The Georgia Senate on Thursday adopted a bill that would establish a cityhood referendum for East Cobb, but the legislation needs further action by the House.
By a 31-18 vote, the Senate approved HB 841, which would call for a May 24 referendum.
The bill that passed the Senate was a substitute from a Senate committee that included clarifying language on residency requirements for city council candidates.
That’s why the bill has to go back to the House, since a different version was passed there.
A motion by Sen. John Albers, the Senate sponsor of the East Cobb bill, to transfer the bill to the full House passed 30-16, but it didn’t get the required two-thirds of a majority vote.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan referred the bill back to the lower chamber in “normal order,” meaning it has to go through the committee process.
Albers, a Republican from North Fulton whose district will include the proposed East Cobb city boundaries next year, said that voters in East Cobb deserve the right to self-determination through a referendum.
He noted that in the last 17 years, 11 cityhood bills in Georgia have been voted in, and 10 of them have passed.
“We do not create cities,” he said from the Senate well. “We only create opportunities for citizens in those areas to create them.”
Two Democratic senators spoke against the bill, mainly for the timing of the referendum.
The original East Cobb bill was to have been in November, but was moved up to May in a change made during the House committee process by former State Rep. Matt Dollar.
He was the bill’s chief sponsor before resigning after it was sent to the Senate.
Sen. Michelle Au of Johns Creek, a member of the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee, said that while “I don’t have an objection to cityhood movements,” the May referendum is an “arbitrary deadline.
“There’s no reason that I can see that we need to rush.”
Three other Cobb cityhood bills—Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton—also have May referendums.
Au said more time is needed for the financial impact of those new cities, if they come to pass, on Cobb County government.
State Sen. Michael “Doc” Rhett, a Democrat from South Cobb, made the same point, and also said the May referendums would be hard for Cobb Elections to include on an already full primary ballot.
“I understand the need for autonomy,” Rhett said. “Let’s slow down.”
Voting for the East Cobb bill was Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican from East Cobb. She did not speak from the Senate floor on behalf of the bill.
Her district currently includes the proposed East Cobb area but is not under new boundaries redrawn in reapportionment.
She was opposed to the East Cobb cityhood bill when it first came up in three years ago but said recently she was supportive of letting voters decide on whether to have a city.
The East Cobb Cityhood group is having a virtual information session Thursday at 6 p.m.; you can register by clicking here.
Related:
- Editor’s Note: Why the rush with Cobb Cityhood bills?
- Democrat announces campaign for Ga. House special election
- East Cobb Cityhood bill passes Senate committee
- Cupid speaks out on cityhood, redistricting issues
- Cobb Republicans file bill to redistrict county commission seats
- East Cobb Cityhood bill sponsor resigns from legislature
- Cobb Republicans file school board redistricting bill
- East Cobb Cityhood bill passes Georgia House
- East Cobb News Cityhood page
- East Cobb News Politics & Elections guide
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