--- title: SB 338. City of Macon, City of Payne City, and Bibb County; mayor and remove such limits for commissioners; increase the term limits collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb338 cite_as: SB 338, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb338 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb338.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb338/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71361 date: 2025-03-13 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 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/sb337.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb339.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 95 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb338.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 338 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-03-13 last_action: Senate Read and Referred sponsors: - David Lucas text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB338/2025 upstream_id: 2006991 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - term limits - Macon-Bibb County government - local government - city and county consolidation --- # SB 338. City of Macon, City of Payne City, and Bibb County; mayor and remove such limits for commissioners; increase the term limits ## Text 25 LC 47 3557 Senate Bill 338 By: Senator Lucas of the 26th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend an Act to provide for the restructuring of the City of Macon, the City of Payne1 City, and Bibb County, approved April 20, 2012 (Ga. L. 2012, p. 5595), as amended, so as2 to increase the term limits for the mayor and remove such limits for commissioners; to repeal3 conflicting laws; and for other purposes.4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:5 SECTION 1.6 An Act to provide for the restructuring of the City of Macon, t he City of Payne City, and7 Bibb County, approved April 20, 2012 (Ga. L. 2012, p. 5595), as amended, is amended in8 Section 10 by revising subsection (e) as follows:9 "(e) The mayor shall be limited to serving a total of no more t han three four-year terms. 10 An initial term of less than four years shall nevertheless be deemed a full term for purposes11 of this subsection. Prior service as an officer of the City of Macon or Bibb County shall12 not be computed for such limitation."13 SECTION 2.14 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.15 S. B. 338 - 1 - ## 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. A Senate bill would let the mayor of the consolidated Macon-Bibb County government serve up to four four-year terms instead of three, while removing any term limit for county commissioners. ### Plain-language summary In 2012 the Georgia General Assembly passed a law merging the City of Macon, the City of Payne City, and Bibb County into one consolidated government, and that law set a limit of three four-year terms for the mayor. This bill would amend that 2012 law to raise the mayor's limit to four four-year terms. The bill also removes term limits entirely for commissioners of the consolidated government, though the quoted text only shows the mayor's limit being revised; the bill's title states commissioners' limits are removed as well. An initial partial term still counts as a full term toward the limit, and prior service as a Macon or Bibb County officer before consolidation does not count against it. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and does not list a separate effective date beyond the standard process for signed legislation. ### What it does - Raises the mayor's term limit in the consolidated Macon-Bibb County government from three to four four-year terms. - Removes term limits for commissioners of the consolidated government, according to the bill's title. - Keeps the existing rule that an initial term shorter than four years still counts as one full term toward the limit. - Continues to exclude prior service as a City of Macon or Bibb County officer before consolidation from counting toward the mayor's term limit. - Repeals any state laws that conflict with these changes. ### Who it affects The mayor and county commissioners of the consolidated Macon-Bibb County government, and by extension the voters of Macon and Bibb County who elect them, are directly affected by these changed term limit rules. ### Why it matters If enacted, a sitting or future Macon-Bibb County mayor could serve one additional four-year term beyond the current cap, and commissioners could serve an unlimited number of terms, changing how long local voters' choices for these offices can remain in office. ### Key provisions - Section 1 amends Section 10(e) of the 2012 consolidation Act to change the mayor's limit from three to four four-year terms. - Section 1 preserves the rule that a partial initial term still counts as a full term for the mayor's limit. - Section 1 preserves the exclusion of prior service as a Macon or Bibb County officer from the mayor's term count. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-03-13) - Last action: Senate Read and Referred (2025-03-13) - Sponsors: David Lucas - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71361 > The history, votes, and amendments (95 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb338.md?full=1