Georgia House passes bill letting property owners sue local governments

A bill that would allow property owners to sue local governments survived Crossover Day last week as it passed the Georgia House.

House Bill 295 would allow property owners to sue cities and counties for financial harm due to a loss in property value if the local governments are found liable. The legislation targets cities and counties that decline to enforce laws against illegal public camping, drug possession, shoplifting, loitering or the state’s ban on “sanctuary policies,” according to the Georgia Recorder.

“If a local government refuses to do its job, we’re going to hit that local government in the pocketbook and put the money back in the hands of the property owners who have been harmed,” state Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, said during floor debate. Gaines sponsored the bill and is also a candidate for the 10th Congressional District.

The Georgia House voted to pass the bill 98-75 on March 4, surviving the legislative deadline of March 6.

The bill specifically targets “sanctuary” policies and would require local governments to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

“This bill hates immigrants and the unhoused so deeply and uncompromisingly that it leverages against them the wealth and privilege that they are already denied,” said state Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D-Smyrna. “This bill is yet another example of prioritizing the needs of the wealthy over the needs of everyone else.”

The Association of County Commissioners of Georgia does not support the bill, and its Director of Governmental Affairs, Todd Edwards, said the bill continues a trend in Georgia that waives local governments’ sovereign immunity, which protects them from being sued.

“If it’s just an open, all-out waiver of immunity, that means local governments — thus taxpayers — can be sued,” Edwards said. “And this would be a trial attorney’s dream to be able to go after the public purse.”

Democrats argued that the bill criminalizes poverty and fails to address the underlying issues that cause these problems.

“What it does instead is expose cities and counties to financial liability if they do not enforce certain laws aggressively enough, even when enforcement is not the right or effective response,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates.