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GeorgiaHB 3512025-2026 Regular SessionHouse

Board of Natural Resources; modify powers and duties

Sponsored By: Chas Cannon (Republican), John Corbett (Republican), Robert Dickey (Republican), Lynn Smith (Republican), Vance Smith (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Natural Resources & EnvironmentNatural Resources and the EnvironmentGeneral Bill

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

6 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 4 mixed.

Communities get meetings before waste facility decisions

Beginning January 1, 2026, local governments and authorities must hold public meetings before choosing disposal sites they will own or run. Meetings must explain waste needs and the site-selection process; regional authorities must meet in each participating jurisdiction. Host governments must also meet before verifying a new public or private disposal facility or an expansion beyond permit boundaries. Notices must explain the facility’s location, type, operations, and verification process. For both meeting types, notices must be published at least 14 days and again at least seven days beforehand.

Waste districts join joint-facility fee rules

Beginning January 1, 2026, cost reimbursement fee authority extends to solid waste districts, not just special solid waste districts. The rule covers municipal disposal facilities operated jointly by multiple cities or counties, a waste district, or an authority. Fee receipts must go into a restricted account set up by participating local governments. No fee amount or household rate increase is specified.

Landfills gain options as restrictions end

Beginning January 1, 2026, the law removes certain landfill permit bans in significant groundwater recharge areas involving outside-county or outside-region waste. Regional counties or districts no longer must be next to each other or share a collection and disposal contract. Cross-county waste transport permits no longer depend on the source jurisdiction developing and pursuing a waste-reduction strategy. Related permit paperwork on participating and out-of-state jurisdictions’ waste-reduction plans and strategies also ends. These changes expand facility options but remove siting and waste-reduction safeguards.

Landfills must report recycling and composting amounts

Beginning January 1, 2026, public and private municipal landfill owners and operators must report annual recycling and composting quantities. Reports go to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division and cover each landfill. Operators must report amounts rather than simply list recycling and composting activities.

Waste facilities face stronger local planning checks

Beginning January 1, 2026, waste facility permit and major-change applicants must submit host-government verification dated within 36 months before application. It must identify the facility type and location, using a parcel or legal description. It must confirm local zoning or land-use compliance, or state that no such rules exist, and confirm waste-plan consistency. An official authorized by ordinance or resolution, or the chief elected official, must sign it. Permit, major-change, grant, and loan applications must certify land-use compliance and show waste-plan consistency and an adopted host plan. Private facilities lose their planning exception when the host government has not made a good-faith effort to adopt or join a plan.

Waste handlers lose separate special-waste rules

Beginning January 1, 2026, the law removes the separate category of “special solid waste” and its distinct rules. Separate permitting and financial-responsibility safeguards end, but general solid waste permitting remains. A transport manifest now means a document showing any solid waste’s amount, contents, origin, route, and destination. This broader definition does not itself add a specific reporting duty.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsors

  • Chas Cannon

    Republican • House

  • John Corbett

    Republican • House

  • Robert Dickey

    Republican • House

  • Lynn Smith

    Republican • House

  • Vance Smith

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

  • Russ Goodman

    Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 431 • No: 3

House vote • 3/31/2025

Agree to Senate Amendment

Yes: 163 • No: 0 • Other: 8

Senate vote • 3/28/2025

ADOPTION OF AMENDMENT #1 BY THE SENATOR FROM THE 6TH

Yes: 46 • No: 3 • Other: 2

Senate vote • 3/28/2025

PASSAGE AS AMENDED

Yes: 47 • No: 0 • Other: 3

House vote • 3/6/2025

PASSAGE

Yes: 175 • No: 0 • Other: 2

Actions Timeline

  1. Effective Date

    1/1/2026

  2. House Date Signed by Governor

    5/14/2025House

  3. Act 259

    5/14/2025

  4. House Sent to Governor

    4/10/2025House

  5. House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub

    3/31/2025House

  6. Senate Third Read

    3/28/2025Senate

  7. Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended

    3/28/2025Senate

  8. Senate Read Second Time

    3/21/2025Senate

  9. Senate Committee Favorably Reported

    3/20/2025Senate

  10. Senate Read and Referred

    3/10/2025Senate

  11. House Third Readers

    3/6/2025House

  12. House Passed/Adopted By Substitute

    3/6/2025House

  13. House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute

    2/27/2025House

  14. House Second Readers

    2/12/2025House

  15. House First Readers

    2/11/2025House

  16. House Hopper

    2/10/2025House

Bill Text

  • HB 351/AP* (v7)

    PDF

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