Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 652: Motor fuel tax; electricity delivered by certain electric vehicle charging stations; provide exception
Last action May 13, 2025 · Effective Date
House Bill 652 pushes back to January 1, 2027 the start date for Georgia's regulation and taxation of electric vehicle charging stations, and it exempts free EV charging offered by certain nonprofit-run stations on interstate rights of way from sales and motor fuel taxes.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
In 2023 the Georgia General Assembly passed a law setting up how the Department of Agriculture would regulate electric vehicle charging stations and how the state would tax electricity sold as motor fuel. This bill delays when the regulatory and tax provisions of that 2023 law take effect, moving the start date to January 1, 2027. The bill also creates a new category called 'exempt special fuel': electricity dispensed by an EV charging station that was already running as of January 1, 2025, is owned or operated by a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, gives away the electricity for free, and sits on a federal interstate right of way. Sales and use taxes and motor fuel excise taxes would not apply to that free electricity. The provision delaying the effective date takes effect as soon as the Governor signs the bill, while the tax exemption changes take effect January 1, 2027.
What the bill does
- Delays the effective date of the 2023 law's Department of Agriculture regulatory authority and tax provisions for EV charging stations to January 1, 2027.
- Creates a new legal category called 'exempt special fuel' for electricity given away for free at qualifying nonprofit-run EV charging stations on interstate rights of way.
- Exempts sales or use of exempt special fuel from Georgia's state sales and use tax under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3.
- Exempts exempt special fuel from the state motor fuel excise tax under O.C.G.A. § 48-9-3, so no per-gallon-equivalent tax applies to it.
- Clarifies that distributors do not need an exemption certificate for exempt special fuel the way they do for other nonhighway fuel sales.
Who it affects
Nonprofit organizations that operate free EV charging stations on federal interstate rights of way, electric vehicle drivers who use those stations, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Revenue as regulators, and fuel distributors who track exemption certificates for motor fuel taxes.
Why it matters
Drivers who charge for free at qualifying nonprofit interstate charging stations would not have that electricity taxed as motor fuel or subject to sales tax, while the state's broader system for regulating and taxing EV charging stations would not take full effect until 2027 instead of sooner.
Key provisions
- Section 1 amends the 2023 Act (Ga. L. 2023, p. 376) to push the effective date of the Department of Agriculture's regulatory authority and the revenue and taxation provisions to January 1, 2027.
- Section 2 adds a new sales tax exemption in O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3 for 'exempt special fuel' as defined in the bill.
- Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3.1 to carve exempt special fuel out of the general motor fuel sales tax rules.
- Section 4 defines 'exempt special fuel' in O.C.G.A. § 48-9-2 as electricity from a nonprofit-run, free EV charging station in operation since January 1, 2025 on a federal interstate right of way.
- Section 5 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-9-3 so no excise tax is imposed on exempt special fuel and updates the rules distributors follow for nonhighway fuel exemption certificates.
- Section 6 sets the effective dates: Section 1 takes effect upon the Governor's signature, and the rest of the Act takes effect January 1, 2027.
- Section 7 repeals any conflicting laws.
From the bill
“'Exempt special fuel' means fuel dispensed from an electric vehicle charging station in operation as of January 1, 2025, that is owned or operated by a nonprofit organization exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, that delivers electricity for no exchange of consideration or payment, and that is located upon a federal interstate right of way.”
“provided, however, that no tax shall be imposed upon exempt special fuel.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 188
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
Show full history (21 actions)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Engrossed (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Todd Jones (R, HD-25)
- Rick Jasperse (R, HD-11)
- Vance Smith (R, HD-138)
- Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)
- Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)
- Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
Votes
- House voteMarch 6, 2025
167 yea, 4 nay (6 not voting, 3 excused)
- Senate voteApril 2, 2025
31 yea, 24 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)
- Senate voteApril 4, 2025
54 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)
- House voteApril 4, 2025
163 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 13 excused)
Topics
- electric vehicles
- EV charging stations
- motor fuel tax
- sales tax exemptions
- nonprofit organizations