HR 1503: General Assembly; expend or authorize expenditure of public funds for Georgia Property Tax Fairness Fund; provide by law - CA

This House resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that Georgia voters would have to approve. It would let the General Assembly spend public money on a new Georgia Property Tax Fairness Fund without requiring the state to get anything in return, and would keep that fund separate from state funds and debt limits. The fund would be filled with money collected from taxes on high-technology data centers and the insurance premium tax, and would be used to give refundable income tax credits, credits that can exceed what a taxpayer owes, to people living in homes the legislature defines as "qualifying homes." The amendment also rewrites the state's Homeowner's Incentive Adjustment, which reduces property tax bills: it raises the maximum benefit from $18,000 to $150,000 of a home's assessed value, and lets local governments and school systems add their own local grants and adjustments on top. If passed by the legislature and ratified by voters, these changes become part of the Georgia Constitution.

• Creates a Georgia Property Tax Fairness Fund that the General Assembly can fund and spend from without needing to receive anything in return.
• Directs collections from high-technology data center taxes and the insurance premium tax into the fund to pay for refundable income tax credits for people in qualifying homes.
• Allows those tax credits to exceed the amount of income tax a homeowner actually owes.
• Raises the cap on the Homeowner's Incentive Adjustment, a property tax break, from $18,000 to $150,000 of a home's assessed value.
• Lets local governments and school systems create and fund their own local homeowner tax relief adjustments in addition to the state program.
• Exempts fund money from normal state budget lapse rules and from certain constitutional debt and appropriation limits.

Georgia homeowners in homes the legislature will define as "qualifying homes," who could see income tax credits and larger property tax relief; local governments and school systems, which gain new authority to fund local tax relief programs; and high-technology data center operators and insurance companies, whose tax payments would fund the program.

If voters approve this amendment, many homeowners could see meaningfully larger property tax relief, since the benefit cap jumps more than eightfold, and some could also get income tax credits funded by data center and insurance taxes rather than general state revenue, changing how tax relief is financed statewide.

• Section 1 amends Article III, Section VI to let the state spend public funds on the Georgia Property Tax Fairness Fund without needing a return benefit and shields the fund from state debt limits and commingling with other state funds.
• Section 2 amends Article III, Section IX to create the fund itself, funded by data center and insurance premium tax collections, providing refundable income tax credits to residents of qualifying homes, with terms defined later by general law.
• Section 3 amends Article VII, Section IIA to raise the Homeowner's Incentive Adjustment cap from $18,000 to $150,000 of assessed home value and to let local governments and school systems create their own local versions of the adjustment.
• Section 4 sets the ballot question voters would see, asking whether to ratify the amendment as a package covering the new fund, the income tax credits, and the revised Homeowner's Incentive Adjustment.

1. 2026-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-26House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-25House Hopper (House)

• Jasmine Clark (D, HD-108)Primary sponsor

• property taxes
• tax relief
• constitutional amendment
• homeowner tax breaks
• data center taxes