Georgia lawmakers rush to pass bills on final day of 2026 session

It’s the last day of Georgia’s 2026 legislative session, and lawmakers will be working to get their bills passed before adjournment.

The Georgia legislature meets for 40 days per year, and the last day is usually lawmakers’ last ditch effort to get their agendas pushed through.

Leadership, such as the House Speaker and Lieutenant Governor, get to decide what’s on the agenda, so it can shift fast.

Here are some things to watch out for today.

Data centers, energy and the environment

At the beginning of the session, several bills were introduced to regulate data centers, but most died in their chambers and some haven’t made it out of committee.

The main one that has managed to stay alive is Senate Bill 410, which would end sales and use tax exemption on the construction materials and equipment for data centers, but it doesn’t repeal tax breaks that have already been granted.

It is still possible that other measures may make it into a bill through an amendment. 

One that many lawmakers supported was Senate Bill 34, which would have protected residential customers and small businesses from costs related to data centers. The bill was essentially stripped in committee, but its sponsor made an amendment on the Senate floor restoring the original bill. However, the Senate adjourned before it was taken up for a vote.

Elections and voting rules

The Georgia Senate is pushing a measure to require hand-marked paper ballots by the midterms, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This contradicts what House lawmakers had planned, which was to delay the switch until after the midterms but before the 2028 presidential election.

Bills sent to the governor

Several bills have passed that deal with taxes and affordability issues.

A bill that will put more than $2 billion back in Georgians’ pockets through an income tax rebate passed back in March and already has the governor’s signature.

House Bill 1001 passed the state Senate Tuesday that would lower the state income tax to 4.99%. 

House Bill 1116, or the Homeownership Opportunity and Market Equalization Act of 2026, plans to eliminate property taxes on homesteads by 2032 and caps taxable value increases to 3%.

The legislature has also approved bills that regulate cannabis and hemp products.

Senate Bill 220, or the Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act, would rename the program from “low-THC oil” to “medical cannabis,” allow an inhalation option to the medication, prohibit public use and change restrictions around dosing from percent of THC to milligrams. 

Senate Bill 33 would require hemp products found in Georgia convenience stores to adhere to testing and labeling regulations. The bill passed the House on Tuesday.