TITLE 50 STATE GOVERNMENT

Section 16. Public Property, 50-16-1 through 50-16-183.

ARTICLE 2 STATE PROPERTIES CODE

50-16-40. Consideration of conveyances by the General Assembly.

1. Approval by the General Assembly of conveyances generally.
   1. The commission shall prepare each conveyance of property with a value of $500,000.00 or more for consideration by the General Assembly and the Governor as provided in this Code section.
   2. The commission shall not submit to the General Assembly for its consideration any conveyance which provides that either:
      1. The conveyee will not obtain possession of the leased premises within a period of five years from the commencement date of the regular session of the General Assembly to which the conveyance is submitted for consideration; or
      2. The term of the conveyance will not commence within a period of five years from the commencement date of the regular session of the General Assembly to which the conveyance is submitted for consideration.
2. Conveyances submitted to the General Assembly during regular session.
   1. A resolution containing a general description of the proposed conveyance shall be introduced in the General Assembly in either the Senate, the House of Representatives, or both, if then in regular session, or if not in regular session at such time, at the next regular session of the General Assembly; provided, however, that conveyances may be considered outside the regular session of the General Assembly in a manner provided in subsection (c) of this Code section. Such resolution shall be prepared with the assistance of the Office of Legislative Counsel and shall not be submitted until approved by that office. The resolution shall authorize the commission to convey the property by appropriate instrument for fair market value or other consideration and provisions as the commission shall in its discretion determine to be in the best interest of the State of Georgia. The resolution, in order to become effective, shall receive the same number of readings and in both the Senate and the House of Representatives go through the same processes and procedures as a bill:
      1. If either the Senate or the House of Representatives fails to adopt the resolution during the regular session by a majority vote in each house, the conveyance shall be considered rejected by the General Assembly;
      2. If the resolution is adopted during the regular session by a majority vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives but is not approved by the Governor, the conveyance shall be considered rejected by the Governor; and
      3. If the resolution is adopted during the regular session by a majority vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives and is approved by the Governor, whenever in the judgment of the chairperson of the commission all of the precedent terms and conditions of the resolution, if there are any, have been fulfilled or complied with, the chairperson of the commission, in his or her capacity as Governor of the state, or the executive director shall execute and deliver to the conveyee the agreement for and on behalf of and in the name of the State of Georgia. The Governor's or executive director's signature shall be attested by the secretary of the commission in his or her capacity as Secretary of State. The Secretary of State or executive director shall also affix the great seal of the state to the amendment.
   2. A conveyance resolution submitted to the General Assembly during the regular legislative session pursuant to this subsection shall not be amended or considered for amendment after more than 20 days of its original filing in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. In addition, such bill shall not have any amendment at any time that pertains to matters unrelated to a state property conveyance.
3. Conveyances initiated prior to regular session of the General Assembly.
   1. Not more than twice outside of the regular session of the General Assembly the commission may prepare a resolution containing a description of proposed conveyances which shall be submitted to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the chairpersons of the standing committees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives which regularly consider proposed legislation related to state property. The resolution shall be prepared with the assistance of the Office of Legislative Counsel and shall not be submitted until approved by that office. A copy of the proposed resolution shall also be provided to each member whose legislative district contains all or a portion of the property that is the subject of a proposed conveyance.
   2. The standing committees that regularly consider matters related to state property in the Senate and the House of Representatives may meet not more than twice a year at a time outside of the regular legislative session of the General Assembly, on or about July and October of each year. At such meeting the committees shall only consider property conveyance resolutions submitted by the commission and shall vote to approve or disapprove of such resolution. If a committee in the Senate or the House of Representatives approves a resolution by a majority vote, then a committee report shall be prepared reflecting the committee's approval of the resolution. If both the Senate and the House of Representatives committees approve a resolution, then the resolution shall be filed at the next regular session of the General Assembly with a copy of both committee reports attached. The resolution, in order to become effective, shall receive the same number of readings in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and shall then be voted on as any other bill; provided, however, that such bills shall not be subject to assignment to any committee or subcommittee of either the Senate or the House of Representatives and shall not be subject to any amendment.

(Code 1933, § 91-108A, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 146, § 1; Code 1933, § 91-107a, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 857, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1092, § 1; Ga. L. 2014, p. 467, § 4/HB 495.)

The 2014 amendment, effective April 22, 2014, designated the existing provisions of this Code section as subsection (a); in subsection (a), added a heading, added paragraph (a)(1), added the paragraph (a)(2) designation, in paragraph (a)(2), substituted "conveyance" for "lease" throughout, and substituted "conveyee" for "lessee" in subparagraph (a)(2)(A); and added subsections (b) and (c).