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House Rules Committee

House Rules Committee, February 26, 2026

2025-2026 Regular Session · 341 CAP · 32 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.

Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the summaries Georgia Commons wrote, under headings that name them, then the whole transcript with its times. View raw is the transcript alone.

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

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 heard presentations on HB 1178, concerning budget oversight and audits, HB 1415, concerning Stone Mountain Memorial Association property, and HB 664, concerning property owners’ association rules. No further action on those three bills was shown. After a contested voice vote, the committee returned HB 490 to Economic Development and Tourism. The committee also placed HB 1075, HB 1097, HB 1107, HB 1131 and HB 1278 on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules, and SB 59 under structured rules.

Bills discussed (10)

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.

HB 1178. Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight Committee of the House of Representatives; establish

From 0:24:50 · turns 5 to 17

The sponsor said HB 1178 would put the House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee back into state law and give the House speaker authority to order audits of anything receiving state funding. The sponsor said the bill had passed its committee unanimously. Asked who would conduct audits, the sponsor said the speaker could choose an outside party and that lawmakers had discussed the Department of Audits and Accounts but did not want to place that much pressure on it. A second member asked whether the committee could investigate agencies on behalf of the House. The sponsor answered that its reach would include anything state funding touches. No further action was shown.

HB 1415. Stone Mountain Memorial Association; hold all real property obtained before January 1, 1971, in trust; require

From 0:26:35 · turns 19 to 30

A presenter speaking on behalf of the governor said HB 1415 would preserve Stone Mountain Park’s original boundaries while allowing the Stone Mountain Memorial Association flexibility to manage properties outside that footprint. The presenter said property acquisitions and disposals would have to follow state procedures, and the association would have to comply with state property inventory and filing requirements. A committee member asked whether the bill affected Jekyll Island or other state conservation properties. The presenter said it did not affect Jekyll Island and explained that the Jekyll Island language had been restored during code revisions. No further action was shown.

HB 664. Property owners' associations; development and affirmative election; provisions

From 0:28:21 · turns 32 to 36

The sponsor said HB 664 would address older subdivisions whose covenants contain no process for amendments. The sponsor cited Huntcliff in Sandy Springs, saying it was incorporated around 1966 and had that problem. The sponsor said the bill would allow homeowners to join the Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act with approval from at least 75% of all homeowners, then amend their covenants through another vote of at least 75%. No questions or further action were shown.

HB 490. Crimes and offenses; required human trafficking training program for hotels; provide

From 0:29:41 · turns 37 to 45

The chair requested a motion to return HB 490 to the Economic Development and Tourism Committee. After a motion and second, an objection prompted a voice vote. Both support and opposition were heard, and the chair declared that the motion passed. The bill’s substance was not discussed.

HB 1075. Sexual offenses; modify penalty for offenders previously convicted of the offense of trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude

From 0:30:11 · turns 46 to 53 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1653

The committee placed HB 1075 on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules after a motion and second. The chair asked for objections, none were heard, and the chair announced its placement. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

HB 1097. Mental health; criminal background, license status, and registry checks for owners, applicants, and employees of certain mental health facilities; provide

From 0:30:46 · turns 53 to 56 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1653

The committee placed HB 1097 on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules after a motion and second. No opposition was heard when the chair asked. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

HB 1107. Excellent Teacher Preparation Act; enact

From 0:30:58 · turns 56 to 59 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1654

The committee placed HB 1107 on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules after a motion and second. No opposition was heard when the chair asked. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

HB 1131. Criminal procedure; personal service of process for notice of a warrant application hearing; provide

From 0:31:07 · turns 59 to 62 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1654

After a motion and second, the chair announced that HB 1131 was placed on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

HB 1278. Professions and businesses; improve efficiencies in issuance of permits for dentists to administer conscious sedation and general anesthesia

From 0:31:15 · turns 63 to 66 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1654

The committee placed HB 1278 on the day’s supplemental calendar under modified structured rules after a motion and second. No objection was heard when the chair asked. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

SB 59. Bona Fide Conservation Use Property; a limitation on leased property; remove

From 0:31:28 · turns 66 to 69 · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1654

The committee placed SB 59 on the day’s supplemental calendar under structured rules after a motion and second. No objection was heard when the chair asked. There was no discussion of the bill’s substance.

Official records of this meeting

Transcript

71 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.

  1. 0:24:12

    Good afternoon, everybody.

  2. 0:24:16

    Hope you all had a nice lunch.

  3. 0:24:20

    Thank you for coming today. Uh, we're gonna set us a supplemental calendar for today and to accommodate a couple of our members here, uh, they're here. Uh, Representative Horner.

  4. 0:24:38

    Thank you, Chairman, for-

  5. 0:24:39

    This, this bill is on your yellow sheet, and it's in the book.

  6. 0:24:44

    Thank you, Chairman, for letting me do this today. Um, it is on your yellow sheet, page four, House Bill 1178. And I'm working off LC number 59-0374S. And what this does, it's a simple bill. All it does is put back into law the House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee. It's word for word, except we added a few things. The, um, thing we added was giving the s- uh, the Speaker of the House the power to audit anything the state funding touches.

  7. 0:25:14

    So that's what this bill does. It puts it back into statute. There's currently another, um, uh, committee that is under statute, which is, um, Appropriations, and this just puts it back into law since 2008. Thank you, Chairman.

  8. 0:25:30

    Happy days.

  9. 0:25:31

    Happy days. And it did pass unanimously in the committee.

  10. 0:25:33

    Okay, we got a question. Chair, please.

  11. 0:25:36

    Chairman, to the author of the bill, thank you for bringing this measure, but what department, uh, does this bill s- specifically, uh, authorize any given department, Department of Audits to audit? Uh, who, who's the auditing entity?

  12. 0:25:47

    It can be an outside agency. Um, we did discuss, uh, DOAA, but they didn't wanna put that much pressure on them. So it's up to the speaker's discretion, but it could be an outside party.

  13. 0:25:58

    Okay. Representative Hugley.

  14. 0:26:00

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So would this, um, committee have the authority of the House of Representatives go out and investigate any agency on our behalf?

  15. 0:26:11

    Correct, any... Yes, ma- uh, yes, Ms. Leader, um, anything that state funding touches.

  16. 0:26:16

    Thank you.

  17. 0:26:18

    Okay. No other questions. Thank you.

  18. 0:26:20

    Thank you, Chairman.

  19. 0:26:22

    Floor Leader Seabaugh.

  20. 0:26:27

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, I bring to you on behalf of the Governor, House Bill 1415, LC 65-0069-EC, located on page seven of the yellow sheet.

  21. 0:26:51

    1415. This bill, this bill preserves the original boundaries of Stone Mountain Park as it was originally intended, and provides Stone Mountain Memorial Association the flexibility re- to responsibly manage the non-core properties located outside of the original park footprint. It also requires that any acquisition or disposal of real property by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association comply with procedures outlined in Georgia Code. And finally, it requires full compliance with state inventory and filing requirements to help ensure a complete inventory of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association-owned property.

  22. 0:27:31

    Okay. Whip Park has a question for you.

  23. 0:27:35

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, and, and as I'm reviewing this, this is only related to Stone Mountain. It explicitly mentions that that would not apply to Jekyll Island. Can you confirm that this doesn't apply to any other state properties that may be used for conservation purposes?

  24. 0:27:48

    Yes, this, this doesn't affect Jekyll Island, but in the, when we revised the code, we had to add that language back in there.

  25. 0:27:55

    Thanks.

  26. 0:27:55

    That doesn't have really anything to do with Jekyll Island.

  27. 0:27:58

    Thank you, sir.

  28. 0:27:58

    Yes, sir.

  29. 0:28:03

    Okay, don't, don't see any other, uh, questions.

  30. 0:28:07

    Okay.

  31. 0:28:17

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  32. 0:28:18

    Representative Cheokas.

  33. 0:28:18

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I bring to you House Bill 664, which is actually on the second page of the yellow sheet. It's about halfway down. Um, this bill was left over from last year. Um, I have one of the, probably the largest and one of the oldest subdivisions in all of Sandy Springs. It's called Huntcliff, and it is in my district. And they have, they were originally incorporated in, like, 1966, so they had covenants and restrictions that never had a provision for them to be able to amend the covenants and restrictions.

  34. 0:28:53

    So this bill would just allow them to, to opt in to the bill that's referenced here, um, at the bottom of the first page of the bill, 44-3-235, which is the Georgia Property Owners Associa- Association Act of 1994. This would allow them to opt in to that act with a 75% more, um, or more vote by all the homeowners so that then they could amend their covenants by another vote of 75% or more. So that is the bill, Mr.

  35. 0:29:24

    Chairman.

  36. 0:29:25

    Okay. Don't see any questions. Thank you.

  37. 0:29:27

    Thank you so much.

  38. 0:29:30

    Okay, let's take care of a little housekeeping business here before we set a calendar. Do I hear a motion that we recommit to Economic Development and Tourism House Bill 490?

  39. 0:29:42

    Move.

  40. 0:29:43

    Okay, we have a motion and a second that we recommit 490. Any objections?

  41. 0:29:49

    Yes.

  42. 0:29:49

    We have an objection. Okay. All those in favor of recommit say aye.

  43. 0:29:54

    Aye.

  44. 0:29:55

    All those opposed, no.

  45. 0:29:58

    No.

  46. 0:29:58

    Ayes have it. It's back in Economic Development. Okay, let's set a, uh, supplemental calendar for today under modified structure.

  47. 0:30:11

    House Bill 1075.

  48. 0:30:14

    Move.

  49. 0:30:15

    Have a move and second.

  50. 0:30:22

    It should be on your, it's on the calendar.

  51. 0:30:29

    So you gotta move it as modified.

  52. 0:30:30

    Yes.

  53. 0:30:30

    Yeah, modified structure. Yeah.

  54. 0:30:40

    Okay. Is there any objection? Okay, it's on. House Bill 1097.

  55. 0:30:50

    Move.

  56. 0:30:51

    Second.

  57. 0:30:52

    Move and second. Any opposition? It's on. House Bill 1107.

  58. 0:31:00

    Move.

  59. 0:31:00

    Second.

  60. 0:31:02

    Move and second. Any opposition? It's on. House Bill 1131.

  61. 0:31:10

    Move.

  62. 0:31:10

    Second.

  63. 0:31:11

    Move and second. It's on.

  64. 0:31:15

    House Bill 1278.

  65. 0:31:18

    Move.

  66. 0:31:18

    Second.

  67. 0:31:19

    Move and second. Any objection? It's on. Okay, under structured, structured. Senate Bill 59.

  68. 0:31:31

    Move.

  69. 0:31:32

    Second.

  70. 0:31:32

    Have a move and a second. Any objection? It's on.

  71. 0:31:43

    Thank you very much. I think we're due back in the chamber at 1:30. Thank you.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-26/house-rules.md · https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp