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Senate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SR 482: Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC); create a study committee; urge

Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute

A Georgia Senate resolution creates the Senate Nuclear Power Study Committee to examine advanced nuclear reactors and related energy policy, with the panel set to dissolve by December 1, 2026.

Read the full resolution text

These buttons carry the resolution'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 resolution 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

This resolution sets up a 14 member Senate Nuclear Power Study Committee made up of senators, one House member, and representatives from Georgia Power, electrical membership corporations, the Public Service Commission, and the Municipal Electrical Authority of Georgia. The committee's job is to study advanced nuclear reactors and related issues like fusion power and radioactive waste, and to recommend any action or legislation it thinks is needed. The resolution lays out how the committee is run: the President of the Senate names a chairperson, the chairperson calls meetings, and legislative members get standard legislative expense allowances while other members get state employee style reimbursement, capped at five days unless extended. Any findings or recommended legislation must be approved by a majority of a quorum and filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee is abolished on December 1, 2026.

What the bill does

  • Creates a 14 member Senate Nuclear Power Study Committee with representatives from the Senate, House, Georgia Power, electrical membership corporations, the Public Service Commission, and the Municipal Electrical Authority of Georgia.
  • Directs the committee to study advanced nuclear reactors, fusion power, and radioactive waste issues and recommend legislation if it finds any necessary.
  • Sets pay and expense rules: legislative members get standard legislative allowances, state officials get expense reimbursement only, and other members get a daily allowance capped at five days unless extended.
  • Requires any committee report or recommended legislation to be approved by majority vote and filed with the Secretary of the Senate before the committee ends.
  • Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2026.

Who it affects

Members of the Georgia Senate and House who may be appointed to the committee, Georgia Power, electrical membership corporations, the Public Service Commission, and the Municipal Electrical Authority of Georgia, all of which supply representatives, plus any Georgians affected by future nuclear energy legislation the committee proposes.

Why it matters

The resolution itself does not change nuclear energy law, but it sets up a formal process for Georgia lawmakers, utilities, and regulators to study advanced nuclear reactors and possibly draft future legislation affecting how nuclear power is developed and regulated in the state.

Key provisions

  • Paragraph (1) creates the Senate Nuclear Power Study Committee.
  • Paragraph (2) sets its membership at 14: five senators, up to one House member, two from Georgia Power, two from electrical membership corporations, two from the Public Service Commission, and two from the Municipal Electrical Authority of Georgia.
  • Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying nuclear power issues and recommending action or legislation.
  • Paragraph (5) sets allowance and reimbursement rules, capping non-legislative daily allowances at five days unless extended, funded through Senate appropriations.
  • Paragraph (6) requires any report with legislative recommendations to be approved by majority vote of a quorum and filed with the Secretary of the Senate.
  • Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.

From the bill

“There is created the Senate Nuclear Power Study Committee.”

The operative clause establishing the new legislative study committee.

“The committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs, issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and recommend any action or legislation which the committee deems necessary or appropriate.”

Describes the committee's mandate to study nuclear power issues and propose legislation.

“The committee shall stand abolished on December 1, 2026.”

Sets the date the study committee automatically ends.

Discussed in meetings (5)

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. Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, January 29, 2026

    From 0:24:59 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the resolution would urge the Public Service Commission to study small modular nuclear reactors as future power sources, including for data centers and manufacturing. Answering questions about size and safety, the sponsor said reactors could occupy about 30 acres and would be safer than current designs. Members suggested a Senate study instead, utility participation, legislative representation, and adding conventional nuclear power, fusion and radioactive decay batteries. The sponsor welcomed revisions. A Sierra Club witness opposed the resolution, citing affordability, waste, safety and the time before deployment. The witness cited studies reporting 41% higher capital costs and two to 30 times more waste than larger reactors, and favored letting the Tennessee Valley Authority proceed first. The chair questioned whether data center operators could pay for their own reactors; the witness questioned whether Georgia law allowed that arrangement. Another member argued that studying innovation could identify solutions. A witness representing electrical workers and the Georgia AFL-CIO supported the study, citing Georgia’s trained nuclear workforce and federal safety oversight, but said total costs would remain unknown until a reactor was built. The chair requested research and suggested changes for a possible committee substitute at a future meeting. No vote was taken.

  2. Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, February 17, 2026

    From 1:08:07 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the substitute for SR 482 would create a Senate study committee on advanced nuclear power instead of urging the Public Service Commission to create one. The sponsor said Georgia needed to prepare for technologies such as small modular reactors and that the study would include discussion of fission and fusion. The proposed membership included five senators, an optional House member, and two representatives each from Georgia Power, electric membership cooperatives and the Public Service Commission. One member questioned including a House member on a Senate committee. The sponsor explained that participation would be optional. Another member proposed adding two Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia representatives, saying the organization served 49 cities. The committee combined that addition with a change increasing total membership from 12 to 14. Members adopted the amendment unanimously, then unanimously approved the substitute as amended and sent it to Rules.

  3. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

    From 0:27:51 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair included SR 482 in a group of 12 study committee resolutions. The chair said Capitol study committee meetings during the interim would need to use the legislative office building because other meeting rooms would be under renovation. The committee unanimously moved the group to the consent calendar.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-03-31Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
  2. 2026-03-31Senate Third Read (Senate)
  3. 2026-02-19Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  4. 2026-02-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
  5. 2025-03-28Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  6. 2025-03-27Senate Hopper (Senate)

Sponsors

  • Timothy Bearden (R, SD-30)Primary sponsor
  • Bill Cowsert (R, SD-46)
  • Drew Echols (R, SD-49)
  • Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-32)
  • John Albers (R, SD-56)
  • Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
  • Billy Hickman (R, SD-4)
  • Sam Watson (R, SD-11)
  • Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
  • Carden Summers (R, SD-13)
  • Max Burns (R, SD-23)
  • Ben Watson (R, SD-1)
  • Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
  • Frank Ginn (R, SD-47)
  • Clint Dixon (R, SD-45)
  • Brandon Beach (R, SD-21)
  • Rick Williams (R, SD-25)
  • John F. Kennedy (R, SD-18)
  • Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)
  • Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
  • Steve Gooch (R, SD-51)

Votes

  1. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

    48 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 3 excused)

    CONSENT CALENDAR FOR SENATE STUDY COMMITTEES: Senate Vote #875

Topics

  • nuclear power
  • energy policy
  • Public Service Commission
  • Georgia Power
  • legislative study committees

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