---
title: HB 1287. Transportation, Department of; selection of commissioner; revise method
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb1287
cite_as: HB 1287, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1287
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1287.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1287/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73136
date: 2026-02-17
status: introduced
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/hb1286.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1288.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md
omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 132
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1287.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 1287
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2026-02-11
last_action: House Second Readers
sponsors:
- Lauren McDonald
text_version: Introduced
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB1287/2025
upstream_id: 2114677
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
- Department of Transportation
- state government appointments
- Governor's powers
- transportation commissioner
---
# HB 1287. Transportation, Department of; selection of commissioner; revise method
## Text
House Bill 1287
By: Representative McDonald III of the 26th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Article 3 of Chapter 2 of Title 32 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
relating to officers of the Department of Transportation, so as to revise the method for
selection of the position of commissioner; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting
laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Article 3 of Chapter 2 of Title 32 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
officers of the Department of Transportation, is amended by revising Code Section 32-2-40,
relating to selection of commissioner of transportation, term, vacancy, bond, and other
elective office, as follows:
"32-2-40.
(a) The commissioner of transportation shall be the chief executive officer of the
department.
(b) The commissioner, his or her successor, and each succeeding commissioner thereafter
shall be nominated by the Governor and selected by a vote of the majority of the total
number of members of the board. At the time of said vote, the board shall stipulate the term
the commissioner shall serve, and said commissioner shall serve during the stipulated term
and until his or her successor is selected by the board and duly qualified. The board shall
stipulate one of the following to be the term of the commissioner:
(1) The commissioner shall serve at the pleasure of the board and Governor; or
(2) The commissioner shall serve any term specified by the board up to and including a
maximum of four years; however, the board shall not specify a term of office that extends
beyond the end of the term of the Governor in office at the time the commissioner's term
is scheduled to begin.
(c) If the board stipulates that the commissioner shall serve under the provisions of
paragraph (2) of this subsection (b) of this Code section, upon a vote of the majority of the
total members of the board, the commissioner shall be subject to removal by the board for
just cause after reasonable notice, copy of charge, hearing, and opportunity for presentation
of evidence. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the commissioner by reason of
resignation, removal, death, or permanent incapacity and inability to perform the duties of
the office, the deputy commissioner shall become acting commissioner to serve until such
time as the board at any regular or called meeting selects a new commissioner to fill the
unexpired term of office created by such vacancy.
(d) The commissioner shall qualify, upon selection, by executing a bond in the amount of
$100,000.00 with a corporate surety licensed to do business in this state and payable to the
Governor and his or her successors in office, such bond to be approved by the Governor
and conditioned on the faithful discharge of his or her duties as commissioner. The
premium of such bond shall be paid from funds of the department.
(e) The commissioner shall devote full time and attention to the duties and responsibilities
of his or her office. No person who serves as commissioner shall be eligible, except as
hereinafter provided in this subsection, to qualify as a candidate in any primary, special,
or general election for any state or federal elective office nor to hold any such office,
except as hereinafter provided in this subsection, during the time he or she serves as
commissioner and for a period of 12 months after the date he or she ceases to serve as
commissioner. However, nothing contained in this subsection shall prevent the
commissioner from being appointed to any other office nor disqualify him or her from
running in any election to succeed himself or herself in any office to which he or she was
appointed nor to hold such office in the event he or she is elected thereto and otherwise
qualified therefor; provided, however, that the commissioner shall resign as commissioner
of transportation before accepting any such appointive office."
SECTION 2.
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.
A Georgia House bill would give the Governor a role in choosing the state's transportation commissioner, requiring the Governor to nominate the person before the State Transportation Board votes on selection.
### Plain-language summary
Currently, the Georgia Department of Transportation's board alone selects the commissioner, the department's chief executive officer, by majority vote. This bill would change that process by adding the Governor to the selection: the commissioner would first be nominated by the Governor and then selected by a majority vote of the board, rather than chosen by the board on its own.
The bill also adjusts the 'serve at the pleasure of' term option so that a commissioner serving without a fixed term would serve at the pleasure of both the board and the Governor, not just the board. Other existing rules, including the $100,000 bond requirement, the four-year term cap tied to the Governor's term, removal for cause, and restrictions on holding elective office while serving, remain in place. The bill has no stated special effective date beyond standard enactment upon passage and repeals conflicting laws.
### What it does
- Requires the Governor to nominate the Department of Transportation commissioner before the State Transportation Board can vote to select the person.
- Changes the 'serve at the pleasure of' term option so the commissioner would serve at the pleasure of both the board and the Governor, not the board alone.
- Updates pronoun language throughout Code Section 32-2-40 to refer to the commissioner as 'he or she' rather than only 'he'.
- Keeps existing rules on the $100,000 bond, the four-year term limit tied to the Governor's term, removal for cause, and post-office election restrictions unchanged.
- Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this new selection process.
### Who it affects
The Governor and the State Transportation Board, whose roles in choosing the Department of Transportation commissioner would change; the commissioner position itself; and indirectly the Department of Transportation, which the commissioner leads as chief executive officer.
### Why it matters
The change would shift some control over who leads Georgia's transportation department from the board alone toward a shared process involving the Governor, potentially affecting how independently the board can choose its top executive and how closely the position aligns with the Governor's priorities.
### Key provisions
- Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. ยง 32-2-40(b) so the commissioner is 'nominated by the Governor and selected by a vote of the majority of the total number of members of the board,' instead of selected by the board alone.
- Section 1 also amends the pleasure-term option so a commissioner without a fixed term serves 'at the pleasure of the board and Governor' rather than the board alone.
- Subsection (c) is updated to reference paragraph (2) of subsection (b) with a cross-reference fix but keeps the removal-for-cause and vacancy-filling procedures unchanged.
- Subsections (d) and (e), covering the $100,000 bond and restrictions on holding elective office while serving as commissioner, are retained with only pronoun updates.
- Section 2 repeals all laws in conflict with the Act.
## Status
- Status: Introduced (2026-02-11)
- Last action: House Second Readers (2026-02-17)
- Sponsors: Lauren McDonald
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73136
> The history, votes, and amendments (132 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1287.md?full=1