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From tenants’ rights to truck weights, how lobbyists in Georgia work for their cause
Last year, lobbyists in Georgia reported spending nearly a million dollars on hospitality and gifts for lawmakers, agency heads and other state leaders.
During the legislative session, lobbyists are omnipresent in the hallways and hearing rooms of the Capitol, sometimes testifying, sometimes listening and taking notes, and always looking to make connections with people who can influence the outcome of a bill.
Lobbying is a long-lived practice in state and federal politics, dating back to the founding days of America when people and groups advocating for their particular business and political interests did what they could to influence the first members of Congress. Now, as then, the main job of a lobbyist is to educate, inform and, hopefully, persuade government leaders about the issues and concerns of the special interest groups who hire them.
Georgia defines lobbyists broadly as anyone who works to promote the passage or opposition of a bill, ordinance or rule, or to help a vendor secure a contract. Those who get paid at least $250 a year or spend at least $1,000 on public officials in the effort are required to register as lobbyists with the state ethics commission. More than a thousand Georgia lobbyists representing 4,500 groups or associations did so last year.
A decade ago, after years of lavish and sometimes ethically dubious spending by lobbyists on Georgia lawmakers and executive branch officials, the Legislature set limits on lobbyist spending, and enacted strict reporting requirements.
Georgia law does not require lobbyists to report on their own compensation, though the ethics commission does ask lobbyist applicants if the organization they’re working for has agreed to pay them $10,000 or more. Other states, such as Indiana and Nebraska, mandate more extensive compensation reporting.
“There still needs to be better oversight on compensation of and spending by lobbyists in Georgia,” said Aunna Dennis, the executive director (and registered lobbyist) of Common Cause - Georgia, a nonprofit government watchdog organization.
“Nobody ever says they want to grow up to be a lobbyist,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. “But the state legislators, most of them will tell you they could not function without lobbyists.”
He noted that Georgia’s part-time legislators don’t have the staff and resources they need to do research or to get up to speed quickly on a variety of issues. “So if legislators are going to be casting informed votes on many, many items beyond their own profession or what piques their interest,” Bullock said, “they’re going to turn to the people around them who do have a degree of expertise, and that’s going to be the lobbyists, or it’s going to be who the lobbyist works for.”
State Affairs talked to three veteran lobbyists who represent a range of clients, business and political interests in Georgia.
The corporate contract lobbyist
Arthur “Skin” Edge IV is a partner at GeorgiaLink Public Affairs Group, representing a roster of 70 clients that include CVS, Koch Industries, Georgia Power, Southern Gas Company, UPS, Warner Media, the Georgia Hospital Association and other groups representing the health care, automotive and beer wholesaler industries.
The firm’s five lobbyists include three former state legislators, including Edge, who served in the state Senate from 1986 to 1996, and was the Republican minority leader for his last four years.
Edge said having legislative experience “really gives you a very deep and good understanding of the process and how it works. I have found when I’m talking to legislators about a particular issue, they know that I’ve been sitting at the desk like they are, and have had to weigh the pros and cons, hear the arguments on either side, and make a decision. And hopefully we can give them the total picture, and then convince them that our arguments are better and our side of the issue is the way to go.”
Last session, Edge and GeorgiaLink represented the Georgia Forestry Association and its effort to pass the hotly contested truck weights bill, which increased the weight limit for trucks on state highways. The debate pit logging, farming and trucking groups seeking to save costs on hauling against city and county governments and the Department of Transportation (DOT), which warned that heavier trucks would cause more damage to already compromised roads and bridges across the state, and possibly cause more crashes due to increased stopping distance.
“That was a very tough issue,” said Edge. “We worked hard on both the House and Senate side, and had to lobby the executive branch as well, to get everybody on board with this.”
Edge said he and his colleague, Jay Roberts, former director of planning at DOT, had regular meetings with Gov. Brian Kemp’s chief of staff and team throughout the session, and that Roberts, “considered a subject matter expert given his experience at DOT,” met fairly frequently with DOT officials, “talking to them, hearing their concerns, just trying to find some middle ground that everyone could live with.”
GeorgiaLink’s PAC donated $16,500 to Kemp’s reelection campaign in 2022.
GeorgiaLink lobbyists also met with key legislators, including those serving on the transportation committees in each chamber. And the firm sponsored several breakfasts and luncheons with legislative groups, such as the rural caucus, the women’s caucus, and the Black caucus.
“We were trying to cover as many people as we could, on a bipartisan basis,” said Edge. “It gives you an opportunity to get in front of a large number of people very quickly. You get to talk about the issue, answer some questions. It usually doesn’t last very long, but it does get you in front of them. The legislator’s schedule is jam-packed – they’re in session, and then they’re running to committee meetings. So they’ve got to find a little time to grab a bite to eat. If we get the opportunity to sponsor a meal and have a word with them, certainly we like to do that.”
GeorgiaLink spent $12,400 on such meals for groups of legislators during the 2023 session, and $15,376 overall on hospitality for legislators through June of this year. Georgia law puts a $75 cap on spending on individual legislators per lobbyist per event, but does not limit what lobbyists can spend at group gatherings.
On the last day of the session, the Legislature voted to pass an amended bill that increased truck weight limits for two years, a compromise that will allow lawmakers and DOT to take a longer look at ways to address and fund needed road and transportation improvements.
top 10 associations or lobbying firms
Here are the top 10 associations or lobbying firms whose interests lobbyists represented and the amounts they reported spending on individual lawmakers last year:
- Georgia Chamber of Commerce – $28,233
- Georgia Automobile Dealers Association – $24,893
- Georgia Beer Wholesalers Association – $15,976
- Metro Atlanta Chamber – $11,882
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Association – $9,923
- Georgia Bankers Association – $9,591
- Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals – $9,096
- Medical Association of Georgia – $8,302
- Georgia Food Industry Association – $7,580
- Cornerstone Government Affairs – $7,370
The in-house lobbyist
Chris Clark is president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and a registered lobbyist. For the past 13 years he has led the chamber’s work to promote economic development around the state and to expand opportunities for small businesses, which make up 95% of the chamber’s membership.
He’s also a key member of the Government Affairs Council (GAC), a group of 450 corporate, contract and nonprofit lobbyists who are all members of the Chamber and work closely with legislators and government officials throughout the year to develop legislation and make policy recommendations.
Clark said the Georgia Chamber has been advocating for business interests with city councils, county commissions, the Georgia General Assembly and Congress since its founding in Savannah in 1915.
“Lobbying is absolutely critical for our members,” he said. “The lobbying community plays a vital role in being able to move legislation through and to educate legislators, whether they represent a nonprofit or a university, a business entity or association, or my organization.”
Clark said the Chamber currently has three areas of legislative focus: infrastructure, which includes roads and bridges, the ports, the electric grid, and health care; competitiveness, which concerns tax policies, tort policies and innovation policies; and workforce development, which includes the K-12 school system and state colleges and technical schools.
Over the past year, Clark and his chief lobbyist David Raynor have made regular appearances at numerous House and Senate committee meetings, study committee hearings, and policy conferences, presenting on topics ranging from the electrification of transportation to occupational licensing reform to providing more opportunities in state contracting for minority- and veteran-owned businesses. The Chamber also convened a number of gatherings around the state to get lawmakers, state leaders and business people together to discuss issues on its agenda.
Last month, the Chamber spent $21,000 on hotel accommodations and food for 26 legislators, and for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King to attend its annual Government Affairs Conference, held at the tony King and Prince resort on St. Simons Island. Through June of this year, the Chamber had spent $26,000 on hospitality for state officials in 2023. The Georgia Chamber topped the State Affairs list of lobbying firms spending the most on individual legislators in 2022.
“Our approach to big policy issues is to deliver data-driven, thoroughly researched policy recommendations or positions based on input from a diverse variety of stakeholders,” said Clark.
One issue the Chamber pursued during the last session was development of more affordable housing. It supported two bills aimed at increasing single-family housing stock, HB 514 and HB 517, legislation that grew out of a House study group on access to housing led by Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, that Clark and his team participated in throughout 2022.
HB 514 would have prevented local governments from extending moratoriums on new housing construction. HB 517 sought to relax local regulations on building design, from the color of a home’s exterior to the style of porches to the amount of vinyl siding.
top 10 associations, lobbying firms or companies
And these are the top 10 associations, lobbying firms or companies on whose behalf lobbyists lobbied and the amounts that lobbyists reported spending on all lawmakers, both individually and as part of a group of legislators:
- Savannah Chamber of Commerce – $77,307
- Georgia Automobile Dealers Association – $40,587
- Georgia Chamber of Commerce – $30,942
- Georgia Beverage Association – $27,431
- Taylor English Decisions LLC – $27,019
- Metro Atlanta Chamber – $24,980
- Georgia Bankers Association –$22,883
- GeorgiaLink Public Affairs - $22,666
- Georgia Transportation Alliance – $22,501
- Cornerstone Government Affairs – $19,513
The Chamber assembled a bipartisan coalition of housing advocates who came together during the session to support the bills, which ultimately did not pass. County and municipal associations protested that the laws would lead to cheap and shoddy housing. Clark said the Georgia Chamber and the coalition partners will take another run at affordable housing legislation next year.
The public interest lobbyist
Elizabeth Appley is a public interest lawyer who’s been practicing for 45 years, and working as a lobbyist in Georgia for 30 years, advocating for reproductive freedom, rights of people with disabilities, and a variety of issues impacting women, including domestic violence. She currently represents seven nonprofit clients.
Appley files her required lobbyist report each month, listing her clients and her expenditures on public officials. For all of 2022 and 2023 so far, she has reported spending zero dollars on the legislators and state officials she meets with regularly.
Asked why, she replied, “Well, as an attorney, I focus on the facts and the law. I do my best to build relationships with legislators based on information, my credibility, my knowledge of the process, my integrity and fairness, my respect for them and for the process. And the resources are just not available to wine and dine them.”
Appley said what her nonprofit clients can afford is primarily the work she does leading up to and including the legislative session. “They don’t have the resources to contract with me year-round, even though it’s a year-round job for me.”
She said that during the session, the work is intense, and she routinely works long hours, until two or three in the morning. She usually meets with legislators in their offices, or in the hallways of the Capitol. “And I’m constantly thinking, ‘What else can I do to increase the odds of strengthening this policy, passing this bill, developing an amendment that will, you know, provide a way forward.’ It’s very demanding work. And when I’m not doing it, I really prioritize my family time. I work like a dog, but just to miss being with my children or my husband to go out for politicking. …No.”
Appley does make personal political campaign contributions. In 2021, she gave $600 to candidates, including $200 to Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, chair of the House Public Health Committee; $200 to Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, who serves on the Senate Health and Human Services and Appropriations committees, and $100 to gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. She made no campaign donations in 2022.
During the 2023 session, Appley focused on tenants’ rights legislation, an area she’s worked on for several years. Four years ago, she helped to pass a ban on retaliatory evictions, which prevents landlords from evicting someone for claiming their rental dwelling is unsafe or unhealthy.
This year she pursued passage of HB 404, the Safe At Home Act, which requires that rental properties are “fit for human habitation.” It also prohibits landlords from requiring a security deposit greater than two months’ rent, and allows tenants three business days to pay owed rent and fees before an eviction can be filed.
She organized a coalition of 33 advocacy groups to support the bill, and urged them to make grassroots calls and convene for a Housing Day at the Capitol to lobby legislators en masse.
“We prepared written materials and did webinars and I briefed people at the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum on multiple occasions,” Appley said. “I used all of the conferences and meetings and opportunities available to let the public know about it, and obviously I was in touch with the media.”
The bill garnered the enthusiastic support of House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, and passed the House unanimously, with a standing ovation after the vote. Despite strong pushback from lobbyists representing property owners, it passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It did not get a vote on the Senate floor last session and is expected to come up for a vote next year.
Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on Twitter @JOURNALISTAJILL or at [email protected].
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A conversation with GBI Director Chris Hosey
If anyone knows the inner workings of Georgia’s top law enforcement agency, it’s Chris Hosey.
In his 36 years with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia native has worked under five GBI directors and held every sworn supervisor rank in the bureau’s investigative division.
On Aug. 1, he assumed the helm of the 86-year-old bureau, succeeding Michael Register who returned to Cobb County where he is public safety director. Hosey is the third director of the bureau in the last four years. Register’s predecessor, Vic Reynolds, was appointed by the governor to be Superior Court judge in Cobb County.
Hosey takes on a bureau with a staff of about 850 and a budget that topped $147 million in FY 2023. The bureau has investigated 65 officer-involved shootings since January, according to its latest monthly statistical report released this month.
State Affairs spoke with Hosey about his nearly four-decade tenure with the bureau, his plans for moving the agency forward, the case of the headless goats, and Will Trent, television’s quirky, fictional GBI special agent.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q. What inspired you to go into law enforcement?
A. While I was in college, I had the opportunity to meet GBI agents and learn about the agency a little bit. I liked the professionalism that I saw in the agents that I met. I liked the fact that it was a statewide agency. And I had the ability to travel throughout the state to investigate crime and that sort of thing.
I don’t mean this to sound bad but violent crime interested me. Just the ability to investigate and solve a complex situation intrigued me.
Q. You’re a career GBI employee. What unique attributes do you bring to the bureau?
A. Knowledge of the agency. There was still a learning curve obviously going into the director position. But I think I brought a lot of knowledge of the agency and the operations of the agency from just being around it for 36 years. I’ve served in literally every capacity the GBI has, beginning in the investigative division and then as deputy director over investigations. DirectorRegister made me assistant director last year. So I got a lot of exposure to what the director does, prior to his leaving.
Q. You’ve been with the GBI a long time, what do you love about the job?
A. I enjoy the work. I enjoy the people. I enjoy the partnerships in working with our state partners, our sheriff’s office, our local partners in our sheriff’s office and police departments. I’m just big on relationships like that because I don’t believe one agency can do the job by itself. It takes everybody working together with a common goal in mind, set egos aside and work together and get the job done.
When you find yourself a part of a great team, that makes you not want to leave. It makes you want to stay. It makes you want to see that team develop. It makes you want to see new players come, watch them grow and be successful as well.
Q. The GBI has had three directors in the last four years? Has that created disruption within the organization and its goals?
A. As I’ve said before, the success of this agency doesn’t depend on who’s sitting in the director’s chair. It’s dependent upon the men and women that are out there doing the job everyday. The director provides guidance, oversight, sets goals, whatever. Every one of the directors I’ve worked for were … very, very good leaders. Very good vision for the agency. They did great jobs.
Q. How does your leadership style differ from your predecessor?
A. I don’t know that there’s a lot of difference. One thing that I recognized when he came was, in a lot of ways, we were a lot alike in our leadership styles. We believe there’s a mission out there. We set our goals and we give our people within the agency the ability to do their job, and we support them in that. He taught me a great deal in the time that he was here. He exposed me to a lot.
I think one thing important about leadership is … once you get in a leadership position, it is not about you anymore, it’s about taking care of your people.
Q. What are the biggest challenges facing the bureau?
A. We have to make sure that we’re staying current with the times. The world is changing around us as a law enforcement agency; we’ve got to change with it. That involves technology, additional resources, equipment, personnel, whatever the case may be. We’ve got to be forward thinkers. We’ve got to be dealing with a day in front of us, but we’ve also got to be looking down the road trying to predict what could change next that we can be ready for and prepared for and not trying to catch up.
There’s a lot that doesn’t change in investigations. There’s the traditional investigation, talking to people, collecting evidence, whether it be physical or testimonial evidence. I believe we should always be at the top tier of doing that. But with today’s times, with the technologies out there for something as simple as cell phones we’ve got to be able to ensure that we are utilizing current technology that can assist us and complement the traditional investigative tasks that we have done for years.
Q. What will be your top priority going forward?
A. We’ve got to continue to address violent crime and gang activity across the state. We’re continuing to look at ways we can advance in that. But again, that’s an area GBI will not fix by itself. We rely heavily on those partnerships around the state as we do in every investigation that we work.
My focus is on the agency and providing the resources, manpower, and the leadership that it needs. We’re an agency that has always adapted regardless of all of the instances that have come up. We have always found a way to adapt and get the job done.
Q. What budget and policy requests will you make for the upcoming amended FY 2024 and FY 2025 budget?
A. We’re still working through that right now. We’ve not finalized anything, budget wise. I’m looking at what our needs are coming from the division directors and how that can best support the agency over the next year or the following year.
Q. Are you expecting any policy or legislative changes with regard to the GBI during the 2024 session?
A. No, hopefully. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Senate Bill 11, which enables the GBI to investigate all acts of terrorism, passed during the last session. This bill opens the door for the GBIto pursue alleged crimes that local law enforcement agencies have deemed not worth their time. Are there some cases you’d like the GBI to pursue?
A. Not that I can think of right now. We take them as they come. If they’re worthy of an investigation, then we’re going to pursue that.
Q. SB 44, which is intended to limit gang activity, appears to have some unintended consequences. Apparently, critics believe more people could face prison sentences if they miss a court date or, for example, if they get stopped for something like a broken tail light. Thoughts?
A. In general, I think we have very good gang laws in this state. It’s not hard to work across the state and realize that there are concerns when it comes to gang activity. There’s a nexus between human trafficking and gang activity at times; it just depends on where in the state you want to look. The fact that we’re seeing evidence of gangs attempting to recruit 11 year olds, 12 year olds is very uncomfortable to see and hear about. I believe we have good gang laws. I believe we’re pursuing it in the right way. And at the end of the day it’s to make Georgia safer.
Q. Have you personally sat down with gang members or alleged gang members?
A. Years back I have.
Q. Would you consider doing that again going forward?
A. Yeah, absolutely.
Q. The GBI is investigating a case involving headless goats that have been dumped in the Chattahoochee River over a number of years now. Has any progress or arrests been made in that case?
A. I’d have to go back and check on that. I’m not really familiar with the incidents.
Q. Georgia’s ban on abortion after six weeks, or the first detection of a heartbeat, took effect last year. Have you had a case where an individual had violated Georgia’s abortion law? If so, did you arrest that person?
A. I’m not familiar with any. But just like any other law that is set forth for us to enforce, if we had the need to investigate one, we will. I’m not familiar with any we’re working on right now.
Q. Aside from becoming head of the bureau, what’s your biggest accomplishment at the GBI?
A. Probably them allowing me to stay here 36 years.
Q. What’s your biggest disappointment?
A. I don’t know that I’ve had a big disappointment. There’s things that have come up through 36 years that bothered me. But you know, I live under the adage that this too shall pass.
Q. Have you seen the [ABC Friday night television show] Will Trent. It’s about a GBI special agent. Do you have a Will Trent on staff and more importantly do you recognize the TV version of the GBI?
A. I watched it the first night [it came on] and I wasn’t real sure. Then I continued to watch it. It’s entertainment. I mean, it’s Hollywood. You know, Will Trent is depicted as an excellent investigator and from that standpoint I got 300-something of him. I enjoy watching it.
I actually went to an out-of-state conference in the spring of this year. When they handed me my name tag, my name was on one side and [the name] Will Trent was on the other side. They knew I was from Georgia and that show was out. I was getting ragged about that a little bit.
Want to get a glimpse of what the GBI does? Take a look at its monthly statistical reports here.
The Christopher E. Hosey Files
Title: Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Age: 59
Hometown: Newnan
Current residence: Thomaston
Education: Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Georgia Southwestern State University and a Masters in Public Administration from Columbus State University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Class 247.
Career path: Narcotics agent, local violators squad, 1987-89; special agent, Region 5 in Statesboro, 1989-90; special agent, Region 2, Thomaston/Greenville, 1990-2001; assistant special agent in charge, Region 2, Greenville, 2001-05; assistant special agent in charge, West Georgia Drug Task Force/West Metro RDEO, 2005-08; special agent in charge, Region 5, Statesboro, 2008-09; special agent in charge, Savannah RDEO, 2009-12; inspector, headquarters, investigative division, 2012-20; deputy director of investigations, HQ, investigative division, 2020-22; GBI assistant director, 2022-23.
Family: Married 34 years to Powell; two daughters.
Hobbies: “I go to the gym. I’ve been doing that for years. I enjoy golf. Working in the yard. I like woodworking. I just haven’t had time to do much of that here lately.”
If you weren’t in the field of law what would you be doing? “The first thing that popped in my mind was probably something in the medical field. I went to school for EMS [Emergency Medical Services]. The GBI actually sent me to school for that for our tactical team. Once I completed it, I actually went to work part-time with an ambulance service at home. And I did that up till last year. Then things just got so busy. I didn’t have time to do it anymore but I enjoyed it. I still have the uniforms. I still intend on going back and doing it some more when I can, when things settle in.”
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Putting long lines in the rearview: driver services continues technology update
The Gist
The days of standing in long lines to get or renew a driver’s license may soon be in the rearview mirror for good.
Over the next month, Georgia drivers will continue to see significant updates in services as the Georgia Department of Driver Services continues its push to modernize through state-of-the-art technology and to cut back on long wait times caused by a shortage of workers and backlogs due to Covid-19.
What’s Happening
The department will roll out about 20 kiosks in its metro Atlanta offices where motorists can get or renew driver’s licenses, replace lost or stolen ones and record address changes. The rollout is a pilot program and will be extended to the rest of the state later, department spokesperson Susan Sports told State Affairs.
At the same time, the kiosks you use at Kroger and Publix to renew your car tags “are being updated and modified to add the driver’s license [renewal services] to them,” Sports said. Initially, those kiosks will renew licenses and ID cards. More services will be added later. The grocery store kiosks are run by the state Department of Revenue.
Driver services has also taken steps to make traveling easier for Georgians.
The department now allows Georgians to add their driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch, making check-in at airports quick, easy and secure. It is not intended as a replacement for a physical copy of your license or ID but it can speed up the process at TSA checkpoints. Android users will soon have a similar option, Sports said. Georgians meanwhile also have the option of renewing their driver’s license online.
Despite the online presence, some people still prefer to come into the office, Sports said. Now, they’ll have the option of using a self-serve kiosk rather than having to stand in a long line.
Why It Matters
The state is spending close to $2 million to add the kiosks and update services for Georgia drivers, an initiative driven by fewer department staff and greater demand for quicker services.
“The kiosks especially should help with the agency’s workforce issues,” DDS Commissioner Spencer R. Moore said. “If you have a self-service kiosk that is handling that renewal customer coming in, not having to take a break or a lunch or take vacation, it’s going to really offset some of those staffing challenges that we have.”
The new technology isn’t just for giving short-handed staff some help. It also is intended to head off a potential rise in wait times once a round of license expirations kicks in over the next two years, Sports said.
“Having a self-service kiosk option will save wait time for customers,” she said. “In turn, the driver examiners will be able to assist those customers that cannot be served in any way but in person. It will save customers time because if they use the kiosk, they do not have to fill out the required ‘application for service’ or take a ticket number for service as is required for all customers visiting in person.”
While as many as 45 Department of Motor Vehicle agencies in the United States were using some type of self-service kiosks in 2021, there is still a large number of government agencies that have not yet taken advantage of the technology, according to Kiosk Marketplace.
What’s Next?
Meanwhile in Georgia, the Department of Driver Services’ kiosks are currently wrapping up the test phase, Sports said, and should be rolling out over the next 30 days at the 65 DDS offices statewide and in grocery stores.
“That’s the wave of the future and our customers are on the go. They want more options,” said Sports. “In the old days, you’d go to the DDS and you would take a lounge chair and you’d take a book and you knew you were going to be there all day. So now … our service goal statewide is less than 30 minutes.”
Check out our TikTok summary:
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With Less Staff to Renew Driver’s Licenses, Georgia Pivots to Machines
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Header image: City of Warner Robins former Police Chief John Wagner poses with a Georgia driver’s license. (Credit: Georgia Department of Drivers Services)
Lawmakers plan another run at rent control legislation
The Gist
ATLANTA — Skyrocketing rents and punitive fees by homeowners associations that place some Georgia residents at risk of losing their homes are among the targets of several housing-related bills that Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, and other members of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus hope to revive in the next legislative session. Four such housing bills stalled in the Senate this year.
What’s Happening
The Senate Urban Affairs Committee met Wednesday to discuss the proposed legislation designed to protect renters from sharply escalating rent prices, and what some senators and presenters described as unfair fees, eviction and foreclosure processes imposed by property owners and private associations that manage homes, apartments and condominiums.
James, the committee chair, is the sponsor of SB 125, which would repeal state law enacted in the 1980s that prevents local governments from regulating rent. Georgia is among 30 states in the U.S. that prohibit rent control by municipalities or counties, and among several states now considering repealing such laws.
“We’re attempting to lift that ban so cities and counties … can work with residents to stop rental leases and bills that are doubling and tripling and causing foreclosures and evictions,” said James. She noted that as the cost of living increases, “we’re seeing more families struggling to pay rent in metro and rural areas, and consequently many of those people can’t afford it anymore and have become homeless, or are staying in day hotels when they can afford to do that.”
Two other housing-related bills were also on the agenda. SB 29 would limit the ways homeowners, condo and property associations can penalize people for nonpayment of fees, and requires them to seek arbitration before placing liens on a property. And Senate Resolution 37 would create a study committee to let lawmakers take a comprehensive look at the policies and practices of such property associations.
Why It Matters
Rents have increased sharply in Georgia in recent years. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, fair market rents — the monthly cost of rent for standard-quality units in a local housing market — increased by an average of 24% from 2019 to 2023 in the U.S. In Georgia, fair market rents increased by 33% over that time. A one-bedroom apartment in Georgia now averages $1,115, and a two-bedroom is $1,283.
Rental costs are considerably higher in some Georgia cities, especially those where out-of-state private equity firms have purchased large numbers of residential properties and jacked up rents. In Atlanta, the fair market rent for a one-bedroom is now $1,375 and a two-bedroom is $1,553.
Some apartments cost much more. Nothing in Georgia law limits how much a landlord can raise the rent.
The Urban Affairs committee heard from several tenants whose rents have increased precipitously. Among them was Gladys Dancy, 83, who lives at Galleria Manor Senior Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Smyrna. She said when she moved in 10 years ago, the rent for her two-bedroom apartment was $780, and has since climbed to $908. In July, she received a notice from the building’s owners that her rent will rise to $1,215 in October, a 39% increase.
“They’re pushing me out,” said Dancy, adding that her only income is from Social Security. Dancy has a leg impairment that requires her to use a walker.
Noting that she lives two blocks from Truist Park, the Atlanta Braves stadium, which was an undeveloped wooded area when she moved in, she said, “All the rents around here have gone way up, and now they say they’re switching from an affordable property to market price. Is that legal?”
Other people testified about negative experiences with homeowners associations.
One man said he was fined $4,000 by his HOA for cars parked on the street near his home, even though he doesn’t own a vehicle. His neighbor said the HOA doled out $1,600 fines for covenant violations such as lack of shutters on windows and has placed $10,000 liens on multiple tenants’ homes.
David Washington, a real estate broker, said he specializes in helping people faced with foreclosure to stay in their homes. He said he recently worked with a 91-year-old client whose property was foreclosed on for delinquent HOA dues and related late fees, even though the woman had never missed a mortgage payment.
“Georgia is a creditor-friendly state,” said Washington. The state’s legal code related to rent “is not designed for if life happens,” he said. Even if over a 30-year period a homeowner has a sterling payment history, an HOA does not take costly life events into account the way that some loan companies do, offering forbearance, he noted. “Whether it’s COVID, a car accident, a divorce, a death — if you owe $5,000 to an HOA, they will foreclose on you,” he said. “And the law allows it.”
James noted that small liens issued by HOAs or banks can quickly lead to foreclosure, if not paid or legally resolved within a few months.
“Once you get $2,000 worth of liens, that house can go up on the courthouse steps and be sold from under you,” she said.
Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, the House Democratic Caucus chair, told committee members that the “draconian” Georgia law that permits HOAs to foreclose on a property because of overdue HOA fees is “bad legislation and I think we should join the overwhelming majority of states which do not allow that.”
Preventing and reducing evictions is another legislative focus of the committee.
Mableton resident Alonzo Williams told the committee that he and his disabled mother were evicted from their apartment after the landlord doubled the rent during the pandemic. He said he works in education and his mother has a fixed income. “We struggled mightily to pay it, but we couldn’t,” he said, adding that they are now living in temporary housing, and so far unable to find a rental unit they can afford.
Elizabeth Appley, an attorney and fair housing advocate, said that as of April, 14% of Georgians were behind on rent, according to the National Equity Atlas, a data site run by PolicyLink, a research and advocacy firm. Those Georgians owing rent included 181,000 households, 72% of which were low-income families. More than half were households with children.
The average rent debt in Georgia is $1,400, said Appley, noting that that amount is considerably less than the cost of eviction to local communities in the state, which averages $11,200 per eviction, according to a University of Arizona law school analysis. That eviction tally takes into account the cost of emergency shelter, medical, welfare and juvenile delinquency costs.
Legislation to give local communities more control over rental costs, as well as to provide more tenant protections statewide is needed, Appley said.
Besides the rent control and property association-related bills, she encouraged the Senate committee to support HB 404, the Safe at Home Act, which would put a two-month cap on rental security deposits and require landlords to give tenants at least three days’ notice and the opportunity to pay overdue rent and fees before eviction proceedings can start. The bill unanimously passed the House but was not called for a vote in the Senate last session.
“While the idea of rent control may appear an attractive solution to the affordable housing crisis, it is critical to understand its counterproductive and damaging consequences,” said Stephen Davis, government affairs director for the Atlanta Apartment Association.
National research shows that rent control policies reduce housing supply, lower property values and disincentivizes new construction of apartments, he said.
Davis pointed to a 2021 St. Paul, Minnesota, rent control bill that capped annual rent increases to 3% and led, he said, to an 80% drop in building permits for multifamily housing. Overall, new housing starts in St. Paul decreased by 30% over the next year, resulting in an amendment of the law in 2022 that allows some landlords to make larger rent increases.
Adding additional housing units to a market is the best way to address housing costs in communities with climbing rents, Davis said.
“The key is to increase housing inventory,” he said. “But most local governments are installing additional regulations and burdens on development. They’ve raised millage rates and impact fees. … Every condition put on a new development has a cost,” which is often passed on to the renter, he said.
What’s Next
SB 125, the rent control bill, did not move in the State and Local Governmental Operations committee last session. Sen. Frank Ginn, R-Danielsville, who chairs the committee, told State Affairs he does not support state regulation of local rent policies.
“I think that should be between the owner of the property and the renter,” Ginn said. “I don’t think the government should interfere in that process. There are other things that we can do to help local governments to lower the cost of housing, and to address things that drive the cost of housing up.”
James said she and other legislators are inclined to consolidate and amend several housing-related bills still alive in both chambers. She told State Affairs that requiring mediation before evictions and foreclosures can occur and appointing a state ombudsman to give people involved in housing disputes “a place to take their complaints before they lose their homes” are two key elements that should be included in housing legislation to be pursued in 2024.
James said the Urban Affairs Committee plans to meet at least once more prior to the start of the next legislative session in January.
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Header photo: Smyrna resident Gladys Dancy, 83, told the Senate Urban Affairs Committee members that her landlord plans to raise her rent by 39% in October. (Credit: Jill Jordan Sieder)
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