Bernard Reynolds · November 10, 2026
Counties and cities bring three kinds of requests to the state, and each follows a different path.
A local bill changes the law for one county or one city, such as a charter amendment. The Association County Commissioners of Georgia explains that a local law generally cannot be enacted where existing general law already makes provision for the matter, and that a county can act through a home rule ordinance or through a local law of the General Assembly. Which one applies is the first decision.
A general bill changes the law for every county or city, or for a class of them. That path is longer, because the argument is made to a committee and a full chamber.
A third kind of request is not a bill. It is a request to a state agency for a rule, a permit, a grant or a funding decision. A local government can lose months preparing for the wrong path.
For a local bill, the legislators who represent any part of the county or city are called the local delegation. Maggie Lee reported in The Current that when the whole delegation endorses a local bill, the rest of the General Assembly generally accepts that judgment, and uncontested local bills are grouped into bundles and approved quickly.
That efficiency has a consequence. The delegation is often the only real hearing a local bill receives, so it should not be the last to learn about the request. The same article notes that local reaction can still stop a bill. A 2023 effort to enlarge Garden City failed in part because it reached into part of Savannah and in part because Chatham County's leadership had not been consulted.
Delegations are also changing. If the unofficial results of the November 3 election hold, some will include newly elected members who take their seats in January. A new member has no history with the request, which is a reason to introduce it early.
The 2027 session convenes on January 11, 2027, which is nine weeks from today. The runoff on December 1, Thanksgiving, the holidays and a limited number of commission or council meetings all fall inside that window.
Working backward, the governing body should vote, or schedule a vote, on the exact language of the request before the session. Before that vote, the delegation should have heard the request from the local government directly. Before that, someone has to write a one-sentence statement of the ask that a legislator could repeat to a colleague. If that sentence cannot be written, the request is not ready. It should also say what the request does for residents, not only what it does for the government.
First, can a member of your delegation repeat your request in a single sentence? Second, has every member of your delegation heard it from you, in person, before January 11, and not only through a letter or an association? Third, does the request have local support you can name, including a governing body vote and residents or businesses willing to say why? If the only answer is that the commission wants it, that is one voice, and the delegation will ask who else is behind it.
Confirm whether your request needs a local bill, a general bill or an agency action. Draft the one-sentence statement. List the members of your delegation, including any newly elected members, and schedule a conversation with each. Put the request on your governing body's agenda with exact language. Identify the residents and business owners who can speak to it in their own words.
Schedule a strategy conversation: https://calendly.com/bernardreynolds/true-north-strategy-conversation
Bernard Reynolds is the principal of True North Strategies, a Georgia public affairs firm.
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