--- title: HB 448. Gilmer County; appointment of a county surveyor; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb448 cite_as: HB 448, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb448 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb448.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb448/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70320 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/hb447.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb449.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 883 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb448.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 448 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: - Johnny Chastain text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB448/2025 upstream_id: 1970346 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - Gilmer County government - county surveyor - local appointments - Georgia local legislation --- # HB 448. Gilmer County; appointment of a county surveyor; provide ## Text 25 LC 58 0007/AP House Bill 448 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representative Chastain of the 7th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To abolish the office of elect ed county surveyor of Gilmer Coun ty; to provide for the1 appointment of a county surveyor by the governing authority of the county; to provide that2 the person currently serving as elected county surveyor shall serve out the remainder of his3 or her term; to provide for successors; to provide for qualific ations; to provide for an4 effective date; to provide for related matters; to repeal confl icting laws; and for other5 purposes.6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:7 SECTION 1.8 Pursuant to the authority granted by Code Section 36-7-2.1 of t he O.C.G.A., the office of9 elected county surveyor of Gilmer County is hereby abolished. The governing authority of10 Gilmer County shall appoint a qualified person to hold the offi ce of county surveyor for a11 term of one year from the date of appointment. Successors shall also be appointed for terms12 of one year. Any person appointed county surveyor shall possess the qualifications specified13 by paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 36-7-2 of th e O.C.G.A. Any person14 elected and serving as the county surveyor of Gilmer County on the effective date of this Act15 H. B. 448 - 1 - 25 LC 58 0007/AP shall continue to serve as such until the expiration of the current term to which such person16 was elected, and no further elections shall be held for such office.17 SECTION 2.18 This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law19 without such approval.20 SECTION 3.21 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.22 H. B. 448 - 2 - ## 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. House Bill 448 would end the elected office of Gilmer County surveyor and let the county's governing authority appoint that official instead, starting after the current elected surveyor's term ends. ### Plain-language summary Gilmer County currently elects its county surveyor, an official who handles land surveying matters for the county. This bill abolishes that elected office and shifts the power to fill it to the Gilmer County governing authority, which will appoint someone to serve one-year terms. The person currently elected as county surveyor gets to finish out their existing term, and no further elections for the office will be held after that. Anyone appointed to the job must meet the qualifications already spelled out in Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 36-7-2) for county surveyors. The bill would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it, or automatically becomes law without a signature, and it repeals any conflicting laws. ### What it does - Abolishes the elected office of county surveyor in Gilmer County, ending future elections for that position. - Gives the Gilmer County governing authority the power to appoint a county surveyor for one-year terms. - Lets the currently elected county surveyor finish out the remainder of their elected term before the appointment system takes over. - Requires any appointed county surveyor to meet the qualifications already set out in Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 36-7-2). ### Who it affects This affects Gilmer County residents and voters, who will no longer vote for county surveyor; the current elected county surveyor, who keeps their seat until their term ends; and the Gilmer County governing authority, which gains appointment power over the office. ### Why it matters Gilmer County voters will lose the ability to elect their county surveyor, shifting that decision to appointed county officials instead. Future surveyors will serve short, renewable one-year terms set by the county governing authority rather than by popular election. ### Key provisions - Section 1 abolishes the elected county surveyor office in Gilmer County under the authority of O.C.G.A. § 36-7-2.1. - Section 1 directs the Gilmer County governing authority to appoint a qualified person as county surveyor for one-year terms, with successors also appointed annually. - Section 1 requires appointees to meet qualifications listed in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of O.C.G.A. § 36-7-2. - Section 1 allows the currently serving elected surveyor to finish their current term, after which no further elections for the office will occur. - Section 2 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill becomes law without approval. - Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Passed (2025-05-13) - Last action: Effective Date 2025-05-13 (2025-05-13) - Sponsors: Johnny Chastain - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70320 > The history, votes, and amendments (883 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb448.md?full=1