Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 714: Rincon, City of; designation of electors; revise provisions
Last action May 1, 2025 · Effective Date
House Bill 714 changes how the community improvement district in the City of Rincon defines eligible voters and how its board members are appointed and elected. It applies only to that district in Effingham County.
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 2022 the Georgia General Assembly created a law allowing one or more community improvement districts in the City of Rincon, governed by a board and funded through taxes, fees, and assessments on property owners within the district. This bill amends that 2022 law in two main ways. First, it revises the definition of who counts as an 'elector' (a person allowed to vote in district matters), clarifying that an owner of multiple parcels gets only one vote, and that multiple owners of a single parcel share one vote cast by a designated representative. Second, it rewrites the section on how board members are chosen: five members total, with one appointed by the Rincon city council, one by the city manager, and three elected by a caucus of electors, with an option to expand to seven members. It also sets rules for terms, vacancies, recall elections, and notice requirements, and states that certain state election law chapters do not apply to these board elections.
What the bill does
- Redefines 'elector' for the Rincon community improvement district so that an owner of multiple parcels gets one vote total, not one vote per parcel.
- Requires multiple owners of a single parcel to designate in writing one person to cast their shared vote.
- Sets the district board at five members: one appointed by the Rincon city council, one appointed by the city manager, and three elected by a caucus of electors, each elected member serving four-year terms.
- Allows the city council to expand the board to seven members by resolution, with two additional members chosen through elections.
- Establishes procedures for recall elections, vacancies, and annual caucus elections, including public notice requirements published in the Effingham County legal organ.
- States that Chapters 2 and 4 of Title 21 of Georgia's election code do not apply to these district board elections, letting the district set its own bylaws instead.
Who it affects
Property owners within the City of Rincon's community improvement district, the district's governing board, the Rincon city council, the city manager, and Effingham County residents involved in the district's tax, fee, and assessment system.
Why it matters
The changes determine who gets a vote in district governance and how board seats are filled, which affects how decisions about local assessments and improvements within the district are made and by whom, without altering the district's broader purpose or funding structure.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises paragraph (7) of Section 3 of the 2022 Act, redefining 'electors' to limit multi-parcel owners to one vote and require written designation for co-owned parcels.
- Section 2 rewrites Section 5 of the 2022 Act, setting the board at five members (two appointed, three elected) with an option to expand to seven members by city council resolution.
- Section 2 sets elected board members' terms at four years and specifies that a board member who stops qualifying as an elector automatically vacates their seat.
- Section 2 establishes recall procedures triggered by a city council resolution or a petition signed by one-third of district electors.
- Section 2 requires annual caucus elections held within 60 days after the property tax return filing deadline in Effingham County, with four weeks of published notice.
- Section 2 exempts district board elections and recalls from Chapters 2 and 4 of Title 21 of the O.C.G.A. (state election law), allowing the district to adopt its own bylaws.
- Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.
From the bill
“An owner of multiple parcels shall only have one vote, not one vote per parcel.”
“Chapters 2 and 4 of Title 21 of the O.C.G.A. shall not apply to the election or recall of district board members.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 51
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
Votes
- House voteMarch 13, 2025
169 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 6 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 25, 2025
52 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 0 excused)
Topics
- Rincon community improvement district
- local government boards
- Effingham County
- special district elections
- property owner voting rights