HR 1951: House Study Committee on MARTA Governance, Financial Accountability, and Regional Transit Oversight; create

MARTA, the transit agency jointly run by DeKalb, Fulton, and Clayton counties and the City of Atlanta, has asked to extend its penny sales tax collection from 2057 to 2067 while facing ridership still at 50 to 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels. This resolution does not change MARTA's funding or governance itself; it creates a House Study Committee on MARTA Governance, Financial Accountability, and Regional Transit Oversight to look into those issues. The committee would include five House members, four local citizens (one each from DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, and Atlanta), and representatives from the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, MARTA, and the Atlanta Regional Commission. It would study topics such as MARTA's debt, financial transparency, audits, capital project delivery, and regional transit coordination, and could recommend legislation. The committee must file any report before it is abolished on December 1, 2026.

• Creates the House Study Committee on MARTA Governance, Financial Accountability, and Regional Transit Oversight.
• Appoints five House members, four local citizens, and representatives from the ATL Authority, MARTA, and the Atlanta Regional Commission to the committee.
• Directs the committee to study MARTA's debt, financial reporting, audits, sales tax revenue use, and governance structure under the MARTA Act.
• Authorizes the committee to recommend legislation or other action based on its findings.
• Sets per diem and expense allowances for committee members under existing state law (O.C.G.A. §§ 28-1-8 and 45-7-21).
• Abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026, after which it must have already filed any approved report.

MARTA and its board and management, the four founding local governments (DeKalb County, Fulton County, Clayton County, and the City of Atlanta), the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, the Atlanta Regional Commission, and residents of metropolitan Atlanta who rely on or fund transit service.

The study committee itself changes no law or funding, but its work could shape future legislation on MARTA's sales tax extension, debt, audits, and oversight, affecting how transit is funded and governed across the Atlanta region for years to come.

• Paragraph 2 sets the committee's membership: five House members and four local citizens appointed by the Speaker, plus representatives from the ATL Authority, MARTA, and the Atlanta Regional Commission.
• Paragraph 3 charges the committee with studying MARTA's governance, financial management, and regional oversight issues and recommending legislation if needed.
• Paragraph 5 sets member allowances, capping paid days at five unless additional days are authorized, funded through House and agency appropriations.
• Paragraph 6 requires any committee report with legislative recommendations to be approved by majority vote and filed with the Clerk of the House before abolishment.
• Paragraph 7 abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.

1. 2026-04-02House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-31House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-27House Hopper (House)

• Long Tran (D, HD-080)Primary sponsor
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Deborah Silcox (R, HD-053)
• Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)
• Omari Crawford (D, HD-089)

• MARTA
• public transit
• transit funding
• sales tax
• government oversight