HB 249: Public utilities; solar power facility agreements; revise provisions

Georgia law already requires companies that lease land for solar power facilities (called grantees) to remove their equipment and restore the property when a lease ends, backed by financial assurance such as a surety bond. This bill revises those rules in several ways. It updates definitions, including adding the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources as 'the division,' and tightens who can issue the required financial assurance bonds, requiring the issuing company to be licensed as an insurer under Georgia law. The bill also lets landowners and grantees waive certain decommissioning requirements through a notarized written agreement, but only if the grantee's core obligation to remove the solar facilities is not waived. Most notably, it creates a new enforcement system: the Environmental Protection Division can issue cease and desist orders against grantees that fail to prove they delivered required financial assurance before starting operations, and grantees that keep operating after such an order can face civil penalties of $1,000 per day. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Adds a legal definition of 'the division' as the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources for solar lease enforcement purposes.
• Tightens the definition of qualifying financial assurance bonds by requiring the issuing company to be licensed as an insurance company under Georgia law (Title 33).
• Allows landowners and solar companies to waive certain decommissioning steps through a notarized agreement, but bars waiving the core duty to remove solar facilities when a lease ends.
• Requires solar companies to prove to the Environmental Protection Division that they delivered the required cleanup bond to the landowner before starting commercial operations.
• Gives the division authority to issue cease and desist orders against solar companies that fail to prove they posted the bond or otherwise violate the financial assurance rules.
• Imposes a civil penalty of $1,000 per day on any solar company that keeps operating after being served a cease and desist order, until the order is lifted, overturned, or operations stop.

Solar power companies (grantees) that lease land in Georgia to build solar facilities, landowners who lease their property for solar projects, insurance companies that issue financial assurance bonds for decommissioning, and the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources, which gains new enforcement power.

Landowners who lease property for solar facilities would have stronger guarantees that companies can actually pay to remove equipment and restore the land later, since bonds must come from licensed insurers and be verified before operations start. Solar companies that skip this step risk state-ordered shutdowns and daily fines.

• Code Section 46-3-67 revises definitions, adding 'the division' and requiring financial assurance bond issuers to be licensed insurers under Title 33.
• Code Section 46-3-68 voids any lease provision that waives a grantee's duties under this law, except for waivers allowed under new Code Section 46-3-69(e).
• Code Section 46-3-69 lets landowners and grantees waive or modify decommissioning steps (but not the core removal duty) through a notarized agreement recorded with the county superior court clerk.
• Code Section 46-3-69.1 requires grantees to obtain financial assurance covering removal and restoration costs, updated by a licensed engineer every five years, with grantees bearing all related costs.
• New Code Section 46-3-69.2 requires grantees to prove to the Environmental Protection Division that financial assurance was delivered before commercial operations begin.
• New Code Section 46-3-69.2 authorizes the division to issue cease and desist orders for noncompliance, treated as final orders reviewable under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act.
• New Code Section 46-3-69.2 sets a $1,000 per day civil penalty for operating in violation of a cease and desist order, collectible through a lawsuit filed by the division.
• Section 2 makes the law effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-02-24House Withdrawn, Recommitted (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2025-02-18House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Cámara de Representantes)
5. 2025-02-06House Withdrawn, Recommitted (Cámara de Representantes)
6. 2025-02-06House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
7. 2025-02-05House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
8. 2025-02-04House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)Patrocinador principal
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)
• David Huddleston (R, HD-072)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Joe Campbell (R, HD-171)

• solar power regulation
• land leases
• environmental enforcement
• property rights
• renewable energy