Recent Laws Passed in Georgia: Tax Cuts, Squatter Act, Elections

Recent laws passed in Georgia during the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions have cut the state income tax rate to 5.19%, made squatting a crime, restricted minors’ access to social media, reshaped election administration, expanded local law enforcement’s role in immigration checks, and added a wide slate of school safety, property, and healthcare rules. Governor Brian Kemp signed most of these measures in the spring of each year, with the majority taking effect on July 1.

Income Tax Cuts for Individuals and Corporations

Two consecutive sessions have pulled Georgia’s flat income tax rate down faster than originally planned. House Bill 1015, signed in April 2024, dropped the individual rate from 5.49% to 5.39% for tax year 2024, moving ahead of the schedule set in 2022.¹ House Bill 1023, from the same session, tied the corporate rate to the individual rate, producing a single flat number for both.

In 2025, House Bill 111 cut another 20 basis points, bringing both rates to 5.19% for tax year 2025 and after.² Employers began adjusting withholdings to the lower rate in July 2025, and the Department of Revenue lists 5.19% as the current flat rate for both individual and corporate income.³

Where the Rate Is Headed

State law sets a target of 4.99%, with automatic 0.10% reductions each year. If the schedule holds, the rate drops to 5.09% for 2027 and reaches 4.99% in 2028. Each annual cut can be delayed by a year if any of three fiscal triggers hit: the governor’s revenue estimate for the next fiscal year fails to exceed the current year’s by at least 3%, the prior year’s net revenue is not higher than the three preceding years, or the Revenue Shortfall Reserve does not hold enough to cover the projected revenue loss from the cut.¹ The cuts, in other words, are scheduled but not guaranteed.

The Georgia Squatter Reform Act

House Bill 1017 rewrote how the state deals with people living in someone else’s residential property without permission. Before the law, owners had to work through a civil eviction process that could stretch on for months. HB 1017 created a criminal offense called “prohibited possession,” letting law enforcement step in directly instead of pushing owners into a lengthy court fight.⁴

The mechanics are quick. An owner files a property affidavit in magistrate court, and the occupant is served with a citation demanding proof of a legal right to be there, such as a lease or written agreement. If nothing is produced, the court must hold a hearing within three days. A judge who finds no legitimate claim can order immediate removal. Conviction for prohibited possession is a misdemeanor, which in Georgia can carry fines and up to 12 months in jail.⁴

One boundary matters. Federal law still protects active-duty servicemembers and their dependents from eviction without a court order under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the expedited removal process cannot be used to work around those protections.⁵ If a servicemember has any arguable claim to occupancy, the matter still goes through a traditional court proceeding.

New Rules for Minors on Social Media

Senate Bill 351, the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act, was signed in April 2024 and put duties on both tech platforms and schools.⁶ Platforms must verify a user’s age before opening an account and cannot provide accounts to minors without parental consent. The law also creates a civil remedy for damages when commercial websites distribute harmful content to minors without age verification.

Local boards of education and charter school governing bodies must adopt policies that restrict student access to social media on school-provided devices and networks, and submit those policies to the Georgia Department of Education for annual review. The department develops model programs on online safety and responsible digital behavior and folds them into the state’s character education curriculum.

Changes to Election Administration

Senate Bill 189, signed in 2024, changed both structure and procedure. The Secretary of State is no longer a voting member of the State Election Board.⁷ The office still runs day-to-day election operations, but the voting authority on the board has been separated from the office that administers elections.

Ballot counting changed too. Officials must tabulate the human-readable text printed on ballot marking device ballots rather than machine-encoded data such as barcodes or QR codes, and the same rule applies to recounts.⁷

Voter eligibility challenges also drew attention. Any citizen may challenge another voter’s eligibility, but the challenger carries the burden of proof and must specify grounds in writing. Challenges filed within 45 days of an election cannot be heard until after results are certified. These state rules operate alongside the federal 90-day quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act, which blocks systematic voter roll purges in the months before a federal election.⁸

Local Law Enforcement and Immigration Status

House Bill 1105, the Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act of 2024, expanded what local police must do when they arrest someone. The arresting officer has to review the person’s criminal record through the FBI and the Georgia Crime Information Center, take fingerprints, and try to verify immigration status before releasing the person on citation.⁹ Officers may also verify status during any criminal investigation when a suspect cannot produce a secure document, a valid Georgia driver’s license or ID, or other sufficient identification.

Penalties reach both the local government and the individuals working for it. A local government whose law enforcement agency violates the act can lose state funding and state-administered federal funding, though county commissions are not penalized when a sheriff independently violates the law. A local official or employee who knowingly and willfully violates the act commits a misdemeanor, and a second or subsequent offense is treated as a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. Jailers face the same misdemeanor structure for knowing violations of their duties. Anyone who knowingly makes a false statement in a report required by the act faces charges under the state’s false statement statute.⁹

Local agencies must also enter into agreements with federal immigration authorities, including the 287(g) program administered by ICE. Officers acting under a 287(g) agreement operate under ICE direction and oversight.¹⁰

Key Laws From the 2025 Session

Beyond the income tax cut in HB 111, the 2025 session produced several measures affecting schools, property, and healthcare.¹¹

School Safety and Education

House Bill 268 is the broadest school safety measure. Schools must maintain up-to-date facility mapping and mobile panic alert systems, transfer student records within five business days so potential threats are flagged quickly, and the law creates a grant program for hiring Student Advocacy Specialists. It also establishes new criminal offenses for terroristic threats against a school and terroristic acts at one.¹²

Senate Bill 1 bars students from competing on athletic teams designated for the opposite gender and requires schools to designate multi-occupancy restrooms, changing areas, and sleeping quarters for use by one gender. House Bill 307 builds on the Georgia Early Literacy Act by consolidating dyslexia screening requirements into a single framework so students who need support are identified earlier. Senate Bill 123 requires school systems with chronic absenteeism rates of 10% or higher to set up attendance review teams to investigate the causes.¹²

Property, Agriculture, and Healthcare

House Bill 358 restricts certain foreign persons and entities from acquiring a possessory interest in agricultural land in Georgia. House Bill 399 requires residential landlords to maintain in-state staff to handle tenant communications, a change aimed at out-of-state property management companies that have been hard for Georgia tenants to reach.¹¹

On healthcare, House Bill 352 enacts the Georgia Gestational Diabetes Management Act, and House Bill 196 updates rules for the state employees’ health insurance plan regarding drugs dispensed for self-administration. House Bill 81 establishes an interstate compact for school psychologists so those professionals can practice across state lines, addressing staffing shortages in Georgia school districts.¹²

1
Office of the Governor. Gov. Kemp Signs Historic Tax Cut Package Into Law
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Georgia Department of Revenue. Gov. Kemp Signs Legislation Delivering More Than $1 Billion in Tax Cuts and Relief
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Georgia Department of Revenue. Corporate Income and Net Worth Tax
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Georgia General Assembly. House Bill 1017 – Georgia Squatter Reform Act
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United States Courts. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
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Georgia General Assembly. Senate Bill 351 – Protecting Georgias Children on Social Media Act of 2024
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Georgia General Assembly. Senate Bill 189 – Elections
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Department of Justice. NVRA List Maintenance Guidance
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Georgia General Assembly. House Bill 1105 – Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act of 2024
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act
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Office of the Governor. 2025 Signed Legislation
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Office of the Governor. Gov. Kemp Signs Bills Strengthening Education and School Safety