ATLANTA – State Representative John Carson (R-Marietta) commented today on the General Assembly’s passage of House Bill 1089, which was overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate yesterday after previously passing the state House by a vote of 150 – 18.
“I am pleased that my colleagues in the House and Senate showed overwhelming bi-partisan support for this measure,” said Rep. Carson. “This legislation repeals an unconstitutional population law enacted in 1985. In addition, this Code section is unnecessary as the two affected counties already choose to perform these procedures in zoning proposal reviews. We need to do more to rid our state of onerous, job-killing regulations.”
Introduced by Rep. Carson, HB 1089 is a de-regulation bill that repeals a population act currently affecting only Fulton and DeKalb counties with additional, unnecessary zoning proposal review procedures. Supported by Cobb and Gwinnett county governments, and agreed to by Fulton and DeKalb, this bill completely removes this regulation from the Georgia state code. The passage of HB 1089 marks Rep. Carson as one of only a few representatives to successfully shepherd legislation through the General Assembly in their very first year as a state legislator.
Although this regulation is a population act and is therefore unconstitutional, such acts have nevertheless been grandfathered into the state Code. As a result, this population act could have begun to apply to Cobb and Gwinnett counties due to their population growth in the 2010 census. According to Cobb county government officials, this code section could have cost Cobb taxpayers an additional $100,000 – $300,000 in additional, unnecessary studies for re-zonings. However, Rep. Carson prevented this from happening by introducing HB 1089, which finally eliminates this population act and ends any possible effects it may have once and for all.
For more information on HB 1089, please click here.
Representative John Carson represents the citizens of District 43, which includes portions of northeastern Cobb County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2011, and currently serves on the Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications, Insurance, and Intragovernmental Coordination committees.
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