Now that the Governor has signed legislation into law, I am proud to say that one of my bills that will reduce the bureaucratic weight of government will go into effect. Senate Bill 346, called the “Environmental Policy Act,” was introduced to make the application of state funds more efficient and cost effective. SB 346 passed with broad conservative support in both the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor on April 26, 2016.
The bill targets the mountains of paperwork that pile up between project approval by the voters or local governments and actual shovels in the ground. Georgia law requires each project to comply with six state environmental standards to ensure the project, for example, does not pose serious harm to protected animals or would damage any historically preserved sites. Because of SB 346, if the project meets the requirements of all six tests, does not use federal dollars and costs less than $100 million, then that project does not have to submit an Environmental Effects Report. These reports cost thousands of dollars in consultant fees to prepare and take months to compile before gaining approval on a project that has already verified its compliance with Georgia’s environmental law. I appreciate all of the support from limited government, conservative groups throughout the legislative process who supported this bill and will continue to look for ways to make our state government as efficient as possible.
There were several possible changes to Georgia’s income tax structure that I voted for this session that proposed creative, conservative solutions to reducing the income tax in our state. Senate Resolution 756 offered a potential amendment to the state constitution that would trigger reductions in the income tax if the budget and budget reserves met healthy thresholds. More simply, if Georgia’s economy would continue to grow, bringing in more tax dollars to the state, the state would automatically reduce the income tax rate in upcoming years. Unfortunately, this bill did not pass the House this session.
Another tax restructuring measure I voted for was SB 280, which is really a tax code simplification bill. It proposed that starting in 2017, the state income tax rate would drop from 6.0% to 5.4% across all income levels. Also, all itemized deductions would be eliminated except for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and medical expenses. The caps on these deductions would be raised for both single and joint filers. This system would considerably flatten the tax code in a way that would make tax interactions with the state much simpler. However, it is the hope of many that measures similar to these could be discussed around the capitol again next year to continue to make Georgia the best state in which to live, work and raise a family.
to your business!