---
type: "Bill"
title: "Petrea-Stephens-Franklin-Watson Tax Relief Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Bryan County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the base year assessed value of such homestead; to provide for definitions; to specify the terms and conditions of the exemption and the procedures relating thereto; to provide for applicability; to provide a short title; to provide for compliance with constitutional requirements; to provide for a referendum, effective dates, automatic repeal, mandatory execution of election, and judicial remedies regarding failure to comply; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "HB 1440"
citation: "Georgia HB 1440 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jesse Petrea", "Lehman Franklin", "Ron Stephens"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-24"
last_action: "2026-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3088ee57-0f1a-4ad5-b5c7-aac1573ecc05"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "2fbd5663871bcd121035315d273717a13969d299c9fa940025eb9f1518b4a7ed"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia HB 1440 (2025_26) — Petrea-Stephens-Franklin-Watson Tax Relief Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Bryan County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the base year assessed value of such homestead; to provide for definitions; to specify the terms and conditions of the exemption and the procedures relating thereto; to provide for applicability; to provide a short title; to provide for compliance with constitutional requirements; to provide for a referendum, effective dates, automatic repeal, mandatory execution of election, and judicial remedies regarding failure to comply; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB 1440/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/246341.pdf)
2. **LC 47 4072/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/243793.pdf)
3. **Local Ad** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/243808.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #728 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #693 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **159–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jesse Petrea — primary (person)
- Lehman Franklin — primary (person)
- Ron Stephens — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-02-24** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-02-25** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-02-26** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-03-10** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-10** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-18** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-18** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-06** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 564 `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3088ee57-0f1a-4ad5-b5c7-aac1573ecc05`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).