[March 22, 2026] | It's the first day of spring, and North Georgia is beautiful. I was watching some NCAA basketball at a game up North, and they still had snow on the ground. Glad I live where we do.
The 2026 legislative session is drawing to a close. There are only five more legislative days left in the next two weeks. Now is when you have to really be on your toes, as legislators start adding their bills to other bills, and other bills get changed just enough to make them bad, so you really must be reading the bills and pay attention.
One bill we were excited to vote for this past week, and the Governor signed quickly, was House Bill 1199, which will temporarily suspend the motor fuel tax for 60 days. The conflict in the Middle East has caused gas prices to spike, and this has put stress on your pocketbook. The tax on a gallon of gas is $.34, and this tax is paid when it is put in a truck to be delivered to your favorite gas station. So, the gas station will have to use up the fuel that had tax paid on it and get a new delivery before they will be able to lower the price. You'll see some stations hopefully drop their price quickly and some slower depending on the amount of fuel they sell.
Fortunately, we have been able to backfill this suspension of your tax with our rainy-day fund. This gas tax cut saves Georgians about $200 million a month, and if we could not reimburse the gas tax void, that would stop quite a few road projects that all of us think are very important. We will backfill it next January when we do the budget, and road projects will not be hurt by this cut.
Also, this week Governor Kemp signed House Bill 1000, and this will provide a one-time income tax refund to Georgians who filed individual tax returns for both the '25 and '24 tax years. When you file your 2025 return, the Georgia Department of Revenue will issue a refund. The refund will be $250 for single filer or married filing individually, $375 for heads of households, and $500 for married couples filing jointly. If your tax payment was less, the refund will be that amount, so your refund will not be more than you originally paid. This is the fourth year in a row that we have been able to do this. I understand the refunds will be available in the next 6 to 8 weeks. I am proud that our Republican leadership has thoughtfully budgeted, restrained spending, and allowed us to be able to do this for you.