East Cobb Cityhood bill goes to Ga. House floor Thursday

The Georgia House Rules Committee has scheduled the East Cobb Cityhood bill for a floor debate and vote by the full House for Thursday. East Cobb Cityhood bill, State Rep. Matt Dollar

The committee met briefly Wednesday morning to hear from State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican and the bill’s chief sponsor, before voting to send HB 841 to the full House.

The committee instructions include allowing up to an hour for debate before a vote. You can watch a replay of the Rules Committee meeting by clicking here.

The House session on Thursday begins at 10 a.m. and you can watch that by clicking here.

Only a few questions were raised by the Rules Committee. One member asked Dollar if he knew the financial impact a City of East Cobb would have on Cobb County government.

Dollar said he didn’t know and since he first introduced a Cityhood bill in 2019 he has not heard anything from county officials about those concerns.

However, at a House Governmental Affairs Committee meeting Jan. 13, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann and Public Safety Director Randy Crider said they wanted more time to examine the possible impact of an East Cobb city.

It’s one of four bills in this legislative session that would create new cities in Cobb County, along with Vinings, Lost Mountain and Mableton.

A financial feasibility study required as part of the East Cobb legislation was released only in November, and included police and fire services that were not part of the bill Dollar and State Rep. Sharon Cooper introduced in 2021.

East Cobb Cityhood leaders commissioned the study in July and did not disclose until after the report was concluded that public safety was included in August.

Those leaders said in November that there was public feedback supporting those services, but they did not elaborate.

Critics of the East Cobb bill have said the study didn’t full provide a full financial picture of the cost and maintenance of public safety equipment, as well as financials for hiring police officers and firefighters.

On Tuesday, the House Governmental Affairs Committee voted for a second time to favorably report the bill after Dollar presented two significant changes to the legislation.

His bill would call for a referendum for eligible voters in the proposed city of nearly 60,000 people to decide whether or not to incorporate.

The latest revision to the bill would move the referendum up from the Nov. 6 general election to the May 24 general primary, and to have a mayor directly elected citywide.

Those changes can be found by clicking here; it’s version LC 47 1445S in the upper right corner.

The East Cobb bill is the first Cityhood bill taken up by the legislature this year. The a subcommittee of the House Governmental Affairs Committee was hearing the Vinings and Lost Mountain bills Thursday afternoon.

A bill to create a city of Buckhead out of Atlanta also has been filed and has drawn considerable interest and opposition.