---
type: "Bill"
title: "Bona Fide Conservation Use Property; a limitation on leased property; remove"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 48-5-7.4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to preferential assessment for bona fide conservation use property and bona fide residential transitional property, so as to remove a limitation on leased property as to certain entities; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2025_26"
identifier: "SB 59"
citation: "Georgia SB 59 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["REVENUE AND TAXATION"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Billy Hickman", "Carden Summers", "Drew Echols", "Lee Anderson", "Russ Goodman", "Sam Watson"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-01-29"
last_action: "2026-05-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a2b1fbc7-c752-4c85-a22c-5418b4011f56"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "4ee0f7428be6274e0ee7193e87fa15c780c1b3c9e35c8280c336f85743c66f5d"
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 SB 59 (2025_26) — Bona Fide Conservation Use Property; a limitation on leased property; remove

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 48-5-7.4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to preferential assessment for bona fide conservation use property and bona fide residential transitional property, so as to remove a limitation on leased property as to certain entities; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; 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. **As Passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/233038.pdf)
2. **As introduced LC 44 2942** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/230609.pdf)
3. **LC 44 3464S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/242994.pdf)
4. **LC 48 1619S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/238458.pdf)
5. **SB 59/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245788.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #715 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #575 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **154–3** (pass) · lower
- Senate Vote #63 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **31–21** (pass) · upper
- Senate Vote #66 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **50–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Billy Hickman — primary (person)
- Carden Summers — primary (person)
- Drew Echols — primary (person)
- Lee Anderson — primary (person)
- Russ Goodman — primary (person)
- Sam Watson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-29** Senate Hopper `introduction`
- **2025-01-30** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-13** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-18** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2025-02-19** Senate Engrossed `passage`
- **2025-02-19** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2025-02-19** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2025-02-20** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2025-02-21** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2025-03-31** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-04** House Withdrawn, Recommitted `referral-committee, withdrawal`
- **2026-02-18** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-26** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-02-26** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2026-04-10** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-12** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-12** Veto V9 `executive-veto`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a2b1fbc7-c752-4c85-a22c-5418b4011f56`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).