HB 1182: Agriculture; soil amendments; provide for additional prohibited acts

Georgia law already regulates soil amendments, which are materials added to soil to improve its quality, through registration, labeling, and enforcement rules under the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Existing law already bans things like distributing unregistered, unlabeled, or contaminated soil amendments and lists conditions under which the department can order someone to stop applying amendments on a site tied to environmental violations. This bill amends Georgia's soil amendment law (O.C.G.A. § 2-12-79) to add two new prohibited acts specifically for soil amendments derived from industrial by-products. It would be illegal to store such material within 100 feet of any property line unless the neighboring property owner gives written consent, and illegal to load or unload the material on a public road, using the definition of public road found elsewhere in Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 32-1-3). The bill also makes a small wording tweak to an existing provision about site definitions and repeals any conflicting laws.

• Adds a new ban on storing soil amendments made from industrial by-products within 100 feet of a property line, unless the adjacent landowner consents in writing.
• Adds a new ban on loading or unloading soil amendments made from industrial by-products on a public road.
• Removes the word 'only' from an existing definition clause about what counts as a 'site' for purposes of enforcement actions tied to environmental violations.
• Keeps all of the current law's existing prohibited acts, such as distributing unregistered or contaminated soil amendments, in place unchanged.

Companies and individuals who distribute, apply, store, or transport soil amendments made from industrial by-products, as well as neighboring property owners whose consent would now be required for storage close to their land. The Georgia Department of Agriculture would enforce the new rules.

Neighbors of sites that store industrial by-product soil amendments would gain a say over storage close to their property line, and companies would face new limits on where they can stage or handle these materials, including a ban on using public roads for loading and unloading.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 2-12-79 to add paragraph (8), banning storage of industrial by-product soil amendments within 100 feet of any property line without written consent from the adjacent owner.
• Section 1 also adds paragraph (9), banning loading or unloading of industrial by-product soil amendments within a public road as defined in O.C.G.A. § 32-1-3.
• Section 1 removes the word 'only' from the existing site definition clause in paragraph (7)(B), a minor wording change.
• Section 2 repeals any existing laws that conflict with these changes.

1. 2026-03-25House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub As Amended (House)
2. 2026-03-20Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
3. 2026-03-20Senate Third Read (Senate)
4. 2026-03-19Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
5. 2026-03-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
6. 2026-02-19Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
7. 2026-02-18House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
8. 2026-02-18House Third Readers (House)

• Trey Rhodes (R, HD-124)Primary sponsor
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Jason Ridley (R, HD-006)
• Noel Williams (R, HD-148)
• John Corbett (R, HD-174)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 18, 2026

   161 yea, 0 nay (8 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #524

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 20, 2026

   46 yea, 0 nay (0 not voting, 8 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #777

3. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2026

   153 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 18 absent)

   Agree To Senate Sub As Am: House Vote #769

• soil amendments
• agriculture regulation
• industrial by-products
• property line disputes
• environmental enforcement