Latest news with #ChuckHufstetler
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Georgia lawmakers push local governments to reconsider escaping a property tax cap
Georgia's voters said in November that they wanted property tax relief, but many local governments are holding on to their power to raise taxes despite the statewide vote. Now, state lawmakers are trying to push local governments to reconsider and agree to limit how much of a home's increasing value can be taxed. From 2018 to 2023, the total assessed value of property across Georgia rose by nearly 61%, according to figures from the Georgia Department of Revenue. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Values rose so fast that most local governments pocketed increased revenue even as they lowered tax rates, and statewide property tax collections rose 44% from 2018 to 2023. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican, calls it a 'backdoor tax increase.' Amid the uproar over tax bills, lawmakers put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November to limit how much of a home's rising value can be translated into higher property taxes. State politicians sought instead to index a property's taxable value to the broader rate of inflation each year. TRENDING STORIES: Georgia head coach Kirby Smart addresses players' latest driving arrests Atlanta bagpiper killed while scuba diving; son who vanished 4 years ago found dead at home GA law enforcement makes biggest fentanyl bust in state history, enough to kill 2.5 million people Nearly 63% of Georgia voters backed the cap, making the state one of eight where voters decided property tax measures in November, a sign of how rising tax bills are influencing politics nationwide. But Georgia's plan gave local governments a one-time chance to escape the limit if they acted by March 1, and they exercised that right in droves. Almost two-thirds of the state's 180 school districts opted out, representing 75% of Georgia's 1.75 million students statewide, according to filings with the secretary of state. So did a quarter of Georgia's 159 counties and 20% of its more than 500 cities. Citing their own rising expenses, local officials said the tax cap could force them to give up revenue they might need in the future. Officials in Gwinnett County — Georgia's largest school district, with 183,000 students — forecast that the cap could cut tax revenue by $35 million a year. Hufstetler and other Republicans, unhappy that so many governments opted out, want them to change their minds. Some lawmakers are trying to force local governments in their districts to accept the cap. At least a dozen bills are advancing in the state Capitol to set local referendums in which voters could mandate that their local government abide by the cap. On Tuesday, senators attempted something more like persuasion. Senators voted 52-2 for House Bill 92, which would give governments another chance to agree to the limits. The measure goes back to the House for more debate. Local governments that have exited could change their minds and agree to the tax cap through March 1, 2029. In the meantime, those governments would have to print notices on tax bills encouraging citizens to call them if they have concerns. As a concession, the bill would exempt school districts from having to pay sales taxes on construction materials if they agree to the cap. 'It does continue to allow opportunities for them to look back, particularly in a couple of years from now, when they could look back and see how minimal it is,' Hufstetler said after the vote. 'Yet it protects the homeowners.' The bill passed Tuesday would force some local governments to vote again in 2027 to exit the cap, and hold another round of public meetings. Any government that didn't complete the steps would be put under the cap permanently. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Associated Press
25-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Georgia lawmakers push local governments to reconsider escaping a property tax cap
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's voters said in November that they wanted property tax relief, but many local governments are holding on to their power to raise taxes despite the statewide vote. Now state lawmakers are trying to push local governments to reconsider and agree to limit how much of a home's increasing value can be taxed. From 2018 to 2023, the total assessed value of property across Georgia rose by nearly 61%, according to figures from the Georgia Department of Revenue. Values rose so fast that most local governments pocketed increased revenue even as they lowered tax rates, and statewide property tax collections rose 44% from 2018 to 2023. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican, calls it a 'backdoor tax increase.' Amid the uproar over tax bills, lawmakers put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November to limit how much of a home's rising value can be translated into higher property taxes. State politicians sought instead to index a property's taxable value to the broader rate of inflation each year. Nearly 63% of Georgia voters backed the cap, making the state one of eight where voters decided property tax measures in November, a sign of how rising tax bills are influencing politics nationwide. But Georgia's plan gave local governments a one-time chance to escape the limit if they acted by March 1, and they exercised that right in droves. Almost two-thirds of the state's 180 school districts opted out, representing 75% of Georgia's 1.75 million students statewide, according to filings with the secretary of state. So did a quarter of Georgia's 159 counties and 20% of its more than 500 cities. Citing their own rising expenses, local officials said the tax cap could force them to give up revenue they might need in the future. Officials in Gwinnett County — Georgia's largest school district, with 183,000 students — forecast that the cap could cut tax revenue by $35 million a year. Hufstetler and other Republicans, unhappy that so many governments opted out, want them to change their minds. Some lawmakers are trying to force local governments in their districts to accept the cap. At least a dozen bills are advancing in the state Capitol to set local referendums in which voters could mandate that their local government abide by the cap. On Tuesday, senators attempted something more like persuasion. Senators voted 52-2 for House Bill 92, which would give governments another chance to agree to the limits. The measure goes back to the House for more debate. Local governments that have exited could change their minds and agree to the tax cap through March 1, 2029. In the meantime, those governments would have to print notices on tax bills encouraging citizens to call them if they have concerns. As a concession, the bill would exempt school districts from having to pay sales taxes on construction materials if they agree to the cap. 'It does continue to allow opportunities for them to look back, particularly in a couple of years from now, when they could look back and see how minimal it is,' Hufstetler said after the vote. 'Yet it protects the homeowners.' The bill passed Tuesday would force some local governments to vote again in 2027 to exit the cap, and hold another round of public meetings. Any government that didn't complete the steps would be put under the cap permanently.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill to make Data centers pay for the energy they consume passes out of committee
Data centers that consume massive amounts of energy are coming to Georgia. One state lawmaker wants to make sure Georgia Power doesn't pass on the costs of building that infrastructure to consumers. Currently, Georgia Power customers are having to pay for years of cost overruns for the two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle. Rome Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler said they've seen six rate increases in less than a year, and with more and more energy-guzzling data centers coming to Georgia, he wants to make sure that doesn't happen again. 'We've got massive, massive costs coming with these data centers, and I think they deserve to know that it's codified into law that they won't be getting those costs,' Hufstetler told Channel 2's Richard Elliot. His bill would prevent Georgia Power from passing on energy and infrastructure costs to customers that the data centers themselves would have to pay for them. TRENDING STORIES: Gwinnett couple charged with taking $1 million from dead mother's pension Metro Atlanta Whataburger employee allegedly swiped customer's card to pay probation fees High school principal behind bars after deputies called to Coweta County home In a Tuesday morning Senate committee hearing, Georgia Power insisted it had no plans to do that and opposed the bill even though it passed out of committee. Senate Republican Majority Leader Steve Gooch also opposed the bill, insisting the legislature shouldn't usurp the authority of the Public Service Commission or single out data centers. 'The power companies are going to pass that cost onto the data centers, but we're treating them differently than we did big manufacturers in Georgia, and I think we should look at them all as one and not separate them by industry,' Gooch said. Huffstetler was glad to see his bill squeak through the committee with bipartisan support. 'We can say that well, it's not going to happen in the future, but we have history, and it did happen, and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again,' Huffstetler said. The bill now heads to the full Senate for a vote where it's expected to have a rougher go of it.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rebirth of Georgia consumer utility watchdog pushed in bipartisan state Senate legislation
Rome Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler has introduced a bill in the 2025 legislative session that would establish an independent council to protect Georgia consumers during utility rate cases. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (File) A Georgia consumer utility office that fell victim to Great Recession-era state budget cuts in 2008 is getting another push this year from a bipartisan group of Georgia lawmakers to re-establish an independent advocate for residential and small business owners in utility rate cases. The Senate Rules Committee could decide in the coming days whether Senate Bill 94 advances before the full chamber for a vote to form an Office of Consumers' Utility Counsel that would participate in utility proceedings before the Georgia Public Service Commission and other agencies. Georgia's new utility consumer advocacy office would operate under the Georgia Attorney General's office, and would re-establish a former Consumers' Utility Counsel that was abolished in statewide budget cuts mandated by Gov. Sonny Perdue during the 2008 economic freefall. The five-member PSC regulates Georgia Power and a number of other public utilities that provide electricity, natural gas and telecommunications services. The commission has limited authority over the more than 90 electric membership cooperatives and municipal gas and electric companies located throughout Georgia. Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said it is estimated to cost less than $1 million to re-establish the consumer utility staff, which he said is a small price to pay for the state to provide legal and financial resources to protect consumers on utility cost issues. The budget would be used to hire a director and other staff and compensate consultants and other experts in utility matters. The legislation proposes to empower the director to initiate utility proceedings with state and federal agencies and to represent consumers in court cases. The director would be authorized to take depositions and obtain other evidence in utility proceedings that is not considered confidential information. The bipartisan bill, signed by two dozen senators, advanced last week through the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee after Chairman Bill Cowsert, an Athens Republican, cast the deciding 6-5 vote at the Feb. 11 meeting. Sen. Carden Summers, a Cordele Republican who serves on the committee, said he was concerned about the cost and whether the proposal would help ease the burden on ratepayers. 'This oversight committee would also not be an elected committee like the Public Service Commission and thus would lack any real authority over the Public Service Commission,' Summers wrote in a column to his constituents back home. Hufstetler argued that having someone to represent consumers has proven effective in other states. 'I think the cost is sort of a red herring when you're talking about the billions of dollars out there. I think this is a very small cost to have somebody that represents consumers,' Hufstetler said last week. A number of Georgia lawmakers, clean energy and consumer advocacy groups have raised concerns about PSC signing off on Georgia Power's repeated utility bill increases due to increased electricity base rates, overrun costs associated with building two new Vogtle nuclear power plant units, coal ash cleanup and other expenses. All told, the average Georgia Power household is paying about $43 more per month on their utility bills since the start of 2020. A pair of major cases will be settled by the state regulatory commission this year, which will affect Georgia Power ratepayers' pocketbooks as well as the mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources the company will use to generate electricity for the next few years. The PSC is overseeing Georgia Power's long-term plan, officially called its 2025 Integrated Resource Plan, which determines how the state's largest utility will spend billions of dollars to meet its skyrocketing energy demand, primarily due to the projected growth of large data centers supporting artificial intelligence. State senator pushes bill to protect Georgia Power customers from rate hikes fueled by data centers Georgia Power is also set to file a new three-year rate request later this year that will determine the base electric rates for residential, commercial and industrial customers. During PSC proceedings, environmental organizations, consumer protection nonprofits, manufacturers, and other groups conduct expert testimony and cross examinations of witnesses. Tom Bond, director of utilities for the PSC, said that it is important that a new consumer utility staff is independent of the PSC's public interest advocacy staff, which evaluates utility cases and makes recommendations for residential, small commercial and industrial groups. 'One of the reasons that the commissioners don't think that this is necessary since as part of their job, they're hearing from staff already,' Bond said. 'They're hearing from the company. In a rate case, they typically hear from about 20 interveners who also have the right to put on witnesses and cross examine.' Putting the counsel office under the control of the AG prevents duplication of resources and enables the Georgia counsel to become a member of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, according to Bond. 'Everybody at the commission that understands integrated resource planning is already working full time on that IRP,' he said. 'When we get to the rate case, we're going to be working full time on that. We've got a maximum outside budget of about $800,000 for each of those cases, and we're spending to the max of that.' Bob Sherrier, a staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said having a dedicated state government consumer advocate would be a welcomed addition to Public Service Commission dockets, especially since the PSC public advocacy staff represents broader interest groups than consumers. The new counsel would provide stronger backing of Georgia Power customers struggling to pay bills after facing six rate increases over the past couple of years, Sherrier said. Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State senator pushes bill to protect Georgia Power customers from rate hikes fueled by data centers
The QTS data center complex is under development in Fayetteville. QTS, the data-center developer that Blackstone bankrolls, complex is expected to consume as much electricity as about a million US households leaving utility Georgia Power rushing to build the infrastructure to meet demand. Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images Georgia Power, a national data center association, and clean energy groups are divided over the need for legislation that would prevent state-regulated utilities from raising electricity rates to cover the costs of energy-guzzling data centers. Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican, said he filed Senate Bill 34 in order to protect residential and commercial ratepayers from getting hit with higher utility bills because of large-scale utility company investments to meet the energy demands of artificial intelligence. The Senate Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities held a hearing last week on a measure that prohibits the Georgia Public Service Commission from changing any utility rates because of costs incurred providing electric services to commercial data centers. Georgia Power executives have said that 80% of its projected increased energy demands over the next decade is tied to prospective data centers opening in the state. Georgia Power is projecting electrical load growth will increase by 8,200 megawatts by 2030, representing an increase of 2,200 megawatts compared to its forecast in the 2023 Integrated Resource Plan update. Representatives with Georgia Power and the Data Center Coalition said they oppose the way SB 34 gives the state Legislature control over a ratemaking process that is typically handled by the five-member PSC. Supporters of the measure give credit to the PSC for passing a new rule in January creating new protections for Georgia Power ratepayers against the influx of energy-hungry data centers, but push for more safeguards from the state. Hufstetler said his bill provides more ironclad protections than the PSC rule. 'The two things I hear most from everybody right now are property taxes and electricity bills,' he said. 'I know the PSC would like to keep the Legislature out of this, but I think this is just too huge of an issue for us not to make sure we're taking care of the citizens.' Following Thursday's 90-minute Senate hearing, Sen. Bill Cowsert, an Athens Republican who chairs the committee, said further debate about about the proposal is needed before a decision is made on if it will advance in the Legislature. 'We're really going into a new frontier,' he said. 'You've had two mega data centers so far, you've got 10 more already on the books and it's the wild, wild west going on as they're exploding in growth.' The new data center rule authorizes Georgia Power to enact contractual agreements with companies that will use 100 megawatts of power. It allows the utility company to 'appropriately assign' to data centers the costs of providing them electric service. The rule also gives Georgia Power the ability to require data center companies to put up front-end collateral for energy costs over the lifetime of the contract. If the company abandons the project prior to the contract expiring, then Georgia Power would keep the remaining money owed. The PSC is also requiring that it reviews new agreements with large load customers within 30 days of being signed. The commission is set to vote in July on the investor-owned utility's 2025 long-term roadmap of providing a mix of energy and infrastructure to serve 2.7 million customers and Georgia's growing industrial base. Georgia Power is expected to file a new rate case with the PSC in 2025 asking to recover costs to serve its customers over the next three years. Environmental and consumer advocacy groups have raised alarms about Georgia Power's long-term plan that would significantly expand its reliance on fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil. They also express concerns about how potentially higher fuel costs and other expenses will further burden the typical Georgia Power household and small business owner. Since 2023, the average Georgia Power residential customers is paying $43 more per month following a series of increase to base electric rates, to recover excess fuel expenses, and complete two of the newest nuclear power generators at Plant Vogtle. Bob Sherrier, staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said Thursday one large data center can consume over 1,000 megawatts and the potential demand from the industry could potentially double the state's current energy demand. He said the new PSC rule gives regulators more control over how Georgia Power recoups money spent on data centers. However, questions remain if it does enough to protect other customers. Sherrier said it's going to be extremely expensive to bring the large data centers onto the power grid, with major investments in transmission and distribution lines and power plants, as well as increased energy fuel expenses. 'Did residents cause Georgia Power to file an emergency IRP a year ago that asked to add spend billions of dollars to build new power plants?' Sherrier said. 'They didn't. Is it because of small businesses that they require miles and miles of new, expensive transmission lines? No, I think that this bill sets an appropriate standard for making sure that they don't have to pay for those costs.' Aaron Mitchell, vice president of pricing and planning for Georgia Power, said that the proposal is unnecessary since the PSC rule requires data centers to bear the full cost of their energy consumption. Several dozen companies have expressed interest in building data centers inside the Peach State. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, data centers consume 10 to 50 times as much electricity as the average commercial building. A forthcoming report commissioned by the Data Center Coalition, a national membership association for industry, found that direct employment in the data center industry increased 7% from 2022-2023, going from 28,120 jobs to in 2022 to to 30,070 the following year, according to Khara Boender, senior manager of state policy for the coalition. 'We would like to stress that the data center industry is committed to paying for its full cost of service for electricity,' Boender said. 'We do not want residential ratepayers subsidizing data center energy use.' Boender said the Data Center Coalition opposes the bill. 'Since the PSC has taken action to ensure large load customers bear the cost of their energy use, we encourage the committee to resist advancing legislation that would duplicate those efforts being addressed in the regulatory environment where the rate setting has traditionally taken place,' she said. A report in December from real-estate firm CBRE found that Atlanta is among the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation for the construction of data centers. The amount of data center power capacity jumped by 74% during the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023. Major companies like Meta, Microsoft, Google and X have either opened data centers or announced plans to open facilities in Atlanta. The state is attracting interest from tech companies with its state tax breaks, with companies primarily building in regions with high-speed fiber optic cable infrastructure that is able to transfer large volumes of data. Georgia Power says data center growth will cause electricity demands to triple in next decade Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican, asked Mitchell why the utility company's growth projections from a couple of years ago were significantly lower than its current forecast. Dolezal also asked if there was any truth to a rumor the PSC is merely rubber stamping requests from Georgia Power that have led to rising bills for its customers. 'The thing that stands out to me is looking 10 years out, your estimate three years ago for 2035 will be is now 55% higher. That's a massive change for three years. Help me understand what's driving that change.' Mitchell cited the state's economic development boom that has attracted several auto manufacturing companies and auto suppliers to open new industrial sites and the surging artificial intelligence industry supported by data centers. Mitchell said that the PSC has consistently reduced the company's initial requests in rates cases and resource planning. Sen. Frank Ginn, Danielsville Republican, said his biggest concern about rapidly building up infrastructure for data centers is the potential downfall should the demand be replaced by new AI technology that consumes drastically less energy. Georgia Power also has the ability to adjust its plans for building out its electric system should the market dynamics shift in a different direction, Mitchell said. Mitchell said the new PSC rule locking in larger industrial customers into minimum 15-year contracts means that companies that fail to stay in operation for the entire length of a contract will 'owe the remainder of the term of costs for that contract, so that other customers are not stuck with or have to bear the brunt of those costs.' 'We'll be establishing minimum bills while electricity usage may fluctuate,' Mitchell said. 'We wanted to ensure that the revenue coming in from these large customers was sufficient to cover our cost' Mitchell said Georgia Power would be in a unique position as a utility company if it needed to get approval from the General Assembly to adjust its rates based on large data centers usage. 'We believe that the tools provided by the laws you've already enacted, and under the rules of the Public Service Commission, provide us all tools necessary to ensure that we can continue to keep Georgia growing but protect all customers at the same time,' he said. Several members of the Senate committee, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, expressed their support of new data centers opening in Georgia since they can add a substantial infusion of dollars to the local property tax digest. Hufstetler said he's in favor of the economic development benefits that come from new data centers. His district is home to a Switch data Center in Cartersville and in Rome, Microsoft has agreed to upfront 100% of their property taxes for a new data center. 'I think we're all – Georgia Power, the Public Service Commission, the data centers, myself – I think we all are kind of looking at the same goals,' Hufstetler said. 'It's just making sure that we've got everything tightened up to where we do protect the consumers of Georgia.' Environment Georgia state director Jennette Gayer raised concerns about the environmental impact of new power plants and transmission lines required to support data centers rather than Georgia Power relying more on building up renewable energy sources like solar power. Gayer, a senior advisor for consumer watchdog Georgia Public Interest Research Group, said that the bill better ensures that data centers companies pay their fair share of energy costs. 'We absolutely do not think that the cost of supplying energy to data centers should be imposed on the environment or on consumers,' she said. Julian Bene, a former board member of Atlanta's economic development agency Invest Atlanta, said the rapidly changing AI landscape includes a Chinese entrepreneurial group that developed a substitute for the technology proliferating across the U.S. It can operate at a fraction of the power that's in use widespread domestically, he said. Bene said that if Georgia Power has an actual 'take or pay' agreement then it'll allow the company to recoup their investment without coming at the expense of residential and small business customers. 'If you're saying it's all fixed, what's your objection to Sen. Hufstetler's bill?' Bene said. 'Let's do belt and braces and have both. You're saying it's all fixed, what's your objection?' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
