--- title: HB 619. Donalsonville, City of; election schedule for mayor and councilmembers; revise collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb619 cite_as: HB 619, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb619 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb619.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb619/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70794 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/hb618.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb620.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 884 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb619.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 619 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: - Gerald Greene text_version: Enrolled has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB619/2025 upstream_id: 1985886 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - municipal elections - city charters - Donalsonville - local government terms of office --- # HB 619. Donalsonville, City of; election schedule for mayor and councilmembers; revise ## Text 25 LC 47 3166/AP House Bill 619 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) By: Representative Greene of the 154th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act providing a new charter for the City of Donalsonville, approved April 29,1 1997 (Ga. L. 1997, p. 4524), as amended, so as to revise the election schedule for the mayor2 so as to better stagger elections of the mayor and councilmembers; to provide for an interim3 term of office; to provide for related matters; to repeal confl icting laws; and for other4 purposes.5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:6 SECTION 1.7 An Act providing a new charter for the City of Donalsonville, approved April 29, 1997 (Ga.8 L. 1997, p. 4524), as amended, is amended by revising Section 2.11 as follows:9 "SECTION 2.11. 10 Terms and qualifications for office.11 Except as provided for in Section 5.12, the mayor and each member of the council shall serve12 for terms of four years and until their respective successors a re elected and qualified. No13 person shall be eligible to serve as mayor or councilmember unless he or she shall have been14 H. B. 619 - 1 - 25 LC 47 3166/AP a resident of the city for a period of at least 12 months immediately prior to the date of the15 election of the mayor or members of the council; each shall continue to reside therein during16 his or her period of service and to be registered and qualified to vote in municipal elections17 of this city."18 SECTION 2.19 Said Act is further amended by revising Section 5.12 as follows:20 "SECTION 5.12. 21 Regular elections; time for holding.22 (a) The mayor and council shall cause an election to be held at the city hall or such other23 place in the city as the mayor and council shall direct and designate. All general municipal24 elections shall be held on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2025,25 and on such day biennially thereafter. Except as provided for in subsection (b) of this26 section, each elected officer shall serve for a term of four ye ars and until a successor is27 elected and qualified, such term beginning on January 1 of the year following the officer's28 election.29 (b) At the municipal general election held in November, 2025, there shall be elected a30 mayor who shall serve a two year term of office and until a suc cessor is elected and31 qualified. The successor to such mayor shall be elected at the municipal general election32 held in November, 2027, and shall serve a four year term of off ice until a successor is33 elected an qualified. Thereafter the mayor shall be elected as provided for by34 subsection (a) of this section.35 (c) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act, no term of offi ce to which a person has36 been elected prior to the effective date of this Act shall be shortened or lengthened except37 pursuant to the procedures established by state law."38 H. B. 619 - 2 - 25 LC 47 3166/AP SECTION 3.39 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.40 H. B. 619 - 3 - ## 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 619 changes the election schedule for Donalsonville's mayor so future mayoral elections better stagger with council elections, including a one-time two-year mayoral term after the 2025 election. ### Plain-language summary This bill amends the 1997 charter of the City of Donalsonville, a small Georgia municipality, to adjust when the mayor is elected relative to city council members. Currently the charter sets four-year terms for both offices; the bill keeps four-year terms as the general rule but restructures the timing so the mayor's and council's elections do not always fall in the same cycle. Under the revised schedule, general municipal elections continue to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, every two years starting in 2025. The mayor elected in November 2025 will serve only a two-year term instead of four, so that the next mayoral election in November 2027 realigns the mayor's term with a new four-year cycle going forward. The bill also protects any term already underway before the law takes effect from being shortened or lengthened outside normal legal procedures, and it repeals conflicting laws. ### What it does - Revises Section 2.11 of the Donalsonville charter to keep four-year terms for mayor and council members, subject to the new staggering rule in Section 5.12. - Sets a one-time two-year term for the mayor elected in the November 2025 general election instead of the usual four-year term. - Restores the mayor's term to four years starting with the mayor elected in November 2027, aligning future mayoral elections on a staggered schedule with council elections. - Protects any officeholder's term that began before the bill's effective date from being shortened or lengthened, except through normal state legal procedures. - Repeals any prior laws that conflict with these charter changes. ### Who it affects The bill directly affects the mayor and city council members of Donalsonville, Georgia, along with city voters, since it changes when mayoral elections occur and how long specific mayoral terms last. ### Why it matters By shortening the term of the mayor elected in 2025 to two years, the bill changes when Donalsonville residents next vote for mayor, spacing out mayoral and council elections so they no longer coincide, which affects local election planning and campaign timing. ### Key provisions - Section 1 revises Section 2.11 of the city charter, keeping four-year terms for mayor and council but making that subject to exceptions in Section 5.12. - Section 2 revises Section 5.12: subsection (a) sets general municipal elections for the Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2025 and biennially after, with four-year terms starting January 1 of the following year. - Subsection (b) creates a one-time exception: the mayor elected in November 2025 serves only a two-year term, with the next mayor elected in November 2027 serving a full four-year term. - Subsection (c) bars shortening or lengthening any term of office begun before the bill's effective date, except through state-law procedures. - Section 3 repeals all laws and 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: Gerald Greene - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70794 > The history, votes, and amendments (884 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb619.md?full=1