Home Rule in Georgia: Preemption, Taxes, and Zoning Limits

Home rule in Georgia is the authority that lets counties and cities govern their own local affairs — passing ordinances, amending charters, and running day-to-day operations — without going back to the General Assembly for permission on every decision. That authority is real, but it is bounded. County power flows from Article IX, Section II of the Georgia Constitution; municipal power flows from the Municipal Home Rule Act of 1965, codified in O.C.G.A. § 36-35-3. Both grants stop at the same three walls: subjects the statute expressly excludes, fields the General Assembly has preempted by general law, and anything that conflicts with existing state law or the local government’s own charter.

Where the Power Comes From

Counties get their home rule power directly from the Constitution. Article IX, Section II, Paragraph I lets each county’s governing authority adopt “clearly reasonable ordinances, resolutions, or regulations relating to its property, affairs, and local government” where no general law already covers the subject and the ordinance does not conflict with the Constitution or any applicable local law.¹ The Constitution also keeps the General Assembly’s right to further define, broaden, or limit that power by general law at any time.

Cities operate on a parallel statutory grant. O.C.G.A. § 36-35-3 gives municipal governing authorities the same basic power to adopt reasonable ordinances on local matters where no general law exists and the action is consistent with the Constitution and the city’s charter.² The General Assembly cannot pass a local law to repeal or override a municipal home rule action except through the specific channels the limitations statute lays out.

A third provision sets the hierarchy. Article III, Section VI, Paragraph IV requires general laws to operate uniformly across the state. No local or special law can be enacted where a general law already addresses the subject, unless the General Assembly authorizes local police powers that do not conflict.³ The Georgia Supreme Court reads that to allow preemption either expressly or by implication: if a general law occupies a field, local ordinances that contradict or undermine it are void.

How Counties and Cities Change Their Own Rules

A county can amend or repeal local acts that apply to it by adopting a resolution or ordinance at two consecutive regular meetings held no fewer than seven and no more than sixty days apart.¹ Some subjects are off the table for county home rule action and must go through the General Assembly as local legislation instead.

Cities use a nearly identical two-meeting process. A municipality can amend its charter by passing an ordinance at two consecutive regular meetings spaced seven to sixty days apart. The additional requirement is notice: a synopsis of the proposed amendment must be published in the county’s official legal organ or a newspaper of general circulation once a week for three weeks during the sixty days before final adoption, and a copy must be available for public inspection at both the city clerk’s office and the superior court clerk’s office.²

Residents can also force a charter amendment onto the ballot by petition. The signature threshold scales with population: cities of 5,000 or fewer need signatures from at least 25 percent of registered voters from the last general municipal election, cities between 5,001 and 100,000 need 20 percent, and cities over 100,000 need 15 percent. Once the governing authority validates the petition, it must call an election within one week.²

One safeguard applies to both routes. A charter amendment adopted through the two-meeting process cannot override an amendment voters previously approved in a referendum, and it cannot repeal a voter-ratified local act, unless at least twelve months have passed since that referendum.

What Cities Cannot Do Under Home Rule

O.C.G.A. § 36-35-6 lists seven categories that municipalities cannot touch through home rule, no matter how reasonable the ordinance sounds. These subjects are reserved either for the General Assembly or for local acts passed through the traditional legislative process.⁴

Government structure and elections. A city cannot change the composition of its governing body, alter how members are elected or appointed, or modify term limits, except through procedures authorized in the state election code or specific statutory provisions.
Criminal penalties. A municipality cannot define an offense that duplicates a crime already in state law, impose confinement exceeding six months, or set fines and bond forfeitures above $1,000.
Taxation. Local governments cannot create any form of taxation beyond what state law or the Constitution authorizes.
Eminent domain. The procedures and scope of taking private property for public use remain under state control.
Businesses regulated by the Public Service Commission. A city cannot expand regulatory authority over PSC-regulated utilities and businesses beyond what its charter or general law allows.
Court jurisdiction. Municipalities cannot alter the jurisdiction of any court.
Independent school systems. Charter provisions establishing and operating an independent school system are off-limits.

The statute adds a broader limit on top of that list. Home rule does not extend to actions affecting private or civil law governing private relationships, except where such action is incidental to exercising an independent governmental power. That clause did most of the work in the leading case on home rule limits, discussed below.

Fields the State Has Preempted

Even when a subject is not in the seven-item list, the General Assembly can shut the door by passing a general law that occupies the field. Any conflicting local ordinance is then void, however popular or well-drafted. Three preemption statutes show how sweeping this can be.

Firearms

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173 prohibits any county, municipality, agency, school district, or state authority from regulating gun shows, the possession, sale, transport, or carrying of firearms, or the businesses that sell them.⁵ The state also reserves the exclusive right to sue firearms manufacturers and dealers. In early 2026, the General Assembly considered expanding this preemption to cover local firearm storage ordinances, with proposed penalties allowing individuals fined under such local rules to recover up to $25,000 in damages from the city or triple their legal expenses.

Wages and Employment Benefits

O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3.1 preempts local wage and employment benefit mandates. No city or county may adopt, maintain, or enforce a requirement that employers pay wages or provide benefits beyond what state or federal law requires.⁶ That closes off local minimum-wage increases and mandatory paid-leave ordinances that cities in some other states have pursued.

Ride-Share and Related Transportation Services

O.C.G.A. § 40-1-191 declares that the General Assembly “fully occupies and preempts the entire field of administration and regulation” over ride-share network services, transportation referral services, and taxi services governed by that statutory part.⁷ Local governments keep narrow authority only at airports, where they can charge fees not exceeding the cost of permitting and regulation, and over taxi medallion and fare requirements.

The pattern repeats across each of these statutes: the General Assembly identifies a subject where it wants statewide uniformity, declares the field occupied, and local authority disappears in that field.

Taxes: Local Governments Cannot Invent Their Own

The Georgia Constitution authorizes counties and cities to exercise the power of taxation, but only as the Constitution or general law permits.¹ Every local tax must trace back to a specific authorization, and § 36-35-6 reinforces the rule by barring municipalities from adopting “any form of taxation beyond that authorized by law or by the Constitution.”⁴

The tax mechanisms available to Georgia local governments — LOST, SPLOST, TSPLOST, the homestead option sales tax — are creatures of state statute, and the ones that impose new burdens generally require voter approval in a referendum. A homestead option sales tax under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-109.18, for instance, requires a petition signed by at least 10 percent of registered voters before the question reaches a ballot, and the resulting revenue must be used to reduce ad valorem property tax millage rates on homestead properties.⁸ The recurring principle: the closer a local action gets to a new tax, the more state-level structure it takes to enact.

Where Local Power Stays Broad: Zoning

Zoning is the clearest counter-example to preemption. O.C.G.A. § 36-66-2 expressly recognizes and confirms local zoning power while setting state-level minimum procedures for due process when governments regulate property uses.⁹ Local governments can create administrative boards and agencies to handle zoning decisions and can adopt procedures beyond the state minimums.

The state does not dictate how a city zones its land. It dictates only the procedural floor: public hearings, notice, and similar safeguards. Zoning disputes in Georgia tend to be procedural (did the city follow the required hearing process) rather than preemption fights over whether the city could zone in the first place.

What Happens When Cities Cross the Line

The leading case is City of Atlanta v. McKinney (1995). Atlanta had enacted an ordinance creating a domestic partner registry and extending employee benefits, including health insurance and sick leave, to domestic partners. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the registry and anti-discrimination provisions as valid exercises of home rule power but struck down the benefits extension. By providing employee benefits to domestic partners “in a comparable manner… as for a spouse,” Atlanta had effectively expanded the state-law definition of “dependent,” violating both the Georgia Constitution and O.C.G.A. § 36-35-6(b).¹⁰

The court stated the underlying principle plainly: “Municipal corporations are creations of the state and possess only those powers that have been expressly or impliedly granted to them.” Cities can use home rule on local matters, even controversial ones, but they cannot alter legal relationships or definitions that state law has already set.

Atlanta revised the ordinance, and the revised version drew further litigation in City of Atlanta v. Morgan (1997), where the court confirmed the original ordinance was unconstitutional precisely because it recognized domestic partnerships as a “family relationship” and extended spousal-level benefits, conflicting with state law.¹¹

Attorney General opinions have drawn similar lines. Official Opinion 2004-10 concluded that local governments could not alter the state-mandated priority order for distributing partial payments toward criminal fines, because the General Assembly had already provided for the distribution order by general law, so any conflicting local ordinance was preempted.³

The through-line across these decisions is straightforward. Home rule in Georgia is genuine authority, not a courtesy, but it ends where general law begins. Ordinances drafted near that boundary face real litigation exposure, and each new preemption statute the General Assembly passes narrows the field where local governments can act on their own.

1
Justia. Georgia Constitution Article IX
2
Justia. Georgia Code 36-35-3 – Adoption of Ordinances, Rules, and Regulations
3
Office of the Attorney General. Official Opinion 2004-10
4
Justia. Georgia Code 36-35-6 – Limitations on Home Rule Powers
5
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 16 Crimes and Offenses 16-11-173
6
Justia. Georgia Code 34-4-3.1 – Wages, Employment Benefits, and Employment Benefit Mandates
7
Justia. Georgia Code 40-1-191 – Legislative Findings; Preemption
8
Justia. Georgia Code 48-8-109.18 – Petition for Referendum to Approve Tax
9
Justia. Georgia Code 36-66-2 – Legislative Purpose; Local Zoning Power
10
Justia. City of Atlanta v. McKinney
11
FindLaw. City of Atlanta v. Morgan