Senate Finance Committee, June 22, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1202541987 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1202541987#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-06-22/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. [0:14:29] Finance Committee to order. We have a quorum. Um, I will ask, um, Senator Hodges down there on the end if he'd do us an invocation. Is that number two? [0:14:40] Three. [0:14:41] Three. [0:14:43] Would you pray with me, please? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for all the very many blessings you have bestowed upon us, Lord, uh, particularly the opportunity to be here in our beautiful capital city and to attend to the business of the people of the state of Georgia. Please help us, lead us, guide us. Give us your guidance, your wisdom to help us to do the right things. And all these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen. [0:15:08] Amen. [0:15:09] Amen. All right, the first order of business, um, not sure if we have to or not, but we will anyway, is we need to approve some rules since this isn't the regular session. So could there be a motion to- [0:15:20] Move we pass [0:15:21] ... pass the rules same as- [0:15:22] Second [0:15:23] ... as we've been operating under for 2026. Um, so we've got a motion to second. All in favor of adopting the same rules say aye. [0:15:32] Aye. [0:15:33] Aye. [0:15:33] All right. And then we have one bill on the floor today. Um, Representative, uh, Gambill from my district apparently is not here. [0:15:44] Mm. [0:15:44] Mm. [0:15:46] I know. And I think he's, he's decided that, that it would have better odds if, uh, Senator Hatchett presented it for him. So if you wanna come up and- [0:15:56] That's a good point [0:15:57] ... ei- either, whichever one you want. [0:15:58] I'll do it right here. [0:16:01] Uh, is that number one? [0:16:05] Where is the mic? [0:16:05] Podium mic. There it is. Okay. Yeah, it was already on. Okay, go ahead. [0:16:09] All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Uh, this I bring before you is H.R.3EX. This ratifies the governor's temporary suspension of the collection of motor fuels, motor fuel and diesel tax. Um, he suspended the tax as we've done multiple times over the past few years. We have to ratify that. Um, pretty simple bill. Would be happy to answer any questions, but we'll just ask for your favorable consideration. [0:16:37] All right. Any questions? I'll entertain a motion. [0:16:40] Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to make a, a question and a motion if I could, but a question first. I th- can I do a question first, Billy? [0:16:46] You would. [0:16:47] Okay. Thank you. [0:16:47] Thank you for the question. I'd be glad to reiterate. [0:16:50] No, B- Billy, let, let, let... He's got the floor right now. [0:16:54] He paid, he paid. He paid for it. [0:16:57] Question, uh, for Leader Hatchett, uh, isn't it true that, uh, by, uh, the governor suspending the gas tax, uh, it made a huge difference in Georgia families who needed to fill up, uh, and get to work and take care of their kids during that critical time when gas prices spiked? [0:17:14] It saved Georgians over $100 million, and that's on top of $360 million that was saved at the previous 60-day suspension. So this is huge, and if we don't ratify this, it will have, uh, very, uh, big impacts across the state. [0:17:28] And Senator, isn't it true that we also, uh, continue to lower the income tax, which is helping all those hardworking Georgians too, and it's making a big difference in their pockets as well? [0:17:37] That's true. [0:17:37] And, and lastly, uh, isn't it true that, uh, if our friends in the other party would allow us to give the people the right to vote, simply the right to vote, they could lower their property taxes and make a meaningful difference for them to both hold onto the American Dream, as well as give the new homeowners an opportunity to fulfill the American Dream, because that difference could mean the difference of buying a house and not. [0:17:58] I know we had a lot of discussions about that on Saturday. Luckily, this has nothing to do with that, and this is a very easy bill that I think everyone should vote on. I would be shocked if they opposed this, because this is direct savings to Georgians, but I, I do agree with that sentiment, and I am hoping that, um, our friends on the minority party will not, uh, give us any pushback on s- ratifying the gas tax. [0:18:24] Thank you. At the proper time. [0:18:26] All right. Senator Hickman, you're up now. [0:18:29] No, thank you, sir. I, I was just gonna reiterate what Senator Albers said, but I, but I do think it was like 180 million than, rather than 100 mil. It's like you said, it's a huge savings to Georgians. [0:18:41] It is. [0:18:41] Yeah, and thank you. [0:18:42] The last two weeks. I think it's, it's about 200 million a month, isn't it? So it's, it's about 100 million for the two-week period. [0:18:51] 100 million times five months. [0:18:52] Yeah, a month, but this was just a two-week- [0:18:54] Yeah [0:18:54] ... suspension. That's, that's the difference in the numbers. Okay, um, go ahead. What, what number are you here? [0:19:02] I'm 83 last. [0:19:02] All right. Representative Halpern. [0:19:05] Thank you so much. Um, I think I too was really excited to see us, um, suspend the gas tax as, uh, Georgians are really experiencing lots of additional costs that they're having to cover out of their wallets and pocketbooks. Isn't it true that inflation has soared to 4% in May, and that our energy prices have surged 23.5% year over year as of May, largely due to the war with Iran that we didn't expect to be in? [0:19:43] And now gas prices are nearing fi- nationally about $5 a gallon, so the 33 cents per gallon that Georgians were able to save did make a big difference to them. [0:19:55] I'll agree that the, this was a big difference maker for Georgians, which is why we need to make sure we ratify it. [0:20:03] Um, and one last, and I was then surprised, and of course this is a bill that's engrossed, so there's not an opportunity to try to amend it to extend that gas tax again. Um, but because of that engrossment, I think we can't even have the conversation about whether or not we should continue to have this in place while we anticipate gas prices coming down. [0:20:31] Well, I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. At any time you could drop a bill to, uh- [0:20:36] Oh [0:20:36] ... to suspend the gas tax again. But also, you know, Governor Kemp, I believe, has suspended it seven or eight times. [0:20:42] Yes, he has. [0:20:43] And I think if, if our budget allows and it's, it's something that we need, he could do that again. And then if he does, we would have to ratify it, just like we're doing now. So in supporting him suspending the gas tax, we need to pass this and ratify it so that we save Georgians a lot of money. [0:20:58] Yeah. Thank you. [0:20:59] Move to pass. [0:21:01] All right, we've got a motion from Senator Albers to pass. [0:21:04] Second. [0:21:05] A second from Senator Anderson. Any discussion? If not, all in favor, raise your hand. All right. Any opposed? None opposed. Passes unanimously. And, um, um, I imagine that you are the Senate sponsor for this bill of Representative Gambill, correct? [0:21:22] Yes, Mr. Chairman. [0:21:22] All right. Seeing no other business- [0:21:25] Mr. Chairman, I have business. [0:21:27] Sure. [0:21:28] Uh, Mr. Chairman, I, I, I th- last session we made it abundantly clear that Joe should have shaved off his mustache, and for a while we saw it gone. But if we have to pass yet another resolution to do so, I would like by, uh, acclimation that this committee, uh, forcefully, uh, state a position of how important it is to remove that hideous mustache. [0:21:49] Well, there's some other mustaches at the table that might feel differently. [0:21:54] But, but- But those are good. That one, not so much. [0:21:58] Special mustache. [0:21:59] A special session mustache? All right. All right. Well, then I, I withdraw. [0:22:04] All right, no other business. We will adjourn this meeting of the Senate Finance Committee. [0:22:08] Thank you.