SR 55: Bona Fide Conservation Use Property; maximum acreage to qualify for assessment and taxation; increase -CA

Georgia's Constitution currently lets owners of agricultural and timber land get a special reduced property tax assessment, called bona fide conservation use, but only up to 2,000 acres per owner. This resolution proposes a constitutional amendment that would raise that cap to 6,000 acres, letting larger landowners qualify more of their acreage for the tax break. The measure does not change the other rules for the program: owners must still sign a ten-year covenant promising to keep the land in conservation or timber use, and breaking that covenant early still triggers repayment of the tax savings plus possible penalties. Because this is a constitutional amendment, it cannot take effect on its own. It must go to Georgia voters on a statewide ballot, who would decide yes or no on raising the acreage limit from 2,000 to 6,000.

• Raises the maximum acreage eligible for the bona fide conservation use property tax assessment from 2,000 acres to 6,000 acres per single owner.
• Leaves the five-acre cap for bona fide residential transitional property unchanged.
• Keeps the existing requirement that owners sign a ten-year covenant to maintain the conservation or timber use.
• Keeps the existing penalty rule requiring recapture of tax savings if the covenant is broken within ten years.
• Sends the proposed constitutional amendment to Georgia voters for ratification or rejection on a statewide ballot.

Owners of agricultural and timber land in Georgia, particularly those with large landholdings between 2,000 and 6,000 acres, who could newly qualify more of their property for reduced tax assessment. County tax assessors and local governments that rely on property tax revenue are also affected.

If voters approve this amendment, large agricultural and timber landowners could shelter significantly more acreage under the conservation use tax break, lowering their property tax bills. This could also affect the property tax revenue collected by counties where such large landholdings exist.

• Section 1 amends Article VII, Section I, Paragraph III(e)(1) of the Georgia Constitution, changing the acreage cap for bona fide conservation use property from 2,000 to 6,000 acres.
• Section 1 leaves intact the requirement that property owners enter a covenant to continue bona fide conservation or residential transitional use.
• Section 1 preserves the rule that breaching the covenant within ten years triggers recapture of tax savings and possible other penalties.
• Section 2 sets the ballot language asking voters whether to raise the acreage cap from 2,000 to 6,000 acres and directs submission for ratification under Article X, Section I, Paragraph II of the Constitution.

1. 2025-01-29Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-01-28Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)Primary sponsor
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• John Kennedy (R, SD-018)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)

• property taxes
• conservation use property
• constitutional amendment
• agricultural land
• timber land