Just yesterday, Georgia State Rep. Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) was named chairman of the House Governmental Affairs Committee – one of the busiest committees in state government.
Representing all of Rabun and parts of Habersham, Anderson, elected in 2020, has served on the Governmental Affairs Committee for four years and as vice chair for two.
“This committee gets all of the elections bills that come through the House and Senate,” Anderson said. “We also deal with all the bills related to state and local, county and municipal government regulations. So it is actually, from a volume of bills, it is one of the busiest committees in the House.”
Anderson already has at least four bills he plans to push in the upcoming legislative session. One in particular, he said, involves the codification of the cityhood process. As drafted, Anderson’s bill would seek to create a more organized, defined procedure to establish a city under state law. The bill, as he foresees it, would bring about a “more intentional process.”
“The process that you go through to create a city actually does not exist in state law – it only exist in governmental affairs committee rules and state and local government committee rules,” he said. “Committee rules can be changed, suspended, amended with a simple majority vote of the committee. So, that’s kind of a scary situation to be in when you’re talking about creating a legal entity that has, virtually, unchecked and unlimited taxing authority.”
Now, Anderson said he’s ready for business to begin in the upcoming session.
“It is humbling,” he said. “I’m honored for it, and I’m ready to get to work.”
