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Senate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SB 469: Board of Commissioners of Forsyth County; term limits for members; provide

Last action May 11, 2026 · Effective Date

A Senate bill would impose a two-term limit on Forsyth County commissioners, but only if voters approve it in a November 2026 referendum, with commissioners barred from running again until four years after finishing a second full term.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Currently, members of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners can run for reelection indefinitely, with no limit on how many terms they serve. This bill would change that, but only if voters agree. The bill adds a new section to the county's governing law saying that anyone elected to the board after January 1, 2027 who has served two full terms cannot run again until four years have passed since their last term ended. Terms already served before the law takes effect count toward this two-term limit. Before this can take effect, Forsyth County must hold a referendum on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2026, asking voters to approve or reject the term limit. If a majority vote yes, the change takes effect January 1, 2027. If voters reject it or the election is not properly held, the entire bill is automatically repealed 365 days after the election date.

What the bill does

  • Adds a rule barring Forsyth County commissioners elected after January 1, 2027 from running for a third consecutive term until four years after their second term ends.
  • Counts terms served before the law's effective date toward the two-term limit.
  • Requires the Forsyth County election superintendent to hold a referendum on November 3, 2026 asking voters to approve or reject the term limit.
  • Makes the term limit take effect January 1, 2027 only if a majority of voters approve it in the referendum.
  • Automatically repeals the entire Act 365 days after the election if voters reject it or the election is not properly conducted.
  • Allows any Forsyth County voter to seek a court order (a writ of mandamus, a legal command to a public official) forcing the election superintendent to hold the vote if they fail to do so.

Who it affects

Current and future members of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, who would face a term limit if voters approve it; Forsyth County voters, who must decide the issue in a 2026 referendum; and the Forsyth County election superintendent, who is required to organize and certify the vote.

Why it matters

If approved, Forsyth County commissioners would no longer be able to serve indefinitely, changing who can run for local office and how long incumbents can stay in power. The outcome depends entirely on the November 2026 referendum, so no change happens unless voters say yes.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 adds Section 2.1 to the 1964 Forsyth County commissioners Act, setting a two-term limit with a four-year waiting period before running again.
  • Section 1 specifies that terms served before the law's effective date count toward the two-term limit.
  • Section 2 requires a referendum on November 3, 2026, with the ballot language asking voters to approve or reject the two-term limit.
  • Section 2 states the term limit becomes effective January 1, 2027 only if a majority of votes cast favor approval.
  • Section 2 provides that the entire Act is automatically repealed 365 days after the election if voters reject it or the election is not held as required.
  • Section 2 allows a Forsyth County voter to seek a court order compelling the election superintendent to conduct the referendum if they fail to do so.
  • Section 3 makes the rest of the Act effective upon the Governor's approval or upon becoming law without approval.

From the bill

“No person elected to the board of commissioners after January 1, 2027, who has been elected to and served two full terms of office as a commissioner shall be eligible for election to a successive term of office as a commissioner until after the expiration of four years from the conclusion of his or her last term”

This is the core term limit rule the bill would add for Forsyth County commissioners.

Discussed in meetings (6)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. House floor session, March 25, 2026 (legislative day 37, AM)

    From 0:42:56 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 3043

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The clerk reported a committee recommendation to pass SB 469 by substitute and later listed it on the local calendar as a Forsyth County measure. No explanation of the substitute or substantive debate followed. The House passed it with the local calendar, 164 to 0.

  2. Senate floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, part 2)

    From 2:53:48 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said SB 469 concerned term limits for Forsyth County commissioners. The sponsor said the Senate had passed the commissioners’ requested language, but the House delegation waited a month and returned a different version requiring a ballot measure. While supporting agreement, the sponsor criticized the delay and lack of coordination between the House and Senate delegations. The Senate agreed to the House substitute, 52–0.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-05-11Effective Date
  2. 2026-05-11Act 611
  3. 2026-05-11Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
  4. 2026-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
  5. 2026-04-02Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
  6. 2026-03-25House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
  7. 2026-03-25House Third Readers (House)
  8. 2026-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
Show full history (14 actions)
  1. 2026-02-26House Second Readers (House)
  2. 2026-02-25House First Readers (House)
  3. 2026-02-24Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  4. 2026-02-24Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  5. 2026-02-06Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  6. 2026-02-05Senate Hopper (Senate)

Sponsors

  • Shawn Still (R, SD-48)Primary sponsor
  • Greg Dolezal (R, SD-27)
  • Brent Cox (R, HD-28)

Votes

  1. PassedSenate voteFebruary 24, 2026

    53 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)

    LOCAL CONSENT CALENDAR: Senate Vote #571

  2. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2026

    164 yea, 0 nay (8 not voting, 4 excused)

    Local Calendar: House Vote #754

  3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

    52 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)

    AGREE TO HOUSE SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #966

Topics

  • term limits
  • Forsyth County government
  • local referendum
  • county commissioners
  • election law

Ask about this bill

Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb469.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp