Senate Finance Committee, February 2, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1159796804 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1159796804#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-02/senate-finance 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. [0:15:59] Pray with me, please. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the many blessings you've bestowed upon us, Lord, especially the opportunity to be here on this beautiful day in our state's capital and to attend to the affairs of the people of Georgia. Lead us and guide us in all we do, and these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen. [0:16:21] Amen. All right, um, Senator Kirkpatrick, if you wanna come up front. And, uh, you've got some Department of Revenue people here. Everybody introduce theirselves. This is a department bill. And, um, I can't remember them asking a, a non-finance member to carry a department bill, so I'm not sure what that's about. But she does have a pretty good track record, I think, of getting bills across the line. Maybe that's what it is. Anyway, tell us the LC number you're working from, and the floor is yours. [0:16:55] Thank you, Mr. Chair. And- [0:16:57] And go ahead and have everybody introduce themselves too. [0:16:59] Yes, uh, yes. [0:17:00] Let's, let's all introduce who's up here. [0:17:02] Yeah. You wanna introduce yourself? [0:17:04] Yeah. I'll, I'll do it for both of us. So I'm Joe Schnauder, and I'm the director of Government Affairs and Communications at the Department of Revenue, and I'm joined today by Marshall Martin, one of our lawyers, uh, at the department. [0:17:14] All right. [0:17:15] And the LC number you asked for. [0:17:18] How about that mustache? [0:17:19] 4.3384S. [0:17:22] 3384S. And I hear there is a one-word substitute coming a little bit later, but I'm getting ahead of myself, so. [0:17:29] Yeah, we'll, we'll get to that, Mr. Chair. [0:17:31] All right. Tell us about your bill, what you're doing. [0:17:34] Yeah, so thank you. And as you know, this is a little outside of my normal lane of healthcare and insurance. But, um, the reason that I'm carrying this is because I sort of accidentally found out that I had a small amount in unclaimed property that I wasn't aware of. And, uh, then I heard from a couple other people who didn't know that they had unclaimed property or had tried to get their unclaimed property and had difficulty with that. And so I've been working with the Department of Revenue on this for a number of months now trying to find a solution. [0:18:10] And, uh, it turns out that the current process is more cumbersome than it needs to be, that many people don't even know that they have unclaimed property, and, uh, we currently haven't been going out of our way to tell them that. And then what I also learned, that there's currently, as of today, $3.3 billion sitting in the general fund that's unclaimed property that actually belongs to Georgia's citizens. [0:18:40] So Senate Bill 403 is an agency bill from the Department of Revenue. They were very responsive to, um, the call for increased transparency and communication with constituents. And, um, if y'all have questions, I may need some help from the department answering those. But the goal of the bill is to return more money to Georgians faster with fewer forms, less cost, and fewer administrative barriers. [0:19:11] What the bill does, and I'll just sort of summarize, then I can go through section by section if you guys want. All right, establishes an exact match program to automatically return unclaimed property of $500 or less to owners using tax records, no claim form required. It allows virtual currency, cryptocurrency to be legally reported and remitted as unclaimed property. It streamlines heir claims by allowing small estates to be paid using a small estate affidavit instead of probate. [0:19:45] It requires stronger holder outreach, that's the bankers or whoever's holding the property, before it's turned over to DOR, helping return the money before it becomes unclaimed. It allows the state to permanently take ownership of very small or long-abandoned unclaimed property after, uh, a number of years. And then it improves timing and accuracy of the Georgia unclaimed property list by allowing de- delayed publication until the property's actually received by the state. [0:20:18] So with that, there is one, um, small change in the bill that was asked for by the credit unions, and that's on line 57. They would like to add after "banking or financial" so it would read, "Any virtual currency held or owing by a banking or financial organization." Um, so if you guys would like to amend that, that would be great. [0:20:44] Or financial, so there's two words then. [0:20:46] Correct. [0:20:47] Okay. Now you're doubling it. Now it's 35. [0:20:52] Hmm. Sorry. [0:20:52] Okay. If you say so- [0:20:53] Thank you [0:20:53] ... Mr. Chair. Um, so just, do you want me to go through the different sections? [0:21:01] I, I guess I would check with the committee and see if you, if you want to. Do y'all want a brief explanation of the different sections or... How's everybody? I- I'm fine with it. Okay. I, I, I have reviewed it, and I've gone through the, the author in each section, and of course, the Department of Revenue has as well, so I think it's a good cleanup. But I'm sure anything you wanted to go through. Senator, you're number three? [0:21:27] Two. [0:21:27] Two. Okay. [0:21:30] I guess, um, can you just walk me through the scenario where, I'm just looking at section three and thinking about virtual currency, if I don't log in to an account, uh, what, what has to happen upstream of that before you guys basically start watching for logins and stuff like that? [0:21:45] So that's actually something that's addressed in this bill as well. Uh, previously, logging into an account and just viewing it didn't count as activity, right? So if you were logging, if you had the same amount of money in... And it's not even just with virtual currency, but a bank account, right? And you're going in there and you're looking every day just to make sure your money's still there, but you're not touching it, you're not moving money in and out, a lot of times that'll turn into unclaimed property. Part of what this bill does as well is allow, you know, online Let's, uh, I'll kick it over to Marshall for maybe a better word, but just online engagement in your, your funds will allow you to keep it from being, um, unclaimed. [0:22:20] Um, so Marshall, do you wanna speak to that a little bit more? [0:22:23] So in other words, it would, it would count if you just log in and look at your stuff- [0:22:26] So- [0:22:27] ... without moving anything [0:22:27] ... if I don't do anything and I have an account and I just don't log in for seven years, the state comes and takes my money? [0:22:32] Well, so what would happen is the holder would d- say it's unclaimed, right? Say it's an abandoned property. They would turn it over to us, because there is a cost to holding people's money, right? And they would prefer to get rid of it, and there's also a lot of legal rights that go in with that. So there's certain amount, there's certain timeframes for different types of properties for how long a holder must have it stay dormant before they can remit it to us. [0:23:00] What's the problem that we're trying to solve? [0:23:03] With this bill specifically? [0:23:05] Yeah. [0:23:05] Or... With this bill specifically, as far... Specific to crypto or the entire bill? [0:23:10] Uh, let's start... I'm just thinking about the guy who has a checking account with 50 bucks in it. He forgets he's got it. [0:23:16] Mm-hmm. [0:23:16] He's moved. [0:23:17] So to address that problem, A, the stronger holder requirements, right? Currently, the holders of these things have very, you know, very limited in scope on what they're supposed to do if a property seems to be abandoned, right? So part of that in this bill is making them send certified first class mail for certain claims, right? Other stuff like that. And then, uh, additionally, you know, when it comes to the, the... I mean, we want people to get their money back, right? So the, the other piece, the component of that, if it's virtual, right, it turns into cash. It comes to us. With the exact match program that's inside of this bill, that'll allow us to use information we have within our tax software information, as well as inside of our unclaimed property system, to match that up and give it back to people without them having to come and ask us for it. [0:24:00] Great. Thank you. [0:24:01] So the, so the owner of that would then get the money if they- [0:24:05] Correct. If, if they're... So we'll go off their most recent filing information, right? [0:24:09] Mm-hmm. [0:24:09] Address, Social Security numbers. We have all that stuff in-house. We'll let the systems talk to each other. Once they do, once we can confirm without a doubt this person is who this person is, and they do live where they say they live- [0:24:20] Mm-hmm [0:24:20] ... we'll be able to send them that money without them having to file a claim, fill out a form, right? That's their money. We just wanna give it back to them. [0:24:25] Follow, Mr. Chairman, if that's okay. [0:24:26] Sure. [0:24:26] I'm just curious why you guys, like what's the, as far as the department bill, what's happened that caused you guys to say, "Hey, we as a department kind of need to come in and address this"? [0:24:34] A massive influx of unclaimed property claims. Um, it's just becoming, uh, more public knowledge, right? There's more people nowadays looking for their unclaimed property. We've seen the claims double over the last year, and they'll double again this year. Um, the exact match program, you know, we're limited in funds for who we can hire to work this unclaimed property division. Um, this exact match program, in our eyes, allows us to get people's money out the door without the manpower, and it, and it makes it more efficient. [0:25:01] A little different question, but, you know, heard stories about people who, say, forgot their password or something. So if that money sits there for seven years, do they then get it or? [0:25:11] If, yep, if, if, if you forgot your password, I mean, we were talking about this. If you had a, if you made a fun little cryptocurrency account back in the day, totally forgot about it, that money will eventually land with us, and we would love to give it back to y'all. So yeah. [0:25:25] Okay. [0:25:28] Oh, let's see. Is that Senator Anderson? [0:25:35] In this bill, does it help if, um, someone gets killed and a spouse or nearest kin finds out about it, some money five, six years later? [0:25:50] Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That is, that is what the small estate affidavit claim is for. The, the process with heir claims or, you know, inheritance claims is tricky. It's tricky to know who's supposed to be given that money, and we prefer to handle it through an affidavit as opposed to trying to figure it out on our own, right? If, if that's... If, if we're able to prove that you are an heir or a, a person who might rightfully be due this money- [0:26:10] Mm-hmm [0:26:10] ... and you're willing to sign the affidavit, right, to receive that money, knowing that once you've signed that, it's your responsibility to spread the wealth if it belongs to other people, right? We're, we're trying to get those claims through faster, because that's, those are some of the hardest claims to deal with, right? Especially following a loss, right? We don't wanna ask you for your funeral bill or, you know, for a will. We'd rather just be able to make that a quick, a quick sign and get you the money that you deserve. [0:26:31] S- say the widow found out about the money four years later. Does she get any interest on- [0:26:40] No interest is paid on any of these properties. [0:26:42] Okay. [0:26:43] And that is something, I mean, just 'cause that question may spark another. With cryptocurrency is something we're trying to mirror very closely to stocks, where as soon as they become unclaimed or abandoned, they are liquidated into US dollars. Um, we're not in the business of holding stocks. So sometimes people will be frustrated with that. If you had some Coke stock back in the 1970s, and we sold it back then, it's gonna be worth a little bit less than it might be worth now. Um, but it'd be too hard for us to keep up with, with live things like that. But yes. [0:27:12] Okay. [0:27:12] All right. And we got Senator Tillery. [0:27:14] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does the definition, and it's not here, the definition of unclaimed property, does it include an insurance policy? [0:27:22] Yes. [0:27:22] So if someone had an insurance policy that paid out, they would... I like this. Yeah. [0:27:31] As well as several. I mean, it's not just bank accounts and cryptos, right? There are a lot. I mean, vehicles can b- end up in our division as unclaimed property. If you leave your car on the side of the road, a tower picks it up, holds it. They can't get in touch with you. After a certain amount of time, they'll remit it to us. We now have that money. Then the, the person who towed the vehicle has to wait six months while we try and get in contact with that person whose vehicle that was, 'cause we have the drive system as well, where we can see, you know, vehicle data. Um, and that, but yeah, so there are so many different types of properties that are, that come in this bucket. [0:28:03] Senator Harbin. [0:28:05] You mentioned insurance, which I'm familiar with. [0:28:08] For years. [0:28:08] There's a, um, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has a policy locator that is in place. It's a volunteer, uh, site. Uh, we do not currently require every company that does business in Georgia to search that, but what it does, it allows the- [0:28:24] ... you, uh, the, the person who's hunting a policy to be able to find it. Do y'all, when y'all get money, do anything using the policy search engine in order to do that? [0:28:34] So I, I am unsure of that, sir. I, I, we are part of the National Unclaimed Property Association, where they have a larger website that incorporates all states. Um, but I would need to look at Marshall to see if that, if we know about that. [0:28:49] Nope. [0:28:49] No. [0:28:49] I'm not sure. [0:28:49] We can, we can get you that answer. [0:28:50] Yeah, I'm not sure. We can get that answer. [0:28:51] I, I was gonna say, if you look at the insurance commissioner's website, it is there. Some companies will vol- have voluntarily, they go on, but it's one of the ways that an individual can find a policy on someone and who it belongs to, that there is, there, there is a policy. Because the beneficiary's required to file the death claim from that standpoint in doing that. But I didn't know whether y'all were using that as a tool to find somebody. Okay. [0:29:15] If, if we're not, it might be a good idea to. [0:29:17] I think that would be a good idea. [0:29:18] Yes, sir. [0:29:19] I think you know from which you speak. [0:29:21] Well, I was gonna ask for a show of hands of who all here owns cryptocurrency, but this is the Department of Revenue sitting here, so- ... I'll pass on that at this time, I believe. Um, if there's no other questions, uh, we can entertain a motion. Will the committee? [0:29:37] To pass. [0:29:38] Second. [0:29:39] You want an amendment? [0:29:40] And first we'll, uh, we have a motion and a second, and now we're open for an amendment. [0:29:46] Uh, move on, uh, page three, line 57- [0:29:48] Oh, let me, put your mic up. Sorry. [0:29:50] Page three, line 57 after banking, add "or financial." [0:29:55] We've got an amendment. Is there a second to that? Got a second from Senator Hodges. Any other amendments? Any discussion? So first, uh, the amendment. All in favor of the amendment, um, I guess we'll just, if you wanna just say aye. [0:30:11] Aye. [0:30:12] Okay. Any opposed? None. So we're back to the original motion. Um, all in favor of LC 3384S as amended, uh, say aye. [0:30:26] Aye. [0:30:27] Any opposed? All right. Your motion carries, and, uh, we appreciate you coming and bringing this to the committee. [0:30:34] Thank you. [0:30:35] Thank you. [0:30:35] Thank you. [0:30:41] Yes. [0:30:41] Appreciation. [0:30:42] All right. Uh, Majority Leader Anavitarte, you wanna present this or? I'm gonna let, uh, Dr. Rhett do that. Okay. If that's okay. Sure. Come on up, Dr. Rhett. You're the majority leader. I'm the... [0:30:55] Well, if it... Um, thank you, committee, for the opportunity to be here. It's the bill we did discuss last year, House Bill 79. It's a, it's a bill that really recognizes that more and more Georgians either have or are considering purchasing a firearm, uh, to defend themselves from increasing gang violence and, uh, just general criminal behavior. A lot of them have not had training in that before and maybe aren't sure about the, how to safely store that. House Bill 79 allows you to do a voluntary tax credit of part of your tax obligation to the state of up to $300 to, to do a, a couple of things. [0:31:30] It lets you, uh, get training in that firearm, if that's what you think you need the most, and it lets you s- secure a, um, a safe storage device, whether a, a lock or a safe. I can tell you, the technology with the safes has changed a lot over the last just several years with the speed at which the fingerprint and code open safes can do to make 'em, uh... A lot of times people wouldn't want a firearm. There's that saying of, of, um, when seconds matter, the police are minutes away. Some people, the technology has gotten so much better for both your vehicles, your trucks, but also your home, to where it can be both safe from children or from, from people, uh, criminals who would want to steal that gun, either out of your vehicle or from your home. [0:32:12] So it protects you from, from that, but it also allows it to be ready, readily available. So that's some of the background behi- behind how this began. House Bill 79 allows up to a $300 of your tax obligation to go toward any one of those things. Uh, the bill was amended a couple of times, and the version I'm actually working off of, if it's okay Mr. Chairman, is LC 501264S. It was the Senate ch- with the Senate changes that, uh, really helped with some of the concerns. Is that correct? [0:32:40] Um, yeah. 590293. 590293S. [0:32:46] 9. [0:32:46] Which one do you have? [0:32:48] 0293S. [0:32:52] There's a 1293. [0:32:58] Oh, well maybe it is different then. [0:32:59] It's the one she's holding. [0:33:00] I'm sure. Thank you, sir. [0:33:09] All right. [0:33:18] Okay. Well, this has the changes that, that we... I apologize for that. [0:33:21] Right. [0:33:21] LC590293S. Um, there is a maximum on the fiscal note that was done on, on the House side of 10, a maximum of $10 million a year. The program runs for five years. I know that if income taxes go away- [0:33:34] They have that, the fiscal note in their folders too. Yeah. [0:33:38] The, um, so there is an aggregate limit, uh, annually. We did, at the request of some committee members last year on the Senate side, um, rather than have Department of Revenue, they do have to pre-approve the credit, but they don't have to keep a, a list to make sure you only get it once in your lifetime. If you apply for it that year, they approve it if you haven't gotten it. So it is an annual, uh, an annual program, and that way there's no reason for a list. There is a, uh, line 55 also does say, "No person or entity shall create a list of the people who've applied for it." So trying to recognize the, uh, the important nature of our Second Amendment rights. [0:34:16] Additionally, there's a section starting on line 63 which, um, just as a little bit of background, I did look up and see that it, uh, it's right at the beginning of hunting season in October of each year. Uh, there will be a four-day period where we would, um, uh- Eliminate sales tax obligation for the state portion on, uh, uh, for four days at the beginning of the second Friday of October. I'm not sure if that was related to how I grew up with, uh, hunting and deer hunting that begins usually in mid-October. I know there's over 50,000 vehicle deer collisions a year in Georgia, so certainly most people do support hunting and, uh, the ability to do hunting. [0:34:52] This is just a recognition that both firearms for self-defense but also for hunting are, are important. And, and that would also apply to gun safes and other safe storage devices as well as guns and ammo. But, I, I think, um, you know, with, uh, believe the estimate was 150 to 400 million that Georgians spend on deer collisions, uh, a year in their auto insurance premiums, so certainly we, uh, like the idea of adding on a, a recognition that, uh, that hunting is a, has a long heritage in Georgia and is, is a, is also important for our, uh, uh, safety as well. [0:35:26] All right. [0:35:26] So those are the two parts of the bill, sir. [0:35:28] Question of the committee. Any questions? Go ahead, Senator Albers. [0:35:34] Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, great to see you, uh, Chairman. Thank you for the great work you do. Uh, my only concern on, on any more tax credits is, you know, there's a pretty big effort on the Senate side, uh, thanks to, uh, our appropriations chairman to lower and eliminate the income tax. And every time we keep adding one more exemption, we're taking away the benefit of all Georgians in order to reduce that down. Um, how are we gonna rationalize that in the end to be able to do both? [0:35:58] It, it, it... The bill does, obviously that it has a five-year expiration anyway. So as long as we're paying any income taxes, it would be able to be utilized to promote, uh, security and safety and Second Amendment rights as well. But you're, you're absolutely right. When the income tax goes away, all of our income tax, uh, credits will be worthless a- as well. So it is just a temporary effort, um, with, with the direction we're going now, and I certainly fully support that direction as well. [0:36:26] Thank you. [0:36:27] Senator Harbin. [0:36:29] Yeah. Just curious from a standpoint of handling this $300. So where is that credit given? Is that on your income tax return, or how are they, how are they- [0:36:38] It's on your state income tax obligation. [0:36:40] So I will take the course or whatever, and I get a certificate, and I turn that in? [0:36:44] Well, no, you actually, you just apply for the ability to, to, to... You apply for the $300 credit. It's kind of an all or nothing thing, and then you're, you're given that. You really, when you do your return in the following April or whenever, you're only supposed to claim whatever you do have receipts for. Um, either for a firearm safety device or a safe storage device or for a training or some combination of those that is at least $300. And then you can take the $300 off your tax obligation. If you owed 2,300, you could lower that to 3,000- I mean, 2,000, and the, uh, the, the DOR would have your credit on file because you requested it. [0:37:20] I don't have problems re- or, uh, spending the 300. That would be pretty easy in most places. [0:37:24] Yeah, I think you can- [0:37:25] I think so [0:37:25] ... you can go through that pretty quick. I know that we did hear that from some, some... There's w- was a woman who testified on the House side that, that teaches a, it's a, I think it's a pink firearm class that she said she calls it. And, and so she teaches women how to, um, properly and safely utilize and store a, a, a firearm for their, for the safety of themselves and their families. So, um- [0:37:46] All right [0:37:46] ... but those are about $100 to 150 for classes. But that still leaves some room for the following year to get a, uh, safe storage device. [0:37:54] All right. Senator Hodges, did you have a question? No. Well, I'm done. Okay. No. Okay. Any other questions from the committee? They did pass out, I think, exactly this last year if I remember right. [0:38:10] It got on the, it made it to the floor and didn't make it off the list on the floor last year. [0:38:15] Yeah. Yeah, there's 100 and something that in last year, I think. [0:38:17] Yeah, there was a, there was a- [0:38:18] A lot of them [0:38:19] ... considerable. [0:38:20] So at this time, we'll entertain a motion. Motion to pass. Ma- motion to pass from majority leader. Second from- [0:38:30] Second [0:38:30] ... Senator Harbin. Any other discussion from the members? All in favor, uh, raise your hand. All right, looks like it passes unanimously. Okay. Well, any opposed? Did I miss anybody? I don't think so. All right. Um, one... Thank you- [0:38:49] Yes, sir [0:38:49] ... presenting that. Um, one more- [0:38:52] Thank you [0:38:52] ... item is catching up a little bit since we've got the time. We didn't get to, um, 408 data center bill. We're not taking any action on data centers today, but I want to give her, uh, uh, the author of that a little time to talk about it. And then a little bit more information I want to share with you on some of these, uh, numbers to make sure we go in the right direction on it. So the floor is yours, uh, Senator Orrock. [0:39:23] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, committee members. Uh, Senate Bill 408 is very, very simple. It, uh, simply, uh, revises the, uh, the section in the code section 48-8-3, uh, to, uh, repeal this paragraph that, uh, [0:39:44] is set now, I think, to expire in 2032. Uh, and, uh, this would, this would, uh, repeal it on January 1st of 2027 and would hasten the day when these, uh, the, these, uh... If you, and, and, and we got, uh, a good, a good, uh, explanation on the fiscal note for this, uh, to show the impact on revenue that would be realized by repealing, uh, this exemption relative to state sales and use taxes. [0:40:15] All right. And let me, I know we're going to have a question or two, but let me talk about the fiscal note a little bit and try to remind everybody. You look on that fiscal note if you've got it, um, for the LC590253. [0:40:28] Mm-hmm. [0:40:29] There's not a lot of money Until '29, and then maybe you get half the money. And the reason for that is there is another credit, the computer equipment credit, that, um, may have some shifting too already and would be shifted too. So there's not really any savings if this ended today until that credit expired at the, at the end of- [0:40:53] Which is December 31st, yeah, 2028 [0:40:55] ... 2028. [0:40:56] Mm-hmm. [0:40:56] So, so then you'd just have six months in the '29 fif- uh, fiscal year of savings, and then in 2030 you would see the full effect. There's another little piece of paper in your, um, folders. It's kind of got some little, um, marks on it, um, if you could see that. Um, and I guess they've got the, the new ones on top. But if you go, I think it's gonna be the second page of that thing. [0:41:27] You look at, uh, back to 2022. The, uh, computer equipment credit was $77 million for the state and then $65 million for the locals on that sales tax exemption. We're talking about the, the sales tax being exempted on that. If you go down to the high-tech data center equipment, it's $12 million state nine. Um, but it looks to me like probably this has shifted to the other one anyway. I, I'm, I'm certainly hopeful there's not any double-dipping going on there. [0:42:00] But- ... I'm still waiting on some information. I recently requested the Department of Revenue to help clarify some of this. If you go to the front page there and you look at 2027, the computer equipment that was down in, you know, $77 million or so is now $854 million to the state and $724 million local taxes. And if you go to the data center exemption- [0:42:26] Mm-hmm [0:42:26] ... it's $762 and $645, which is when this, either, under either one of the bills, this is when you would start seeing some effect. So I just wanted to m- see if the members understood that and the fact that doing anything on the data centers alone without something done on the other one would just simply shift it, a lot of it, uh, to the other one. [0:42:49] Right. [0:42:50] Does that make sense to everybody? Yeah. Okay. So her bill doesn't address that. Her bill doesn't address that. [0:42:58] No. [0:42:58] Did the other bill? The other bill didn't address it. And when they wrote the bill, they didn't know it and I didn't know it, but I found it out, uh, recently looking over the numbers that it was there and I got it confirmed. We're still gathering that information together. Um, but, you know, we as a committee need to look at what we wanna do on that, I think. There may be some other bills in the next week or so that address it too. We'll wait and see. [0:43:22] Excellent. [0:43:23] All right. Any other... Well, no, you had a... Did you have one, Sen- Go ahead. [0:43:28] I do. Uh, Senator Orrock, can you pull up your bill for a second? [0:43:32] Yeah. The- [0:43:33] On the first page there at the top left it says Senate Bill 408. [0:43:37] That's right. [0:43:39] Can you read the next line to me? [0:43:42] Uh, the authors. [0:43:43] Okay. [0:43:43] Uh, I'm the first, uh, signer. Did you like those, uh- [0:43:48] I'm curious who the rest of them are [0:43:49] ... Senator Dolezal- ... of the 27th, the second signer on this bill, and the Appropriations, uh, Chairman, uh, Senator Tillery of the 19th, uh, followed by Goodman of the 8th and Watson of the 11th and others that don't appear here. [0:44:06] Are you switching parties- ... Senator Orrock? [0:44:10] Uh- [0:44:10] Keeping good company [0:44:10] ... not at all. We're doing a bipartisan bill for the, uh, for the benefit of, uh, Georgia taxpayers. [0:44:17] I'm glad that, um, glad that y'all have had a change of heart on this one, 'cause if I recall correctly, we actually passed a bill like this couple years ago- [0:44:25] That's right [0:44:25] ... and that one was partisan. [0:44:26] That's right. [0:44:27] Um- [0:44:27] You're exactly right. [0:44:28] So I think that- [0:44:29] Well, y- you know- [0:44:29] ... we're hear- we're, we're hearing from our constituents probably on both sides of the aisle on this issue. [0:44:32] Yeah. [0:44:32] Is that accurate? [0:44:33] I, I, well, I would say, you know, we heard from, uh, the, the, uh, trades. Uh, they testified when, uh, uh, uh, the, the, this bill, uh, well, actually it was when the, the rules chairs, chairman's bill, uh, was, uh, heard by this committee in our last meeting. And they, they, they made a, they, they made a case for, uh, jobs, you'll recall. And, and it's true that in that instance, uh, the last time we took a vote on this issue, I voted with the, with the trade unions, but I think that th- there's a compelling case here for, uh, addressing this sooner rather than later. [0:45:13] And I would say that the public knowledge and interest, uh, and activism around data centers, uh, is at a re- uh, at a remarkably different place than it was the last time that we considered this topic. [0:45:24] Are, are you or do you know if Chairman Brass is working on a bill that addresses what Chairman Hufstetler basically discovered here, which is kind of the- [0:45:31] Y- you say- [0:45:31] ... ability to, to shift this away? You, we pass your bill, then it just moves to the computer credit. [0:45:38] Y- excuse me. Did you ask me if I was aware of, a, another bill that's in the- [0:45:42] I'm just asking you, are you, is somebody working... There's two bills essentially, your bill and Chairman Brass's bill. [0:45:46] Uh. [0:45:46] What Chairman Hufstetler's spelling out is- [0:45:49] Yeah [0:45:49] ... uh, due to the, uh, prolific, uh, abundance of credits in our tax code- [0:45:55] Mm-hmm [0:45:56] ... it seems that there's just another code that, uh, another credit that this could easily slide over to. I guess that- [0:46:01] That's right [0:46:01] ... perhaps what the chairman's trying to figure out is, is- [0:46:04] Yeah [0:46:04] ... make sure we don't miss that loophole. [0:46:05] That's right. I, I, and I, I would, I would, uh, yield to the chairman's, uh, judgment on this, uh, uh, uh, that he's gotten very, very involved and, and get, and continues to gather information. [0:46:16] I, I have had discussions with him and with Senator Orrock as recently as this morning- [0:46:21] Mm-hmm [0:46:21] ... about these issues, that we're trying to, to get a handle on it. And, you know, we don't, uh, I don't think we make the computers in Georgia, so I'm not sure what we're incentivizing. But when it gets to- [0:46:32] Last time I, uh, Dale's going- [0:46:33] When it gets to, when it gets to be, you know, you look at the state and local on the fiscal year We'll be going in, if it's take effect, it's, it's right at $3 billion. I mean, it's a, it's a significant amount of money it's grown to, and it, and it requires some serious look by the committee. I think Senator, uh, Harbin was next. [0:46:51] Yes, sir. Question, question, and I, I don't know the answer. With the date set up, does, does this require the equipment to be installed or just purchased? Because I know in some of the codes that I've seen, it says that it has to be installed and in service versus you buy it and stick it in the warehouse. Does this have any provision or do you, do you know the answer to that question, you know, on the installation, uh, versus just purchasing it? [0:47:15] I'll, I'll let the sponsor of the bill address that, but if you want to. [0:47:19] Oh, well, thanks so much. No, I was looking to the chair. [0:47:22] I think you've gotta have something in place- [0:47:24] Who, who has been pulling back the layers on this [0:47:25] ... something, something in place and, you know, and have, have agreements made and that kind of thing. [0:47:29] Okay. [0:47:30] Yeah. [0:47:30] I've just seen in places where, where they bought it, it was put in the warehouse. They had a, an invoice for when it was purchased, but it was not installed yet. [0:47:37] Uh-huh. [0:47:37] Mm-hmm. [0:47:38] And I didn't know whether the code- [0:47:39] That would not, that would not- [0:47:39] It's a good question [0:47:39] ... be affected by this. [0:47:40] That would not be affected from that standpoint. [0:47:42] Mm-mm. [0:47:42] Okay. [0:47:43] All right, and let's see. I believe it's our Majority Leader, Bernard. Thank you. [0:47:47] Yeah, I just wanted to, um, echo what Senator Dolezal said about the change of hearts in here 'cause also in the previous bill we just voted on, I'm pretty sure the minority party voted against, um, tax credits for guns and ammo and other things when we've been in this committee before. So I just want to say thank you for the change of heart and starting to embrace the Second Amendment more often, as much as y'all talk about it. [0:48:10] Well, I've, we've seen some egregious vi- uh, comments coming from this administration, uh, that, uh, that, that don't seem to be very protective of the Second Amendment and what- [0:48:21] Yeah, that's- [0:48:21] You know, I don't know how far we want to go down this rabbit hole, but I'm with you all the way. [0:48:25] Yeah. [0:48:26] Jason. [0:48:26] Senator Orrock, we can, we can go all night 'cause that was befo- befo- [0:48:29] Vote's with us. Don't make me mad. [0:48:31] Well- ... she might change her vote on the floor anyway, so. [0:48:35] All right. [0:48:36] 24 more months. Until the news emerges. [0:48:39] Any other, any other questions by the committee? Um, we will continue to work on this and gather information. Um, I, I think it's better if we have all the information. We could've passed a bill, you know, that, that maybe was meaningless if we'd have just done this straight up. So we're getting the information together. [0:49:01] I appreciate you preparing the bill and the information that you've shared with me. Thank you. [0:49:03] All right. Um, if there's no other comments by anybody, we are adjourned, and you can get on to your next, uh, meetings. [0:49:10] Get on down the line. [0:49:11] They're going till 6:00. [0:49:13] 6:00? [0:49:13] Yeah.