Georgia CommonsHouse Natural Resources & Environment Committee
House Natural Resources & Environment Committee, January 16, 2026
2025-2026 Regular Session · 606 CLOB · 25 min
This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.
The video is the General Assembly's, played from its Vimeo channel. Select any time below to play that moment. Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Agenda
Summary
Written by an AI model (gpt-6.1-sol) from the transcript. It is not part of the record, and the video is what was said.
The committee discussed and approved HR 1008, which would ratify changes to the statewide water management plan. The sponsor said the changes were intended to make regional water planning more efficient and responsive. Members discussed whether smaller councils could leave out local knowledge, how people are selected to serve, and how councils share information across district boundaries. An agency representative described ways councils bring in experts and hold joint meetings. The committee approved a motion to recommend passage by voice vote, with no numerical tally stated.
Bills discussed (1)
Each account covers the stretch of the meeting it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda.
HR 1008. State-wide water management plan; ratify amendments
From 0:13:42 · turns 12 to 33
The sponsor said HR 1008 would ratify water-planning changes recommended through the State Water Council to improve efficiency and readiness for challenges such as droughts. The sponsor said changes could be revisited annually, but a resolution must be introduced on the session’s first day. One committee member asked whether smaller councils could miss input from neighboring areas during a major disaster. An agency representative said councils can bring in technical experts, create supporting committees and hold joint basin meetings across council boundaries. A second member said constituents were concerned about water use and conservation, and questioned transparency in council appointments and restrictions on participation by knowledgeable basin residents who live outside a planning district. That member suggested reviewing those issues later while acknowledging the potential benefit of more effective working groups. Another member supported smaller, active councils, saying they could improve disaster response. The acting chair said council meetings allow public input. The committee approved a motion to recommend passage by voice vote, with no numerical tally stated. Afterward, the sponsor cited state agencies’ response to a tornado as an example of administrative readiness and said further improvements could still be made.
Transcript
35 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.
- 0:10:04
I don't know what I'm gonna tell him other than, uh, I was thinking-
- 0:10:07
What do we got, about three minutes?
- 0:10:08
30 minutes, yes, ma'am.
- 0:10:09
Okay.
- 0:10:12
This is a three-minute warning.
- 0:11:45
Good morning. Gonna call the meeting to order. Thank y'all for being here for the second day in a row. Yesterday, we had a full committee meeting, but essentially, it was in the role of subcommittee meeting. And, all right, so we're calling the meeting to order. Um, I think I n- with this committee, I need to start us off with a prayer. So, um, c- so, uh, Representative Townsend.
- 0:12:10
Thank you, Madam Chair, and letting the, the back row, we were quiet, by the way.
- 0:12:14
All right. So-
- 0:12:15
Please bow your heads. Thank you. Thank you, Father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for this committee and the people in this room to help protect our natural resources in the state of Georgia. Please bless those who aren't here, couldn't make it today for whatever reason, and, and please bless us as we go through the travel home this weekend. Whether it's snow or ice or just cold weather, please be with all of us as we travel. In Jesus' name, amen.
- 0:12:37
Amen.
- 0:12:40
Amen.
- 0:12:40
So good morning, everyone. I'll explain the process to the public and, uh, once more to the committee. We had a full committee meeting yesterday on our House resolution, and so that was the point where we had public comment and such as that. Today, it's a full committee, just committee meeting, to review and actually vote and discuss the bill. So, um, at this point, since I'm the bill presenter, I will take my role to present the bill to you, and Representative Vance will take over the meeting.
- 0:13:35
All righty. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. We will hear the presentation of House Resolution 1008 by Chairman Lynn Smith.
- 0:13:45
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, and my thanks to the committee yesterday for your attention. Y'all were alert. You had good questions and everything. And then also afterwards, most of you gave me comments and things to look at, and, um, I could tell from that that it was all right to go ahead and have the, a full committee meeting today. Essentially, the message we've received from EPD is that this document, the State Water Regional Planning Districts, was in need of some changes due to the need for efficiency and the ability for our state to be ready to react to any challenges that come our way.
- 0:14:26
And for the people listening and for the, um, process and how it works, it, it is from the bottom up, which is what was wanted and needed when we were dealing with all of our water issues. We're a large state. Our regions are very different. And so from that input, it went to the State Water Council, and they have made this recommendation to us. The- Fortunately for us as a state, for a few years now, we've not had, except for Hurricane Helene, but we, our response and, and we, as a, as a state, we've not faced some huge challenges such as, um, a drought or something like that.
- 0:15:08
But, um, that's not up to us. That's up to Mother Nature. And, um, we have just been informed that it's more important that our committee be very responsive and give them the, the tools they need to help us address these issues. And also, for those who are concerned about these changes, this is a process that can take place every year. So as we're going along, if this, i- i- if they have concerns, if we have concerns, we can revisit it through the Water Council, and but the, the main trigger is it has to be introduced the first day of the session.
- 0:15:44
And so for that, Mr. Chairman, I'm open to questions.
- 0:15:48
All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Members of the committee, if we have any, if you do, mash a button. We've got one, um, button 12 is Representative Corbett.
- 0:16:01
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, af- after this explanation today, I thought it was a great bill, you know, a good bill yesterday. I think it's a great bill today, so at the proper time, I'd like to make a motion.
- 0:16:09
I, I, I tell you what, at the proper time, I'll, I'll represent your, uh, recognize you, Mr. Chairman. Let's, we got a couple of questions here, though. Let's go with number 19, and you're on.
- 0:16:21
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair Lady, for, um, bringing this bill. Um, I'm still learning the process, but I appreciate your comments yesterday, um, and appreciate getting a chance to talk to EPD yesterday. One of my concerns still is with the rapidly changing landscape in our state is to make sure that we remain nimble. Um, and sometime being nimble is also slow and steady. We don't want an overly cumbersome, um, body, but at the same time, we don't wanna have blind spots.
- 0:16:58
And so, um, I think what you're, you're recommending is good, but I, I gotta say, you know, should we have another Helene, another major disaster that's larger than Helene, um, are we going to lose input from other areas, folks that are not necessarily
- 0:17:20
They're adjacent, but they're not in the, the boundaries of the map. Are we gonna end up missing things because we became too small? Thank you for that question. And, um, I'm gonna do a lateral pass to, um, the people who actually deal with these problems, if that's all right, Mr. Chair. It is, Madam Chair. Um, Miss Anya. Well, I really appreciate the question. And there are two things that I'm kind of hearing. One is about making sure that we've got every w- every perspective represented, and the other is about making sure that we've got the whole basin and the whole region represented.
- 0:17:58
So to make sure we've got all the perspectives represented, um, we have had councils that have brought in technical experts, developed additional committees to help support the work of the council, and the representation there is very broad and specific to the issue that they're trying to address, whether it is addressing something that they think may happen proactively or coming in after the fact and bringing the experts to move forward after something has occurred, like with Hurricane Helene. So there is that capability. We've seen the councils do this, and we have a very strong, um, co- uh, set of contractors who help support the councils that are making sure that that practice and process is able to be implemented across the state.
- 0:18:36
And in terms of looking across the whole watershed or the whole region, um, our planning contractors have also developed these joint basin meetings. So you've had multiple councils together getting the same information, um, people from different councils in the room able to share information together, and that's been really effective for making sure some of these bigger regional issues have the opportunity for discussion. Thank you. All right. Uh, Representative Buckner, number 18. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I, I learned a great deal yesterday and appreciate the opportunity to be at the meeting and to talk to both Anna and Katherine after the meeting.
- 0:19:13
Um, as I said yesterday, and I've had continuous calls from people in my area talking about the, the idea of all of us being concerned and involved in not only, um, water usage and conservation and, and, um, how we plan to use it in the near future is a big, great concern to them. And the, it seems counterintuitive to make the, the board smaller. But if they aren't working, then to give the flexibility to be able to, um, get good working groups going makes a lot of sense.
- 0:19:48
There are two questions that continue to come up that I, I know we can't deal with in this bill, but we can think about over time and maybe, if necessary, come back and do something. And one is the transparency in selecting people to serve or the process of how to volunteer to serve or be nominated to serve. That seems to be a weak link right now. How can people get on these councils that really want to? And then the other weak link that's been identified is that a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge about the water basins and live in the water basin don't live in the council planning district.
- 0:20:27
So there needs to be s- it's kind of incongruent that you know something and wanna work, but you're on the wrong side of the line. So it might be that we need, over the next year, to look at maybe being able to serve if you live in the basin versus the council district. So, um, thank you for your attention and listening to me and my constituents. Thank you, Representative Buckner. We appreciate it. I think that's what makes a committee so good. We've got thoughts from both sides. Uh, we live in these areas.
- 0:20:58
So all the input, I think, is great and makes great bills. So anyway, that's just my comment. Uh, Representative McDonald, number 18. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Madam Chair. You know, we've, we've talked about probably the worst disaster being Helene coming into our, our state. And, and the, the path of Helene was coming up through Metro Atlanta. It, it quickly shifted and went a different way. But the state of Georgia and the people of state of Georgia, they stepped up, they responded. We didn't wait on the federal government.
- 0:21:28
So yeah, I look at what happened then. If something, as Representative Tran said, you know, could be worse than that, I still think Georgia will step up. I mean, they, the resources will be there. Having a smaller board that you c- that are active and working will make that response better and be for all Georgians, because, you know, the, the, when, when the response came together, it didn't, it was nonpartisan. It was there to help all Georgians. So I really think we're in the right direction of, of moving this to get a, an active board rather than inactive board, people you communicate with.
- 0:21:59
So I s- I look forward to voting for this measure. Thank you, Representative McDonald. Um, and I think just like this room, we're, we're, we're the board, and we take action on legislation, but we have the general public here, people that are interested in what's going on. Same thing happens on, in these water, rural water districts. We have a board, but the room is open. It's public hearings, and everybody can have input, so, and I hope the people on those boards listen to the input, kind of like we do a- and did yesterday.
- 0:22:30
Okay, I don't see any more questions by any board member. Um, Representative Corbett, Chairman Corbett, recognize you. Make a motion do pass. All right. We have a motion on the floor do pass. Do we have a second? Second. Got a second. Now, is there any discussion, any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. All opposed? And the m- motion passed. Congratulations, Madam Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, members of the committee.
- 0:23:02
Um, I will add to this. I, I share all the comments, and in my part of the world back in 2021, we were hit with an F4 tornado. And, um, the response, and actually it, it goes to the administration as opposed to legislation, but at the state level, our governor and all of the agencies under him are, are, they have that red button. They're ready to go and move. That next morning, I was on a plane with, um, our, uh, DNR folks, and they were measuring the felled timber to gauge the intensity of the, um, storm.
- 0:23:42
And so this is our role and with this bill that we passed, but when we're not legislating, our state has to work, and we have given them the tools they need to be efficient. Having said that, things can always change and need to be better, but, um, I'm honored to serve in the general assembly and honored to serve with such a well-run state, so thank you. Thank you for your comments. No, we appreciate you as chair of Natural Resources. I think everybody enjoys being on this committee. If there's no further business, uh, this meeting is adjourned.
- 0:24:14
Make sure you remember we meet on Thursday mornings at 8:00, so watch for those notices. Thank you. And have a great, well, vacation this weekend. Bye. Bye.