---
title: HB 919. Conservation and natural resources; outdoor stewardship; eliminate reductions in appropriations
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb919
cite_as: HB 919, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb919
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb919.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb919/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72051
date: 2026-01-12
status: introduced
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
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/hb918.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb920.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md
omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 129
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb919.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 919
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2025-04-02
last_action: House Second Readers
sponsors:
  - Jesse Petrea
  - Charles Cannon
text_version: Introduced
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB919/2025
upstream_id: 2019413
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
  - land conservation
  - state budget
  - outdoor stewardship fund
  - sales tax revenue
  - natural resources
---

# HB 919. Conservation and natural resources; outdoor stewardship; eliminate reductions in appropriations

## Text

House Bill 919
By: Representative Petrea of the 166th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 6A of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
outdoor stewardship, so as to eliminate reductions in appropriations; to provide for related
matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 6A of Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to outdoor
stewardship, is amended by revising Code Section 12-6A-5, relating to establishment of the
Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, as follows:
"12-6A-5.
(a) There is established the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund as a separate fund
in the state treasury. <del>Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this Code section, the
</del> <ins>The</ins> General Assembly shall appropriate to the trust fund 40 percent of all moneys received
by the state from the sales and use tax collected by establishments classified under the 2007
North American Industry Classification Code 451110, sporting goods stores, in the most
recently completed fiscal year.
(b) Such funds shall not lapse to the general fund. Such funds shall be used to support the
protection and conservation of land and shall be used to supplement, not supplant,
department resources.
<del>(c)(1) In the event that, in any current fiscal year, the most recently completed fiscal
year's total moneys received from the levy of a sales and use tax fall at least 1 percent
below the total moneys received from the levy of the tax in the year prior to the most
recently completed fiscal year, then the amount that the General Assembly shall
appropriate to the trust fund for the following fiscal year shall be reduced by 20 percent.
(2) In the event that, in a fiscal year following the fiscal year of an initial trust fund
appropriation reduction pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, the most recently
completed fiscal year's total moneys received from the levy of a sales and use tax fall at
least 1 percent below the total moneys received from the levy of the tax in the year prior
to the most recently completed fiscal year, then the amount that the General Assembly
shall appropriate to the trust fund for the following fiscal year shall be reduced by 50
percent.
(d) In any current fiscal year following a year for which the amount appropriated to the
trust fund is reduced in accordance with subsection (c) of this Code section, the same
percentage reduction shall continue unless the total moneys received from the levy of the
sales and use tax in the most recently completed fiscal year equal or exceed the total
moneys received from the levy of the sales and use tax in the most recent fiscal year in
which no reduction in the amount appropriated to the trust fund occurred pursuant to
subsection (c) or (d) of this Code section."
</del> SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

## 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 919 would remove the rules that automatically cut state funding to Georgia's Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund when sporting goods sales tax revenue drops, keeping the fund's 40 percent appropriation steady.

### Plain-language summary

Georgia currently funds the Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, which pays for land conservation, with 40 percent of sales and use tax revenue collected from sporting goods stores each year. Under current law (O.C.G.A. § 12-6A-5), if that tax revenue drops by at least 1 percent from one year to the next, the General Assembly's required contribution to the fund gets cut by 20 percent, and if the decline continues, the cut grows to 50 percent, with those reduced funding levels sticking around until sales tax revenue recovers.
House Bill 919 deletes those reduction rules entirely. It rewrites Code Section 12-6A-5 so the General Assembly must appropriate 40 percent of the sporting goods sales tax revenue to the trust fund every year, regardless of whether sporting goods sales tax collections rise or fall. The bill keeps the existing rule that the money cannot lapse into the general fund and must supplement, not replace, department funding.

### What it does

- Removes the provision that cuts the trust fund's appropriation by 20 percent when sporting goods sales tax revenue falls at least 1 percent year over year.
- Removes the follow-up provision that increases the cut to 50 percent if the revenue decline continues into a second year.
- Eliminates the rule that kept a reduced funding level in place until sales tax revenue recovered to a prior benchmark year.
- Keeps the base rule requiring 40 percent of sporting goods store sales and use tax revenue to go to the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund every year.
- Keeps existing protections that the funds cannot lapse to the general fund and must supplement rather than replace state conservation department resources.

### Who it affects

The change affects the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and land conservation programs that rely on the Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, as well as land trusts and conservation groups that receive grants from it. It also affects state budget writers in the General Assembly who set the annual appropriation.

### Why it matters

Without the automatic reduction rules, the conservation fund would keep receiving its full 40 percent share of sporting goods sales tax revenue even in years when that tax revenue declines, giving conservation funding more year-to-year stability regardless of sporting goods sales trends.

### Key provisions

- Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 12-6A-5(a) by deleting the cross-reference to reduction subsections, so the 40 percent appropriation to the trust fund applies without exception.
- Section 1 strikes former subsection (c), which had triggered a 20 percent, then 50 percent, cut to the appropriation following declines in sporting goods sales tax revenue.
- Section 1 strikes former subsection (d), which had kept a reduced appropriation level in place until sales tax revenue recovered to a prior baseline year.
- Section 1 retains subsection (b), which bars the fund's money from lapsing to the general fund and requires it to supplement, not supplant, department resources.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.

## Status

- Status: Introduced (2025-04-02)
- Last action: House Second Readers (2026-01-12)
- Sponsors: Jesse Petrea, Charles Cannon
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72051

> The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb919.md?full=1