Georgia CommonsHB 454: Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Act; enact
Enrolled version, the latest LegiScan holds · Last action May 12, 2025 · Passed
The text as LegiScan holds it, read from the PDF the legislature publishes with its margin line numbers, running heads, and page footers removed. Line breaks are joined into paragraphs here; no word is changed.
Underlined words are what the bill adds to current law and struck-through words are what it removes, as the printed bill shows them.
House Bill 454 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By: Representatives Gaines of the 120th, Wiedower of the 121st, Rhodes of the 124th, Ridley of the 6th, Richardson of the 125th, and others
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 3 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreation, so as to create the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund and Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Program; to provide for a short title; to provide for definitions; to provide matching grants to organizations seeking to acquire property interests in certain battlefields; to provide for procedures, requirements, and limitations for such fund and program; to provide for application and review criteria; to provide for expenditure of funds; to provide for annual accounting; to require that any acquisition include a perpetual conservation easement placing restrictions on the use or development of the property or interest therein; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 3 of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to parks, historic areas, memorials, and recreation, is amended by adding a new article to read as follows: "ARTICLE 13
12-3-710.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the 'Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Act.'
12-3-711.
As used in this article, the term:
(1) 'Conservation easement' shall have the same meaning as set forth in Code Section 44-10-2.
(2) 'Department' means the Department of Natural Resources.
(3) 'Fund' means the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund.
(4) 'Matching contributions' means cash and the value of any contribution due to a bargain sale or the donation of land or interest therein made by the landowner as part of a project proposal.
(5) 'Organization' means a not for profit charitable corporation or trust authorized to do business in this state which is involved in the acquisition and management of interests in land for historic preservation purposes and which has tax exempt status as a public charity under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(6) 'Program' means the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Program.
(7) 'Project proposal' means any application seeking money from the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Program.
(8) 'State agency' means the State of Georgia or any department, division, board, bureau, commission, or other agency of the executive branch of state government which has a mission to preserve, protect, or conserve natural, historical, or cultural resources.
12-3-712.
(a)(1) The state treasurer shall establish a separate trust fund in the state treasury that shall be known as the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund, consisting of annual appropriations by the General Assembly to the fund, public or private grants, gifts, donations, or contributions dedicated to the fund for battlefield preservation, and moneys from any other source, including local, state, or federal program funds dedicated to the fund for battlefield preservation.
(2) The state treasurer shall invest the money held in the fund in the same manner in which state funds are invested as authorized by the State Depository Board pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 17 of Title 50. Interest earned by the money held in the fund shall be accounted for separately and shall be credited to the fund to be disbursed as other moneys in the fund.
(b) Moneys held in the fund shall be expended by the department solely as provided in this article.
(c) The department shall prepare an accounting of the funds expended pursuant to this article during the most recently completed fiscal year to be provided to the Office of Planning and Budget, the House Budget and Research Office, and the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office by January 1 of each year.
12-3-713.
(a) There is established the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund Program to be administered by the department. In administering the program, the department shall, each fiscal year, make available money from the Vince Dooley Battlefield Trust Fund for matching grants to any organization or state agency having a project proposal which has been reviewed and approved by the department.
(b) The department shall make available money from the fund solely for the purpose of awarding grants to organizations or state agencies for the fee simple purchase of, or purchase of permanent protective interests in, any Georgia battlefield listed in the following reports:
(1) The Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (Civil War Sites Advisory Commission/National Parks Service, 1993, as amended); or
(2) The Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service (United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 2007, as amended).
(c) Organizations seeking grant funding shall be required to provide at least $1.00 in matching contributions for each $1.00 received from the fund for the project proposal. Unless the applicant is a state agency, no state funds shall be included in determining the amount of such matching contributions.
(d) Eligible costs for which money from the fund may be allocated include acquisition of land and any improvements thereon or permanent protective interests, such as perpetual conservation easements, and costs associated with such acquisitions, including the cost of any appraisals, environmental reports, surveys, title searches and title insurance, and other closing costs.
(e) Grants from the fund shall not exceed 50 percent of the appraised value of the land or permanent protective interest therein.
(f) Grants from the fund may be awarded for prospective purchases or for acquisitions on which the applicant has closed. In the latter case, the applicant shall demonstrate that:
(1) The closing occurred no more than 12 months prior to the date of application for the grant; and
(2) An identifiable threat to the resource or compelling need for preservation existed at the time of the purchase.
(g) Money from the fund, in an amount not to exceed 5 percent of total moneys held by the fund, shall be made available to the department for costs incurred in administering the program each fiscal year.
12-3-714.
The department shall establish guidelines for applications, evaluations, and awards from the fund in consultation with relevant battlefield preservation interests. In awarding grants, the department shall give primary consideration to the following factors:
(1) Significance of the battlefield that is the subject of the project proposal;
(2) Degree to which the property or interest therein to be acquired falls within the core and study areas of the battlefield, as described in the relevant report of the American Battlefield Protection Program;
(3) Proximity of the property to other protected lands;
(4) Threats to the integrity of features associated with the relevant battle;
(5) The financial capacity of the applicant to complete the project; and
(6) The administrative capacity of the applicant to maintain and manage the property in a manner that is consistent with public interests, such as recreation, research, heritage tourism promotion, and orderly community development.
12-3-715.
(a) Any organization making an acquisition of property or interest therein pursuant to this article shall grant to the department or other holder a perpetual conservation easement placing restrictions on the use or development of the property. In cases where the easement is granted to a holder other than the department, all terms and conditions of the easement shall accomplish the perpetual preservation of the property. Such other holder shall demonstrate to the department that it has the capacity and expertise to manage and enforce the terms of the easement.
(b) Nothing in this Code section shall preclude the subsequent transfer or assignment by a state agency or other holder of any property interest acquired pursuant to this article to the State of Georgia or to the United States of America to be incorporated into a national park, national forest, national wildlife refuge, or other national conservation area in accordance with 54 U.S.C. Section 10010, 16 U.S.C. Section 551, the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. Section 742a et seq.), or 16 U.S.C. Section 1131, as amended and applicable. The department shall facilitate transfers and assignments of any such interests."
SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.