ATLANTA — The 2026 legislative session ended early Friday morning with a flurry of bills passing both the House and the Senate.
One bill that passed was one that if you need to get rushed to the hospital would require insurance to pay for the ambulance ride.
A bill to cut income tax rates passed, one to cut property taxes got watered down, and a House bill affecting the lowly penny passed.
“I don’t know where they’re going to go. I mean, there are millions of them, right,” said Adam Williams about the penny.
The U.S. government announced it wouldn’t make anymore which could prove awkward, in time, if pennies become scarcer.
So, the Georgia General Assembly tried to make it easier for business owners like Williams. He owns the Ansley Wine Merchant.
The bill would allow merchants to round up or round down their bill to the nearest nickel to make it easier for everyone -- no more pennies.
Williams said virtually all his transactions are electronic, so it doesn’t really matter.
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“The vast majority, probably 90% of our transactions, are credit card nowadays, and don’t really think too much about the cash. We’re still getting pennies from the bank to make change for some people, and it hasn’t been an issue yet,” Williams told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot.
Lawmakers also battled it out over income tax reform versus property tax reform. Income tax won.
The state will cut the state income tax rate down to 4.99% and will begin cutting it again, over time, to 3.99%.
But a fight to cut property taxes, or even cap them, failed on Sine Die during a rough and tumble battle between House and Senate.
“I believe the policy that we offered up, that we passed and sent to the Senate, would have done meaningful reform for the taxpayers in this state, and we’re just sorry that we didn’t get across things fine,” House Speaker Jon Burns said.
What else made it? Money to boost childhood literacy, the cellphone ban in Georgia High Schools.
What didn’t make it? The bill to require weapons detectors in all schools.
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