ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council has chosen which priorities it is seeking legislative assistance with for the coming year.

The council will be going through their legislative agenda during Monday’s city council session. The legislative package for 2025 includes proposals for enhanced safety at city pools and rules to have data centers disclose water use estimates before development starts, as well as how it could impact resources.

The agenda created by Atlanta City Council members will need state lawmakers to push through new bills to meet the goals they’ve listed.

You can find a full list of the city’s legislative priorities below.

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City of Atlanta Legislative Priorities

Parks and Recreation

City officials included two policy needs in the legislative package for Atlanta Parks and Recreation.

The first is a policy statement saying the city needs to have support to put childcare services in the city’s parks as a way to provide safe, accessible childcare for working families and to enhance family-friendly amenities in underserved areas of Atlanta.

According to the package, this aligns with Mayor Andre Dickens’ “vision of making Atlanta a more family-oriented city.”

Separately, the city is also asking for legislation to be drafted and passed to allow for more safety at public pools.

These proposed guidelines include “stricter fencing, supervision, and regular inspections to reduce accidents and improve public safety, especially for families and children.”

Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation

When it comes to technology, Atlanta leaders want to get new incentives approved for small businesses, such as tax credits and a state-funded investment to “increase access to capital for Atlanta’s entrepreneurs,” in a bid to both keep and grow local businesses.

Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs

The Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs policy proposal was to provide in-state tuition for students classified as having Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in terms of visa and citizenship statuses, and student refugees, per House Bill 131 and Senate Bill 264.

If approved, it would allow refugees and DACA recipients to get in-state tuition as a way to boost workforce diversity and support Atlatna’s economic growth, according to officials.

Department of Law

City officials want to get legislative approval for allowing court stays and state sanctions for cases where Atlanta’s water rate is contested or challenged by jurisdictions outside of the city and for customers outside of the city. Officials said this would protect city revenue and avoid state penalties.

Department of Watershed Management

The building of data centers in the metro Atlanta area has ramped up in recent years, and now city officials want to have state lawmakers require data center developers to tell them water use estimates and provide water resource impact assessments for any planned development on new processing locations.

The request follows a recent moratorium in the City of Atlanta on the building of new data centers, with the construction of data centers within 2,640 feet, a half-mile, of what they call high-capacity transit stops. More directly, the city council also banned data centers within the Beltline Overlay District.

Atlanta Police Department/Public Safety

There were several proposals and policy statements related to the Atlanta Police Department and Public Safety needs for the city.

They are:

Proposed Legislation: Drone Mitigation Legislation allowing law enforcement to disrupt drones used for contraband delivery, armed drones, or those in restricted zones, enhancing public safety. Stakeholders Georgia citizens and law enforcement agencies.
Policy Statement: AI Crime Penalties Proposal to penalize the criminal use of artificial intelligence, addressing modern threats to public safety. Stakeholders Georgia citizens and law enforcement agencies.
Proposed Legislation: Georgia Open Records Act Modifications Amendments to protect government employees from doxing and to set response times based on agency size, improving efficiency and safeguarding employee privacy. Stakeholders Georgia government agencies, including law enforcement departments.
Proposed Legislation: Stronger Street Racing Legislation Legislation to increase penalties for street racing, including insurance penalties and vehicle seizure, aiming to curb dangerous street racing activities. Stakeholders Georgia citizens and law enforcement agencies.
Proposed Legislation: Recruitment and Retention Incentives for Law Enforcement Proposal for educational and career development incentives for police officers, supporting recruitment and retention of trained personnel. Stakeholders Law enforcement agencies and Georgia citizens.
Proposed Legislation: Modified Weapon Penalties Request to impose misdemeanor and felony penalties for weapon modifications, particularly those enhancing weapon lethality, to improve public safety. Stakeholders Georgia citizens and law enforcement agencies.
Proposed Legislation: First Responder Mental Health Expansion of PTSD benefits for first responders, including income replacement, to support mental health among public safety personnel. Stakeholders Georgia first responders and public safety organizations.
Policy Statement: Support for NG911 Initiatives Request to increase statewide 911 fees to fund Next Generation 911 technology, enhancing emergency response capabilities. Stakeholders Law enforcement and emergency response agencies, Georgia citizens.

Finance

The Atlanta City Council is requesting state lawmakers approve an increase to the city’s general obligation bond limit in order to allow bigger bonds to be issued without the need for a public referendum.

The current limit is $4 million, according to the city and raising the cap would let officials fund projects with both higher costs and larger scopes without delay.

Housing

Atlanta officials had tow housing-related priorities for state lawmakers for the 2025 legislative session, which begins Jan. 13.

According to the legislative agenda package, Atlanta wants to take out a provision from a zoning law in 2022 that requires public hearings for every Specail Administrative Permit.

Officials said before the 2022 law, SAPs “traditionally only required review and approval by staff,” but now they “must now hold a public hearing on every SAP application. An SAP can be for projects as simple as the construction of an addition to a single-family home, a renovation, or a demolition. The development community and homeowners are hindered by this requirement because it adds more time to the SAP process. The City is hindered by this requirement because it must use staff and resources to advertise the hearing, prepare for the hearing, and staff the hearing.”

City documents say the provision removal almost happened in 2024 legislative session, but “an additional unrelated legislative proposal was added to the bill later in the session and it ultimately failed as a result.”

Atlanta also wants impact waivers to be allowed when it comes to weaving or reducing impact fees without jurisdiction when replacing funding from other sources. Citing the need for reducing fees to provide more affordable housing, Atlanta council members said in the legislative request that allowing municipalities to provide impact fee reductions for housing could help address the housing crisis currently facing the metro area.

While the legislation proposed by Atlanta officials would help address this need, the request itself said it would be optional, meaning municipalities would not be required to waive fees, just that they could if they choose to do so.

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