---
type: "Bill"
title: "Garden City Charm and Tourism Act; enact"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to authorize the governing authority of Augusta-Richmond County to levy an excise tax pursuant to subsection (b) of Code Section 48-13-51 of the O.C.G.A.; to provide for procedures, conditions, and limitations; to provide a short title; 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 498"
citation: "Georgia HB 498 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Prince", "Karlton Howard", "L.C. Myles", "Lynn Heffner", "Mark Newton"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-18"
last_action: "2025-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ad29d363-28da-416e-b2f0-deb1e056d0eb"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "07970a9469946890ea58d7039c616f73c37f059b46a7a454080474935cce1c4e"
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 498 (2025_26) — Garden City Charm and Tourism Act; enact

A BILL to be entitled an Act to authorize the governing authority of Augusta-Richmond County to levy an excise tax pursuant to subsection (b) of Code Section 48-13-51 of the O.C.G.A.; to provide for procedures, conditions, and limitations; to provide a short title; 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 498/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/234690.pdf)
2. **LC 47 3390/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232726.pdf)
3. **Local Ad** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/232751.pdf)

## Votes

- House Vote #58 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **170–0** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #106 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **51–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Prince — primary (person)
- Karlton Howard — primary (person)
- L.C. Myles — primary (person)
- Lynn Heffner — primary (person)
- Mark Newton — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-18** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-02-19** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-20** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-02-21** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-21** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2025-02-21** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-02-24** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-28** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-28** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-04-07** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-13** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13** Act 144 `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ad29d363-28da-416e-b2f0-deb1e056d0eb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).