HB 204: Public Safety, Department of; establish reasonable rates, fares, and charges for transportation by motor carriers of household goods; repeal authority

Currently, Georgia law lets the Department of Public Safety establish reasonable rates, fares, and charges for companies that move household goods, such as moving companies, and for motor carriers of passengers. This bill would eliminate that rate-setting authority for household goods movers entirely. Section 1 repeals O.C.G.A. § 40-1-118 outright, which is the code section that currently lets the department set those rates, and marks the section as reserved for future use. Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 40-1-119 to remove references to household goods, so the ban on charging different rates than approved and the department's rate-setting and anti-discrimination powers would apply only to passenger carriers going forward. Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws. The bill does not specify a delayed effective date in the text provided.

• Repeals O.C.G.A. § 40-1-118 entirely, eliminating the Department of Public Safety's power to set rates, fares, and charges for household goods movers.
• Rewrites O.C.G.A. § 40-1-119 to strike references to household goods, so the rule against charging rates other than approved ones would apply only to passenger carriers.
• Removes household goods movers from the department's authority to prescribe rates and schedules and to police unjust discrimination in charges.
• Leaves the department's rate-setting and anti-discrimination authority over passenger motor carriers unchanged.

Moving companies and other motor carriers that transport household goods in Georgia, the Department of Public Safety, which currently regulates these rates, and consumers who hire movers, since state-approved rate caps and discrimination protections for household goods transport would no longer apply.

Moving companies would gain freedom to set their own prices for transporting household goods without state rate approval or the current protection against unjust price discrimination. Customers hiring movers would lose a regulatory backstop that currently ties charges to state-approved rates and schedules.

• Section 1 repeals Code Section 40-1-118 in its entirety and designates it as reserved, removing the department's authority to set household goods moving rates.
• Section 2 revises Code Section 40-1-119 by deleting 'household goods or' from two places, limiting the rate and anti-discrimination rules to passenger carriers only.
• Section 2 keeps the commissioner's power to prescribe passes, reduced rates for special occasions, and rate schedules for passenger carriers.
• Section 3 repeals all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-02-03House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2025-02-26House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
4. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-03House First Readers (House)
6. 2025-01-30House Hopper (House)

• Dale Washburn (R, HD-144)Primary sponsor
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)
• Jason Ridley (R, HD-006)
• Jordan Ridley (R, HD-022)
• Ginny Ehrhart (R, HD-036)

• motor carrier regulation
• moving companies
• household goods transport
• Department of Public Safety
• consumer pricing rules