GA: Governor signs bill limiting future Cobb transit votes

A bill signed into law Monday aims to preclude Cobb County from holding another transit referendum until 2032.

The legislation, authored by Republicans from Cobb and Gwinnett counties, states that if voters of a metro Atlanta county reject a transit tax, a new referendum cannot be held for eight years. Both counties held failed transit referendums in November 2024.

Supporters of the bill argued voters have “SPLOST fatigue” after rejecting previous proposals to expand mass transit.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 328 into law after it passed both houses of the Georgia General Assembly last month, mostly along partisan lines.

Originally a standalone bill, HB 1377, the language about transit was tacked onto HB 328, which also expands the state’s private school scholarship program.

Cobb voters last considered transit expansion with the Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (M-SPLOST), which would have collected $11 billion by raising the sales tax from 6% to 7%. It was defeated two years ago by a wide margin, with 62% voting “no.”

The M-SPLOST, which was put on the ballot by the Democratic majority on Cobb’s Board of Commissioners, included plans for more than 100 miles of rapid bus lines, six new transit centers and a countywide system of on-demand “microtransit.”

Cobb Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, said she was disappointed to see the bill become law because it limits local flexibility in responding to transportation needs.

"Transportation remains one of the most important issues facing Cobb County’s future economic competitiveness and quality of life," Cupid said in a written statement. "... Cobb County voters deserve the opportunity to revisit major transportation investments as conditions, priorities, and public input change over time. An eight-year restriction removes an important tool for local governments to engage residents on infrastructure solutions that impact mobility, congestion relief, economic development, and regional connectivity."

The county, she added, will continue conversations with residents, business leaders and regional partners about addressing long-term transportation challenges.

In February, before the bill was introduced, Cupid told the MDJ she had no plans to bring the transit tax back in the near term, though she wouldn’t rule it out entirely.

State Rep. John Carson, R-northeast Cobb, wrote the legislation.

“We just believe that counties that have a failed transit referendum, that was paid for with taxpayer funds, they need to take a pause, a reasonable amount of pause, before coming back to the voters and asking them to sign up for another 30-year tax,” Carson previously said.

Prior to 2024, the last time Cobb voters considered transit expansion was a 2012 regional T-SPLOST.

But Gwinnett County voters, who voted down a proposed transit tax in 2024, also rejected transit expansion in 2019 and 2020.

“They’re (voters) upset that they feel that these referendums come with regularity, and that local government, Gwinnett County in my circumstance, just keeps calling these referendums over and over and over again, hoping to get a desired result,” House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, a Dacula Republican, said in March.

The law will not affect counties’ regular SPLOST referendums, which in Cobb’s case have been used to fund transportation capital projects.

“We’re not talking about roads, bridges, intersections, airports,” Carson said.

It also wouldn’t prevent Cobb from holding a vote on whether to join MARTA, the transit agency that serves Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties.

Democrats criticized the bill on the House floor before its passage, saying it ties the hands of metro Atlanta counties that badly need to address congestion.

“Traffic is already bad enough and is probably going to get way worse in eight years if we keep doing this,” said Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Duluth Democrat.

Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D- Smyrna, also spoke out against the bill.

“The country my family comes from, Colombia, has much better public transit than the state of Georgia, and we should be ashamed that we … have worse public transit than a third world country,” Sanchez said.

The Cobb Taxpayers Association, a local anti-tax group, led the fight against the proposed transit tax in 2024. Lance Lamberton, the group’s chairman, told the MDJ he was "overjoyed and gratified" to see the bill become law.

" Cobb County taxpayers don't have to worry about another transit tax lurking in the woods for many years to come," Lamberton said. "That's a good thing."

The law also contains a provision written by Rep. Houston Gaines, R- Athens, to prevent counties from using Transportation SPLOST revenues to fund free bus service, as Athens- Clarke County has done for several years.

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