--- title: House Ways & Means Committee, March 16, 2026 collection: meetings id: 2026-03-16/house-ways-and-means cite_as: House Ways & Means Committee, March 16, 2026, video https://vimeo.com/1173021138 (machine transcript by Georgia Commons) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16/house-ways-and-means md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16/house-ways-and-means.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16/house-ways-and-means/text source_url: https://vimeo.com/1173021138 date: 2026-03-16 status: machine transcript corpus_version: meetings-2026-10-23-8c15ead0f18d license: Machine transcript and summaries by Georgia Commons from the General Assembly's public video; the video stays on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16/senate-floor.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-16/house-judiciary.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/index.md chamber: House body: House Ways & Means Committee body_url: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/house-ways-and-means.md meeting_kind: committee session: 2025-2026 Regular Session start_time: 2026-03-16T13:00:00-04:00 location: 406 CLOB duration_seconds: 1229.0 video_id: 1173021138 video_title: 3.16.26 Ways and Means agenda_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/agendas/house/Ways and Means%2F3.16.26 Ways Means Committee Meeting Notice.pdf bills_discussed: - SB 566 summaries_model: gpt-6.1-sol transcript_turns: 127 --- # House Ways & Means Committee, March 16, 2026 House Ways & Means Committee; March 16, 2026; 2025-2026 Regular Session. Video, on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/1173021138. Agenda: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/agendas/house/Ways and Means%2F3.16.26 Ways Means Committee Meeting Notice.pdf. > 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. ## Summary written by Georgia Commons Written by gpt-6.1-sol from the transcript below. It is not part of the record. Quote the transcript or the video, not the summary. The committee considered [SB 566](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb566), which the sponsor described as a way to make property assessment notices clearer for taxpayers. Discussion focused on keeping the notice format consistent while identifying the correct local official for homestead exemption applications. The committee approved a do-pass motion by voice vote, with no opposition heard. [HB 275](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb275) and [HB 1116](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1116) were mentioned for comparison but were not separately considered. ## Bills discussed (1) Each account was written by gpt-6.1-sol from the stretch of the transcript it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda. ### SB 566. Ad Valorem Taxation of Property; the acceptance of tax digests in the event of a publication error made by a newspaper; provide [SB 566](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb566) (2025-2026 Regular Session). From [0:15:04](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=904s), turns 87 to 125. The sponsor said the bill would simplify property assessment notices, explaining that the language was drafted to match a clearer sample notice developed with a county chief appraiser. The sponsor described it as largely matching [HB 275](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb275), but without the newspaper-advertising provision and with language recognizing that different local officials accept homestead exemption applications. A witness representing GAAL added that the bill included cleanup language previously included in versions of [HB 1116](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1116). One committee member asked whether the assessment notice remained unchanged from [HB 275](https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb275). The witness said the format was unchanged except for referring to the appropriate taxing official rather than only the tax assessor, so taxpayers in counties where the tax commissioner accepts applications would receive accurate guidance. Another member, citing local-government experience, welcomed efforts to make the notices clearer. The committee approved a do-pass motion on the substitute by voice vote, with no opposition heard and no numerical tally stated. The chair said either the chair or another committee member would carry the bill in the House. ## Transcript (127 turns) [0:02:56](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=176s) Up here where I can do some damage. Nice. [0:03:06](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=186s) This one is mine. I can use one. [0:03:11](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=191s) Sure. [0:03:12](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=192s) So I think I'm gonna give you a check today. [0:03:15](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=195s) So the only thing in this one- [0:03:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=197s) Uh-huh [0:03:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=197s) ... is this one's five sixty-six. [0:03:20](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=200s) Uh-huh. Five sixty-six is that entire package minus the newspaper section and the change for stewards. So in areas where it goes to the tax commissioner- [0:03:32](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=212s) Yeah [0:03:32](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=212s) ... I would look at that section. And thank you for your, your email on that. I knew it's default to the tax commissioner, but in practice, most have delegated, right? [0:03:44](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=224s) A lot of them have. [0:03:45](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=225s) Yeah. I, I think it's the overwhelming authority. I mean, I think it's closer to one fifty than one twenty. [0:03:53](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=233s) Oh, yeah. [0:03:54](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=234s) Yeah. I mean, I think it's basically every county except the metro. And, uh, except for the metro counties and Whitfield. That sounds about right. [0:04:07](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=247s) Now, this is the wrong LC number. [0:04:10](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=250s) I think it's, uh... Well, I'll double-check. How about that? [0:05:19](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=319s) Which way? [0:05:21](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=321s) I can bump it to the top. [0:05:24](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=324s) Thirty-five twenty-eight S? [0:05:25](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=325s) Yep. [0:05:27](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=327s) Yeah. Okay. [0:05:27](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=327s) Do you have it? [0:05:28](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=328s) Yeah, I got it now. [0:05:31](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=331s) And that's, uh, that's fine. So I think this is gonna be pretty smooth sailing since we've just already done this. [0:05:43](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=343s) Don't [0:05:52](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=352s) wanna forget. Make [0:05:58](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=358s) a slide for you. [0:06:01](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=361s) Unless you want- [0:06:02](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=362s) No, I'll slide now. Let's see the change. [0:06:08](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=368s) Thanks, James. I didn't mean to step on you. [0:06:12](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=372s) Well, I can't get my knee back. [0:06:19](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=379s) It's getting there pretty slow the other piece, for sure. [0:06:27](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=387s) Now we can start doing trust falls. [0:06:29](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=389s) Oh, that's not bad. Yeah, okay. [0:06:39](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=399s) So this is the- [0:06:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=400s) Hey, how's it going, Maggie? [0:06:43](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=403s) Good. How are you? [0:06:43](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=403s) You all right? Yeah, thanks. [0:10:03](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=603s) She watches the news. [0:10:04](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=604s) Maybe you wanna tell her the good news. [0:10:06](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=606s) And it's all bad. [0:10:07](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=607s) Well, I'll tell you something. I lost. [0:10:09](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=609s) Yeah. [0:10:10](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=610s) I tried to tell her it Friday. So yesterday, we were over there just about noon. [0:10:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=617s) Yeah. [0:10:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=617s) I was like, "I'm gonna turn TV off." She said, "What?" I said, "You're fixated on this weather." I said, "It ain't gonna be as bad as what they say it is." [0:10:29](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=629s) How you [0:10:43](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=643s) guys doing? [0:10:44](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=644s) Good. [0:10:45](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=645s) Oh, look at you. How you doing? [0:10:47](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=647s) Wanted to- [0:10:47](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=647s) I'm good. You doing okay today? [0:10:48](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=648s) Yeah. Sorry. [0:10:49](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=649s) I appreciate it. [0:10:50](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=650s) Yeah. [0:10:50](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=650s) Yeah. [0:10:51](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=651s) I'm trying to catch up. [0:10:52](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=652s) Oh, it's just a political. [0:10:53](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=653s) That's good. [0:10:54](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=654s) I didn't do those. [0:10:55](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=655s) You did? You did. [0:11:01](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=661s) Yeah. [0:11:01](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=661s) I'm not gonna get into that detail unless they want me to. [0:11:04](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=664s) I did not do something. [0:11:05](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=665s) Same we're over here already. [0:11:06](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=666s) Yes. [0:11:07](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=667s) Mm-hmm. [0:11:07](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=667s) Just say my lines. [0:11:08](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=668s) Two seventy-five. [0:11:09](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=669s) That's the only difference. [0:11:10](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=670s) Two seventy-five. [0:12:16](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=736s) Good. I was posting all this crap. And I was feeling sorry for myself getting out here at eight o'clock last night. [0:12:22](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=742s) I know how you feel. [0:12:23](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=743s) So I decided to stop and work till eleven-thirty. [0:12:26](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=746s) It's a rare day that you're actually working longer than me, so. [0:12:30](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=750s) I may see it. [0:12:31](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=751s) No, it's okay. We used-- You have always worked weekends. You did back when I- [0:13:38](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=818s) We had three days last week. [0:13:39](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=819s) Yeah. [0:13:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=820s) This crossover was twenty-eight and twenty-nine. [0:14:13](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=853s) Senator. [0:14:13](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=853s) Yeah. How you doing, Doctor? [0:14:15](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=855s) How are you? [0:14:16](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=856s) Good. [0:14:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=857s) Good. [0:14:20](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=860s) We've seen you this session, but you're lower. [0:14:22](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=862s) Yeah, I, I don't come over too much, guys. [0:14:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=880s) Members, I, I think the tablets are being handed out. I, I wanna be respectful of Chairman Hustedler's time. I know he has a committee meeting today. He's gonna hear a bunch of House bills. And so, uh, we wanted to, to be expeditious. And y'all may still be in session too, Chairman. But if you wanted to go ahead and start on, uh, SB five sixty-six, it's the only bill on the calendar. And, uh, it, it very closely, uh, resembles, um, Chairman Williamson's two seventy-five that we passed o-out of the House. [0:15:18](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=918s) Right. [0:15:18](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=918s) M-Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours. [0:15:19](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=919s) Appreci-appreciate being here. And yeah, we've got five House bills on today, probably another five tomorrow. We're trying to get through The, the bills over there, though Chairman Blackmon didn't send me as many this year as last year. We, we passed out 31 last year. I don't think we're gonna get to that number, um, this year. Uh, but yeah, House Bill, um, 275 I think is pretty much the same as Senate Bill 566, and I think y'all have got the notice of the Paulding County, let me pull that out, the, the tax notice. [0:15:52](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=952s) Because what we did was, I think that's in your folder, rather than writing a bill, we worked with, uh, James Stokes, the chief appraiser that, that's over the, the counties, he's out of Paulding County, and, um, put together how we wanted it to look like to clean it up for the, the people. And then we wrote the bill to match what we wanted it to look like, sort of a backwards process, but I think it worked out pretty well. The only difference to my knowledge between your 275 and this one is we took out the, um, the newspaper advertisement. [0:16:25](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=985s) That was getting a little complicated and in the weeds. And, um, then we also, uh, there's a few counties where it's not the tax, uh, assessor, I think maybe eight or nine of them, it's the tax commissioner, so we changed that language that it would be, you know, the appropriate authority that would be handling it. Um, I can go through the bill or I can not, you know, depending on the pleasure of the committee. [0:16:51](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1011s) Uh, Dante, did you, did you wanna... Uh, Mr. Chairman, it- is it okay if Dante- [0:16:58](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1018s) Sure [0:16:58](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1018s) ... has a, do you have a comment or two, Dante? I know you've worked, uh- [0:17:01](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1021s) I'd only be a moment [0:17:02](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1022s) ... with this. Sure. I'm assuming ACCG is here in support of and the assessors as well. [0:17:08](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1028s) We are, sir. [0:17:08](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1028s) Thank you. [0:17:10](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1030s) So, uh, [0:17:13](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1033s) uh, good afternoon, Chairman Black and members of the committee. Dante Handel with the Southern Group representing GAAL. Uh, Chairman Hufstetler's explanation was spot on. I think the only other differences between Senate Bill 566 and 275 are other pieces of language that the committee has reviewed but have been in various versions of House Bill 1116 other than that- [0:17:37](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1057s) Cleanup, cleanup, yeah, the cleanup language from 1116. [0:17:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1060s) That, that's correct. [0:17:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1060s) Yeah. [0:17:41](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1061s) Yes, sir. [0:17:41](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1061s) Uh, we, we moved it out of 1116, yeah, from... Um, I have a couple of questions. I think 11 was on first. Is that you, Chairman Williamson? [0:17:49](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1069s) Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, and Senator, thank you for, uh, furthering the House's great work on this bill. Um, and I, just tongue in cheek, uh, wanna commend, uh, James Stokes and, uh, and, uh, his colleagues for cleaning up this assessment notice. And my simple question is, there's, as I understand it, there's no change in the actual assessment notice that passed under 275. Is that correct? [0:18:15](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1095s) Well, the, the only difference is what Chairman Hufstetler mentioned, which is in those counties where a homestead application, a homestead exemption application is accepted by a tax commissioner instead of the tax assessor, it now reads as appropriate taxing official as opposed to only listing the tax assessor. So it's just trying to improve clarity for the taxpayers. [0:18:35](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1115s) Right, but, but the format of the, for as far as, uh, trans- of, of taxpayer transparency and ease of understanding for the, um, for the taxpayer, the format's the same, correct? [0:18:46](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1126s) Yes, sir, Representative Williamson. That, that's correct. No other changes. [0:18:49](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1129s) If we've got time, Mr. Chairman, uh, Mr. Chairman, I'd be, I'd like to make a motion to do pass. [0:18:54](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1134s) Well, w- almost there. We, uh, one mo- other question. Is that Representative Cannon? [0:19:00](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1140s) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. More just a comment, but, uh, having my experience with local government, this is an ongoing issue. Any attempt for clarity is appreciated, and I appreciate Chairman Williamson and Senator Hufstetler, Chairman Hufstetler for this effort. Thank you very much. [0:19:12](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1152s) All right, I don't see any more questions. Chairman Williamson, uh, I believe your motion is in order. [0:19:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1157s) Yep. [0:19:17](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1157s) We have a motion and a second, uh, on SB 566 LC443528S. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor please signify by stating aye. [0:19:30](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1170s) Aye. [0:19:30](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1170s) Aye. [0:19:30](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1170s) Aye. [0:19:30](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1170s) Those opposed like same. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. [0:19:33](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1173s) Thank you, and I, I assume you'll be willing to carry the bill for us. [0:19:37](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1177s) Uh, I or Chairman Williamson, one will, will do that. [0:19:39](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1179s) Okay. [0:19:39](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1179s) Yes, sir. We'll- [0:19:40](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1180s) Either, either one that you'd like to have doing that. And I did want to add, as a eight-year county commissioner, I dealt with this issue, too, so I, I know the issues you're talking about. And Chairman Blackmon and I worked all weekend on a property tax bill. I think we're coming really close to an agreement for a good bill. [0:19:57](https://vimeo.com/1173021138#t=1197s) Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for, uh, working with us. We stand adjourned.