Georgia CommonsHB 1522: Clayton County Water Authority; fix compensation and reimbursement of expenses for members; authorize
Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Read and Referred
A House bill would let the Clayton County Water Authority's own board set pay and expense reimbursement for its members, instead of leaving that authority elsewhere in the 1955 law creating the authority.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
The Clayton County Water Authority was created by a 1955 state law that has been amended several times since. This bill changes a specific part of that law, subsection (b) of Section 4, to spell out how board members' pay and expense reimbursement get set. Under the bill, the authority's own board would fix the compensation and reimbursement of expenses for its members. Before the board could raise either amount, it would have to publish a notice of its intent to do so in Clayton County's official legal organ (the newspaper designated for official county legal notices) once a week for three straight weeks before taking the action. The bill repeals any conflicting laws but does not state a separate effective date beyond standard practice for local legislation.
What the bill does
- Gives the Clayton County Water Authority's board the power to set its own members' compensation and expense reimbursement.
- Requires public notice before any pay increase: the board must publish notice of intent in Clayton County's official legal organ once a week for three consecutive weeks before acting.
- Repeals any existing laws that conflict with this new rule for the authority.
Who it affects
Members of the Clayton County Water Authority's governing board, who would gain authority over their own pay and expenses, and Clayton County residents who rely on the authority's water and sewer services and may follow public notices about board compensation changes.
Why it matters
The change means Clayton County Water Authority board members would decide their own pay rather than having it set some other way, but any increase would first require three weeks of public notice in the local legal organ, giving residents advance warning before pay changes take effect.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises subsection (b) of Section 4 of the 1955 Act creating the authority, granting the board power to fix compensation and reimbursement of expenses for its members.
- Section 1 also requires that before any increase in compensation or reimbursement is enacted, notice of intent must run in Clayton County's official legal organ once weekly for three consecutive weeks.
- Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with this Act.
From the bill
“The board shall fix the compensation and reimbursement of expenses for members of the board”
“no action to increase the compensation or reimbursement of expenses for members of the board shall be taken until notice of intent to take the action has been published in the official legal organ of Clayton County at least once a week for three consecutive weeks”
Status timeline
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Rhonda Burnough (D, HD-077)
- Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
- Eric Bell (D, HD-075)
Votes
- House voteMarch 31, 2026
161 yea, 3 nay (5 not voting, 7 absent)
Topics
- local government
- water authority
- Clayton County
- public officials pay