LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW S PR I N G I S S U E 2017
WHAT DOES THE 2017 SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOLD IN STORE FOR THE REALTORS®
?
At press time, the 2017 Session of the General Assembly has yet to begin, but through discussions and preparatory work, we have a reasonable assessment of the issues to be addressed once that second Monday in January arrives. Listed below are a few of those issues.
BLIGHTED PROPERTIES Following the Kelo vs. New London decision of 2005,
many states updated their eminent domain statutes to ad- dress the potential fallout from that decision. Fortunately, Georgia was at the forefront of that effort. However, even good efforts can sometimes have adverse consequences. Georgia’s eminent domain law was designed to prevent a local government from taking private from one private owner and giving it to another. Under current law, Georgia has a very high threshold for
deeming a property blighted. If that threshold is met and the local government successfully takes the property, it must hold the property for a period of 20 years. During that time it can only be used for a “public use” by that local govern- ment. It is that latter provision— which was intended to be a safeguard against a Kelo-like situation — that has unin- tentionally caused local governments to not properly use eminent domain in blight situations. In 2017, GAR hopes to see the statute amended to main-
tain the high threshold, but to allow for appropriate rem- edy to the blight. For example, if the house next door fell into blight, it could be cleaned up and put on the mar- ket rather than being a government property for 20 years.
STREAM BUFFERS In 2016, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled on Georgia’s
stream buffer statute. In its ruling, the Court determined that since the statute was specifi c to “wrested vegetation” in determining the buffer, the buffer could only exist from the point of wrested vegetation. The problem is that Georgia has such a vast array of geography, not all of its waterways have wrested vegetation. The ruling has basically left confusion on the issue. Since confusion in the law is never a good thing, the statute will likely be amended in the coming session. In the discussions we have had up to this point, the legislation will likely establish clear guidelines to redefi ne the manner in which stream buffers were calculated prior to the ruling by providing consistent guidelines that can be applied to all of Georgia’s streams and waterways.
KEEPING TRACK
While these are only two of the many issues that will arise in the 40 days following the second Monday of January, you can rest assured that your team of advocates at the Capitol, along with the GAR State & Local Government Affairs Com- mittee, will be working hard to protect private property rights
on your behalf. You can keep up with the action by visiting
WWW.GARADVOCACY.COM throughout the Session and read- ing our weekly updates, or by attending a meeting of the State & Local Government Affairs Committee (contact the GAR offi ce for meeting dates).
RANDY CLEMENTS IS THE 2017 CHAIR OF GAR’S STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE.
The General Assembly
www.garealtor.com
GEORGIA REALTOR®
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