HR 32: General Assembly; increase maximum acreage to qualify for assessment and taxation as a bona fide conservation use property - CA

Georgia's constitution lets landowners get a special tax assessment on farmland and timberland if they agree to keep it in agricultural or timber use, known as bona fide conservation use property. Current law caps how much land a single owner can enroll at 2,000 acres. This resolution proposes raising that cap to 4,000 acres. The change would go through Article VII, Section I, Paragraph III of the Georgia Constitution. It does not change the rules requiring landowners to sign a ten-year covenant to keep the land in conservation use, or the penalty for breaking that covenant, which is repayment of the tax savings plus possible other penalties. Because this is a constitutional amendment, it cannot take effect on its own. It must go before Georgia voters on a statewide ballot, worded as a yes-or-no question about raising the acreage limit from 2,000 to 4,000 acres for the stated purpose of protecting family farmland.

• Raises the maximum acreage a single owner can enroll as bona fide conservation use farmland or timberland from 2,000 to 4,000 acres.
• Leaves unchanged the five-acre cap for bona fide residential transitional property under the same constitutional provision.
• Keeps the existing requirement that landowners sign a covenant to maintain the land in conservation use.
• Keeps the existing ten-year penalty rule requiring repayment of tax savings, and possibly other penalties, if the covenant is broken early.
• Sends the proposed change to Georgia voters as a statewide ballot question rather than enacting it directly.

Owners of large farms and timber tracts in Georgia who use the conservation use tax program, county tax assessors and boards who administer the assessments, and Georgia voters, who will decide the outcome on a statewide ballot.

If voters approve it, owners of large agricultural and timber holdings could shelter up to twice as much land under the reduced conservation use tax assessment, potentially lowering their property tax bills. County tax digests and local property tax revenue could be affected in areas with large qualifying landholdings.

• Section 1 amends Article VII, Section I, Paragraph III(e)(1) of the Georgia Constitution, changing the acreage limit for bona fide conservation use property from 2,000 to 4,000 acres.
• Section 1 leaves intact the requirement that the General Assembly define assessment methods using current use, annual productivity, and real property sales data.
• Section 1 preserves the covenant requirement and the ten-year recapture penalty for breaching the conservation use covenant.
• Section 2 sets the ballot language voters will see, framing the question as increasing the acreage cap from 2,000 to 4,000 acres to protect family farmland.
• Section 2 specifies that if ratified by voters, the amendment becomes part of the Georgia Constitution.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date
2. 2025-05-14Act 363
3. 2025-05-14House Date Signed by Governor (House)
4. 2025-04-07House Sent to Governor (House)
5. 2025-03-18Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
6. 2025-03-18Senate Third Read (Senate)
7. 2025-03-18Senate Engrossed (Senate)
8. 2025-03-13Senate Read Second Time (Senate)

• Chuck Efstration (R, HD-104)Primary sponsor
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• Leesa Hagan (R, HD-156)
• Debbie Buckner (D, HD-137)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-11)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

   168 yea, 5 nay (1 not voting, 6 excused)

   ADOPT: House Vote #134

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 18, 2025

   29 yea, 23 nay (1 not voting, 3 excused)

   MOTION TO ENGROSS: HB 90, HB 223, HR 32: Senate Vote #236

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 18, 2025

   50 yea, 1 nay (1 not voting, 4 excused)

   ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: Senate Vote #240

• property taxes
• farmland conservation
• constitutional amendment
• timber land
• agricultural taxation