HB 704: State government; auditor produce certain monthly and annual reports; replace requirement

Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 50-6-25) requires the state auditor to keep monthly statistics on architectural and engineering firms working with state agencies, and it bars any firm from winning more than 10 percent of such contracts over a 36-month period, with special rules for the Department of Transportation. House Bill 704 would strike that entire monthly-tracking and eligibility-cap system and replace it with a simpler annual report. The auditor would report yearly to the General Assembly on which firms got contracts, the dollar amounts, how many contracts went to Georgia-based firms, and how many went to firms in rural areas. That report would become part of the state's existing annual disclosure requirements under the Transparency in Government Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-6-32) and would have to be posted by January 1 each year, starting January 1, 2027. The bill also updates two related Code sections (42-2-14 and 50-22-7) to remove references to the old monthly-statistics system and the now-repealed 10 percent contract cap, since those provisions would no longer exist.

• Removes the requirement that the state auditor keep monthly statistics on architectural and engineering firms doing business with Georgia state agencies.
• Eliminates the rule barring any architectural or engineering firm from winning more than 10 percent of state contracts in a 36-month period.
• Creates a new annual report requirement listing firms awarded contracts, contract amounts, and how many went to Georgia-based and rural-area firms.
• Folds the new annual statistics into the state's existing Transparency in Government Act reporting (O.C.G.A. § 50-6-32), due by January 1 each year starting in 2027.
• Removes outdated cross-references in two other Code sections (42-2-14 and 50-22-7) tied to the old monthly-reporting and eligibility-cap system.

Architectural and engineering firms that contract with Georgia state agencies, authorities, and public corporations, including the Department of Transportation; the state auditor's office, which produces the reports; and the General Assembly, which receives them.

Firms currently limited to 10 percent of state architectural and engineering work over three years would no longer face that cap, and the public would get information once a year instead of monthly. This changes how closely lawmakers and the public can track which firms are winning state design and engineering contracts.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 50-6-25 to remove the monthly statistics requirement and the 10 percent, 36-month contract eligibility cap for architectural and engineering firms.
• Section 1 requires the state auditor to annually report contract awards, dollar amounts, and counts of contracts going to Georgia and rural-area firms to the General Assembly.
• Section 1 ties the new annual statistics to the Transparency in Government Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-6-32) with a posting deadline of January 1 each year, starting January 1, 2027.
• Section 2 removes a reference in O.C.G.A. § 42-2-14 to the old authority (which had already expired in 1991) to waive Code Section 50-6-25 during prison overcrowding emergencies.
• Section 3 removes a subsection in O.C.G.A. § 50-22-7 stating that Code Section 50-6-25 was unaffected by that chapter, since the underlying eligibility rules are being replaced.

1. 2026-02-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2026-01-29House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
3. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
4. 2025-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
5. 2025-03-06House Second Readers (House)
6. 2025-03-04House First Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-03House Hopper (House)

• Mike Cheokas (R, HD-151)Primary sponsor
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)
• Darlene Taylor (R, HD-173)

• state contracting
• government transparency
• architectural and engineering firms
• state auditor
• public procurement