---
type: "Bill"
title: "Chattooga County; ad valorem tax; county purposes; provide a homestead exemption"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Chattooga County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount of $70,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that county who are 70 years of age or older and whose income does not exceed $38,000.00; to provide for definitions; to specify the terms and conditions of the exemption and the procedures relating thereto; to provide for applicability; 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 1544"
citation: "Georgia HB 1544 (2025_26)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eddie Lumsden"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-03-12"
last_action: "2026-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/acf54bab-6ef7-429a-ae85-81d9b6c99322"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "fc76a0dccf7bae6f4c289dc03579b5856aa2d1ecc723f21bba8b6799ef780714"
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 1544 (2025_26) — Chattooga County; ad valorem tax; county purposes; provide a homestead exemption

A BILL to be entitled an Act to provide a homestead exemption from Chattooga County ad valorem taxes for county purposes in the amount of $70,000.00 of the assessed value of the homestead for residents of that county who are 70 years of age or older and whose income does not exceed $38,000.00; to provide for definitions; to specify the terms and conditions of the exemption and the procedures relating thereto; to provide for applicability; 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 1544/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/248548.pdf)
2. **LC 47 4198/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245733.pdf)
3. **Local Ad** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20252026/245755.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Vote #888 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- House Vote #739 - 2025-2026 Regular Session — **158–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eddie Lumsden — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-03-12** House Hopper `introduction`
- **2026-03-16** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2026-03-18** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2026-03-23** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-23** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2026-03-23** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-03-25** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-27** Senate Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-27** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-31** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2026-03-31** Senate Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2026-04-10** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-11** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-11** Act 586 `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/acf54bab-6ef7-429a-ae85-81d9b6c99322`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).