HB 521: Local government; deannexation of certain properties; revise procedures

Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 36 of Title 36), cities that annex new territory must file detailed reports with the Department of Community Affairs, the General Assembly's reapportionment office, and the county where the property sits. This bill extends that same reporting duty to deannexations, when a city removes property from its corporate limits, covering the legal authority used, acreage, effective dates, road mileage, and digital maps. The bill also adds new limits. In certain counties, such as those with a large airport next to formerly city-owned land, or counties containing municipalities with mixed at-large and district council seats, or counties that provide broadband to key infrastructure and sit near a large military base, a proposed annexation cannot proceed unless the county government first passes a resolution consenting to it. Separately, the bill revises deannexation procedure: no more than ten parcels can be deannexed in one action, county consent is still required, and if a county owns all the affected parcels and consents, the city must act on the deannexation application within 90 days unless it would harm residents' health, safety, or welfare. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Requires cities to file the same detailed reports for deannexations (removing property from city limits) that they already file for annexations, covering acreage, dates, roads, and maps.
• Makes certain annexations contingent on county government approval in counties with specific circumstances, such as a large airport adjacent to formerly city-owned land or a military garrison paired with county-run broadband infrastructure.
• Caps deannexation actions at no more than ten parcels at a time and continues to require county consent before a deannexation can proceed.
• Sets a 90-day deadline for a city to act on a deannexation request when the county owns all the parcels involved and has consented, unless the deannexation would harm residents' health, safety, or welfare.
• Directs the Department of Community Affairs to keep deannexation reports for two years, matching how it already handles annexation reports, before transferring them to the Division of Archives and History.

Georgia municipal governments that annex or deannex property, county governments that must now consent to certain annexations and deannexations, property owners seeking deannexation, the Department of Community Affairs, and the General Assembly's Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.

Cities gain new reporting duties whenever they shrink their boundaries, giving counties and state offices better records of where city limits actually sit. In specific counties, cities would lose some unilateral power to annex land without county buy-in, and property owners seeking deannexation face a firmer process with a parcel cap and a defined timeline.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 36-36-3 so every reporting requirement that applies to annexations (legal authority, acreage, dates, road mileage, shapefiles, two-year record retention) also applies to deannexations.
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 36-36-21 to add three new conditions where a proposed annexation is contingent on a county resolution of consent: airport-adjacent former municipal land, counties with mixed at-large/district council municipalities, and counties with broadband-serving utilities near a large military garrison.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 36-36-131 to cap deannexation actions at ten parcels per action and require a county consent resolution before deannexation can proceed.
• Section 3 also adds a 90-day deadline for a municipality to approve a deannexation application when the county owns all the parcels and has consented, absent a finding of harm to health, safety, or welfare.
• Section 4 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill, or its becoming law without signature.

1. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
2. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-03-25Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
4. 2026-03-16Senate Recommitted (Senate)
5. 2026-03-16Senate Third Read (Senate)
6. 2026-02-19Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
7. 2026-02-18Senate Recommitted (Senate)
8. 2026-02-02Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)

• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)Primary sponsor
• John LaHood (R, HD-175)
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Charles Cannon (R, HD-172)
• Trey Kelley (R, HD-016)
• Clint Crowe (R, HD-118)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   165 yea, 10 nay (4 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #231

• annexation and deannexation
• local government
• county consent
• municipal boundaries
• property reporting