HB 474: Revenue and taxation; repeal an exemption for charges paid for continuous use of rooms, lodgings, or accommodations after the first 30 days of continuous occupancy

Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51), counties and cities can charge a public accommodations tax on hotel and lodging bills to fund tourism, conventions, and trade show promotion. That law currently exempts charges for continuous occupancy after the first 30 days, meaning long-term guests stop paying the tax once they pass a month in the same room. House Bill 474 repeals that 30-day exemption. It rewrites subsection (h) of the code section to drop paragraph (4), which listed the exemption, while keeping the other exemptions in place: charges for people displaced by fire or disaster, free meeting rooms or accommodations, and rooms used by state or local government employees traveling on official business. The bill makes small wording tweaks to those remaining exemptions but does not change their substance. It repeals conflicting laws but does not state a separate effective date.

• Repeals the exemption that let hotels and lodgings stop charging the local public accommodations tax after a guest's stay passed 30 continuous days.
• Keeps in place the existing exemption for people whose homes were destroyed by fire or other casualty and who are staying in lodging as a result.
• Keeps the exemption for free meeting rooms and accommodations provided without charge, with minor wording changes.
• Keeps the exemption for state and local government officials or employees traveling on official business, including when paying with a government credit or debit card.

Hotels, motels, extended-stay lodgings, and other public accommodations in Georgia; guests who stay in the same room for more than 30 days in a row; and county and municipal governments that collect the accommodations tax to fund tourism and convention promotion.

Long-term hotel guests, such as traveling workers or people in extended temporary housing, would start paying local accommodations tax on their entire stay instead of just the first 30 days, which could raise their lodging costs while increasing revenue local governments use for tourism and convention promotion.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(h) by removing paragraph (4), which had exempted charges for continuous occupancy after the first 30 days.
• Section 1 retains the exemption for guests displaced by fire or other casualty who certify their situation.
• Section 1 retains the exemption for free meeting rooms and accommodations, and for government officials or employees traveling on official business, including via government payment cards.
• Section 2 repeals any laws that conflict with the Act, without naming a specific new effective date in the text.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Ron Stephens (R, HD-164)Primary sponsor

• hotel tax
• local government revenue
• tourism funding
• lodging accommodations
• property and sales taxes