blog-special

GFB shows strength during visit to state capitol

by Jay Stone

Posted on March 6, 2025 5:34 PM

Georgia Farm Bureau Day at the Capitol began with a meeting at the Georgia Freight Depot. Georgia House Ag Chairman Robert Dickey & Senate Ag Committee Chairman Russ Goodman, standing at podium, spoke to the GFB members before they walked up to the state Capitol. / Photo by Logan Thomas

Georgia Farm Bureau (GFB) members visited Atlanta Feb. 11 for the annual GFB Day at the Capitol. About 600 people from 80 counties participated, meeting elected officials outside the Georgia House and Senate chambers. GFB hosted a lunch for members and legislators at the Georgia Freight Depot.

“Your representatives and your senators, they want to see you, they want to talk to you,” GFB President Tom McCall said, underscoring the reason for the annual event. “If it’s nothing but y’all getting to know them, that makes a huge difference.”

GFB members carried messages to the legislature on a variety of ag concerns, and two key topics emerged - disaster relief and tort reform.

Gov. Brian Kemp has pushed the federal government to provide funding for block grants and state legislators for low interest loans to help Hurricane Helene storm victims keep their farms going.

“It was truly a generational storm,” Kemp said. “It was the largest, most dangerous and costliest storm in state history.”

A key piece of state disaster relief legislation is House Bill 223, which would exempt federal disaster relief payments for agricultural losses from state income tax, provide a tax credit for eligible timber losses at $400 per acre, and exempt building materials used for repairing poultry and livestock barns from sales tax.

In remarks to GFB members, Senate Ag Committee Chairman Russ Goodman noted a bill he sponsored called the Timberlands Recovery, Exemption and Earnings Stability (TREES) Act. This bill would suspend “severance” taxes in the 66 counties declared federal disaster areas after Hurricane Helene. The bill would also set up a grant program for municipalities in those counties to recoup lost revenue because of diminished timber prices.

“People that would normally be selling wood for $25 or $30 a ton are selling wood for 50 cents or a dollar,” Goodman said, noting that the basis for severance taxes is the sale amount in dollars. “It’s going to help the landowner a little, but it’s also going to help those counties.”

Kemp has urged the General Assembly to act on tort reform - making changes to the civil justice system to limit plaintiffs’ ability to sue and the amount of damages they can receive. Kemp noted the five-year average of legal claims in Georgia has risen by 25%, faster than Georgia’s population growth. The number of claim awards exceeding $1 million has also increased.

Proposed legislation would allow business owners - including farms - to be held liable only for what they can control. It would set up legal proceedings so that juries decide damages for actual pain and suffering rather than have attorneys suggest damage amounts. It would also allow for separation of the liability and damage portions of trials, so juries aren’t weighing both topics simultaneously.

While speaking at the GFB Day at the Capitol luncheon, Gov. Brian Kemp discussed tort reform and                                                   disaster relief efforts he and the General Assembly are working to pass to help Georgians recover from                                          Hurricane Helene. /Photo by Logan Thomas