HB 771: Cherokee County; school district ad valorem tax; extend homestead exemption

Cherokee County already offers a homestead exemption that wipes out school district property taxes entirely for senior or disabled residents who meet income limits and have held a homestead exemption in the district for at least five years (not necessarily consecutive years). This bill amends that 1988 law, most recently updated in 2024, to add a new category: surviving spouses of people who already qualified for the exemption. Those surviving spouses would get the same full exemption without having to separately meet the five-year residency requirement, as long as they are themselves a senior citizen or disabled. The change would only take effect if Cherokee County voters approve it in a referendum held no later than the November 2026 general election. If approved, the change starts the following January 1. If rejected or if no election is held, the whole Act is automatically repealed on July 1, 2027.

• Extends the existing full school tax homestead exemption to surviving spouses of previously qualified senior or disabled residents, without requiring them to meet the five-year residency rule.
• Keeps the existing grandfather clause for residents who already held the exemption before the effective date, letting them keep it without the five-year requirement.
• Requires the change to pass a statewide constitutional two-thirds vote in the General Assembly before it can become law.
• Requires Cherokee County to hold a referendum, no later than November 2026, letting local voters approve or reject the change.
• Sets an automatic repeal date of July 1, 2027 if voters reject the measure or no election is properly held.

Senior (62 and older) or disabled residents of the Cherokee County school district who already qualify for the existing income-limited school tax homestead exemption, and specifically the surviving spouses of those residents. Cherokee County election officials and the school district's tax base are also affected.

Surviving spouses who inherit a home in the Cherokee County school district would no longer need five years of prior homestead exemption history to get a full exemption from school property taxes, easing a tax burden that could otherwise fall on a widow or widower shortly after a spouse's death.

• Section 1 rewrites subsection (a) of Section 1A of the 1988 Act, adding a new paragraph (3) granting the exemption to surviving spouses of previously qualified residents without the five-year rule.
• Section 1 also retains paragraph (2), which grandfathers in residents who held the exemption before the effective date, without regard to the five-year requirement.
• Section 2 requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly for the Act to become law, as required by the Georgia Constitution.
• Section 3 requires a Cherokee County referendum by November 2026, with the change taking effect January 1 after voter approval, and includes a mandamus remedy if the election superintendent fails to hold the vote.
• Section 3 sets an automatic repeal date of July 1, 2027 if the referendum fails or is not held.
• Section 4 makes the rest of the Act effective upon the Governor's approval or upon becoming law without such approval.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date
2. 2025-05-14Act 324
3. 2025-05-14House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-28Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-03-28Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
7. 2025-03-27Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
8. 2025-03-25House Passed/Adopted (House)

• Brad Thomas (R, HD-21)Primary sponsor
• Jordan Ridley (R, HD-22)
• Mitchell Scoggins (R, HD-14)
• Jan Jones (R, HD-47)
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-11)
• John Carson (R, HD-46)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2025

   170 yea, 0 nay (6 not voting, 4 excused)

   Local Calendar: House Vote #302

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 28, 2025

   53 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 2 excused)

   LOCAL CONSENT CALENDAR: Senate Vote #313

• property taxes
• homestead exemption
• Cherokee County
• school district taxes
• senior citizens