Georgia CommonsHB 1567: Quitman, City of; transfer of all legal rights, privileges, and assets to Brooks County; provide
Last action May 12, 2026 · Effective Date 2026-05-12
House Bill 1567 sets up a path for Brooks County voters to decide whether to consolidate the City of Quitman with Brooks County, and creates a backup process to dissolve Quitman and transfer its assets and duties to the county if it keeps failing state audit requirements.
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 Enrolled version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
This bill lays out a multi-step process for the future of the City of Quitman in Brooks County. First, it calls for a special election in November 2026 asking voters in both Quitman and unincorporated Brooks County whether they want to explore consolidating the city and county into one unified government. If voters approve, a nine-member Quitman-Brooks County Charter and Unification Commission would be appointed to study the idea and draft a proposed charter, which would then go to voters in a second referendum no later than November 2027. If voters reject consolidation, or if the charter fails, the bill has a fallback: it repeals the 1962 Act that created Quitman's current charter and requires all of the city's legal rights, property, debts, contracts, and permits to transfer to Brooks County, effectively dissolving city government. That fallback would not take effect if the state auditor certifies Quitman has caught up on required financial audits by set 2027 deadlines. The cities of Barwick, Pavo, and Morven are excluded from any of this.
What the bill does
- Requires Brooks County to hold a special election in November 2026 asking voters whether to explore consolidating the City of Quitman and Brooks County into one government.
- Creates a nine-member Charter and Unification Commission to study consolidation and draft a proposed unified government charter if voters approve the concept.
- Sets up a second referendum, by November 2027, for voters to approve or reject the drafted consolidation charter.
- Repeals the 1962 Act that established Quitman's current city charter, but only if consolidation fails and the city has not met state audit compliance deadlines.
- Transfers all of Quitman's property, contracts, debts, permits, and pending court cases to Brooks County if the city is dissolved under this fallback process.
- Excludes the cities of Barwick, Pavo, and Morven from any provision of this Act.
Who it affects
Residents and voters of the City of Quitman and unincorporated Brooks County, the Quitman city government and Brooks County government, city employees and bondholders, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia, and pending court cases in Quitman's municipal court.
Why it matters
Depending on how the votes and audits go, Quitman could either become part of a newly designed unified city-county government or cease to exist as a separate municipality, with Brooks County taking over its property, debts, services, contracts, and law enforcement duties within the former city limits.
Key provisions
- Section 1-1 requires a November 2026 referendum asking Brooks County and Quitman voters whether to pursue consolidating their governments.
- Sections 2-3 through 2-11 create and empower the Charter and Unification Commission to study consolidation, draft a charter, and hold public hearings, with a charter deadline of August 31, 2027.
- Section 2-10 requires a second referendum, no later than November 2027, on any proposed unified government charter.
- Section 3-1 repeals Quitman's 1962 charter Act in its entirety if the fallback provisions take effect.
- Sections 3-4 through 3-7 create a special Quitman Services District, transfer city debts, contracts, permits, and assets to Brooks County, and require the county to levy taxes to cover Quitman's bonded debt.
- Section 4-2 ties the fallback dissolution dates (May 31, 2027, June 30, 2027, or January 1, 2028) to whether the state auditor certifies Quitman has met its financial audit requirements.
- Section 4-1 explicitly excludes the cities of Barwick, Pavo, and Morven from any changes made by this Act.
From the bill
“all legal rights, privileges, and assets of the City of Quitman and all records of such assets shall pass to Brooks County without the necessity or formality of a deed, bill of sale, or other instrument of transfer.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date 2026-05-12
- Act 681
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
Show full history (16 actions)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- John LaHood (R, HD-175)
- Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)
- Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)
- Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
- Jaclyn Ford (R, HD-170)
Votes
- House voteMarch 25, 2026
96 yea, 68 nay (4 not voting, 8 absent)
- Senate voteMarch 31, 2026
31 yea, 16 nay (4 not voting, 3 absent)
- House voteApril 2, 2026
75 yea, 97 nay (1 not voting, 3 absent)
Topics
- city-county consolidation
- local government
- Brooks County
- municipal dissolution
- special elections