ATLANTA – State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), chair of the House Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee (MARTOC), today announced her plans to introduce legislation that would provide additional accountability and transparency for development authorities across the state. Through this legislation, Rep. Oliver seeks to help citizens and affected governments understand the financial impact of tax incentives and tax rebates offered to private businesses by local development authorities.
“There are hundreds of development authorities across Georgia that are led by unelected board members and give millions of dollars in tax benefits to private entities, yet school systems and cites are not currently allowed by law to object or participate in these financial plans or negotiations,” said Rep. Oliver. “Local revenues are changed by incentives and tax abatements offered by development authorities, and this legislation would create opportunities for local impacted governments to object and participate in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ existing annexation arbitration panels, as well as bond validation procedures in Georgia’s superior courts.”
During the 2022 legislative session, which begins Monday, Jan. 10, Rep. Oliver plans to introduce legislation to allow impacted governments to participate in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ annexation arbitration panel proceedings; this legislation would also require disclosures of tax incentives or abatements that are part of such annexation negotiations. Oliver will also introduce legislation which would authorize all local or state ethics commissions to receive and investigate ethics complaints against local development authority board members.
Rep. Oliver will also continue her work on House Bill 66, which she first introduced during the 2021 legislative session. HB 66 would grant legal standing to impacted governments in superior court bond validation hearings. For more information on HB 66, please click here.
“The concept of tax abatements, that are not defined specifically anywhere in Georgia law, were created decades ago,” added Rep. Oliver. “In many or most cases, the abatements offer valuable benefits and economic growth to communities. However, disputes are currently being argued through Georgia Superior Court actions between school systems, counties and development authorities on who and what impacted government is entitled to know about tax abatements in annexation proceedings or allowed to object to tax abatements in bond validation hearings. Litigation among governments is lengthy and expensive, derails legitimate economic development proposals and offers no lasting solutions. I hope the cities, counties and development authorities will come together around these reforms and help create more transparent and inclusive procedures.”
In August 2021, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an opinion-editorial by Rep. Oliver regarding development authorities, which can be found here.
Representative Mary Margaret Oliver represents the citizens of District 82, which includes portions of DeKalb County. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002 and currently serves as Chairman of MARTOC. She also serves as a member on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Resources, Special Committee on Access to the Civil Justice System, as well as the Governmental Affairs, Juvenile Justice, Judiciary and Science and Technology committees.
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