--- title: HB 412. Polk County Water Authority; reappointment of members; change certain provisions collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb412 cite_as: HB 412, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb412 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb412.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb412/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70253 date: 2025-05-13 status: passed corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 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/hb411.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb413.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 882 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb412.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 412 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-05-13 last_action: Effective Date 2025-05-13 sponsors: - Trey Kelley text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB412/2025 upstream_id: 1968079 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Polk County - water authority - local government boards - board appointments --- # HB 412. Polk County Water Authority; reappointment of members; change certain provisions ## Text 25 LC 44 2917/AP House Bill 412 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representative Kelley of the 16th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act creating the Polk County Water Authority, approved April 14, 1967 (Ga. 1 L. 1967, p. 3108), as amended, so as to change certain provisio ns relating to the2 reappointment of members of the Authority; to provide for relat ed matters; to repeal3 conflicting laws; and for other purposes.4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:5 SECTION 1.6 An Act creating the Polk County Water Authority, approved April 14, 1967 (Ga. L. 1967,7 p. 3108), as amended, is amended by revising subsection (e) of Section 2 as follows: 8 "(e) No member shall be eligible for reappointment for a period of two years from the9 expiration of his or her second consecutive previous term. Not withstanding any other10 provisions herein, all members of the Authority shall serve unt il their successors are11 appointed and qualified."12 SECTION 2.13 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.14 H. B. 412 - 1 - ## 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 House bill would change how members of the Polk County Water Authority can be reappointed, letting outgoing members serve until replacements are named and adjusting term limit rules. ### Plain-language summary The Polk County Water Authority was created by a 1967 Georgia law that has been amended several times since. This bill changes one part of that law dealing with how long a board member must wait before being reappointed after serving two consecutive terms. Under the revised language, a member still cannot be reappointed for two years after finishing a second consecutive term, but the bill adds a new rule: all Authority members continue serving until their successors are appointed and qualified, regardless of any other provision in the law. This prevents a gap where no one is serving on the board while a replacement is being found. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and applies only to Polk County's water authority. ### What it does - Rewrites subsection (e) of Section 2 of the 1967 Act creating the Polk County Water Authority to update reappointment rules for board members. - Keeps the existing two-year waiting period before a member who served two consecutive terms can be reappointed. - Adds a new requirement that all Authority members keep serving until their replacements are officially appointed and qualified, even if other rules would otherwise end their term. - Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change. ### Who it affects This bill affects members of the Polk County Water Authority board and, indirectly, Polk County residents who rely on the water services the Authority oversees, since it governs continuity of leadership on that board. ### Why it matters By requiring members to stay on until replacements are named, the bill prevents vacancies from leaving the Polk County Water Authority without enough members to operate, ensuring continuous oversight of local water services during leadership transitions. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises subsection (e) of Section 2 of the 1967 Act to state that no member may be reappointed within two years of finishing a second consecutive term. - Section 1 also adds language requiring all members to serve until successors are appointed and qualified, overriding conflicting provisions elsewhere in the Act. - Section 2 repeals any laws or parts of laws that conflict with this Act. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-05-13 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Trey Kelley - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70253 > The history, votes, and amendments (882 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb412.md?full=1