently elects its five county commissioners partly by district, under a 2022 plan that divided the county into commissioner districts. This bill rewrites the law governing the county's Board of Commissioners so that all five members, designated Posts 1 through 5, are elected by voters countywide rather than from specific districts. Candidates must have lived in the county for at least 12 months and must win a majority of votes cast countywide for their post. The bill also repeals the map (Appendix A) that laid out the old commissioner districts. Commissioners currently serving will keep their seats until their terms end, with the current district seat holders as of January 1, 2027 becoming the initial holders of the new posts. The changes take effect January 1, 2027, and any conflicting laws are repealed. ### What it does - Requires all five members of the Echols County Board of Commissioners to be elected countywide (at large) instead of by district. - Creates five numbered posts (1 through 5) that candidates must specify when qualifying for election. - Repeals the county's 2022 commissioner district map (Appendix A) that had divided the county into districts. - Lets current commissioners finish their existing terms, mapping each current district seat to a new post as of January 1, 2027. - Sets the effective date of the new at-large election system as January 1, 2027. - Repeals any prior laws that conflict with these changes. ### Who it affects Echols County voters, who will now vote on all five commissioner seats rather than just their district's seat; current and future candidates for the Board of Commissioners; and the sitting commissioners, whose terms and seat designations are directly addressed by the bill's transition rules. ### Why it matters Voters in Echols County would gain a say in electing every commissioner rather than only the one representing their district, while candidates would need to appeal to the whole county instead of a single district to win a seat starting in 2027. ### Key provisions - Section 1 rewrites Section 2 of the county's governing Act to require all five board members to be elected countywide, with each candidate specifying a post (1 through 5) and needing a countywide majority. - Section 1 sets four-year terms and requires members to reside in the county for at least 12 months before election. - Section 1 designates which current district-based commissioner becomes the initial holder of each new post as of January 1, 2027. - Section 2 repeals Appendix A, the map describing the county's former commissioner districts under the 'EcholsCC-2022' plan. - Section 3 allows sitting commissioners and anyone appointed to fill a vacancy to serve out their current terms under the old system. - Section 4 sets the effective date of the Act as January 1, 2027. - Section 5 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2026-05-11) - Last action: Effective Date 2027-01-01 (2026-05-11) - Sponsors: John Corbett - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72596 > The history, votes, and amendments (887 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1090.md?full=1