At this time, neither side can definitely say how much the law might cost to actually implement it.
ATLANTA – The back-and-forth over Georgia’s new electoral law continues as opponents argue that the law will cost millions to implement.
However, proponents of the bill argue that the financial impact will be minimal.
However, it is currently unknown how much the bill will be.
One of the things that Democrats objected to when it comes to Georgia’s new electoral law is that the original bill came without a tax bill.
A tax assessment is a written estimate of the costs, savings, sales gains or losses that can result from an invoice.
The law requires a tax bill to be added if a state or local government combined bill would cost $ 5 million or more.
GOP leaders, like Senator Mike Dugan, the bill’s sponsor, believe it won’t cost that much, so they haven’t included one.
“If I can look at it and calculate the costs associated with each section of the bill and know that it won’t have a material tax impact, then why should I waste taxpayer money filing a tax return to say that a tax return won’t is needed? ,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Brad Raffensperger said it was not easy to get the numbers because Georgia’s counties vary in size.
“It would probably be difficult to calculate right now,” he said.
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However, Marilyn Marks of the Coalition for Good Governance said one look at the new law shows the counties are going to have a big financial endeavor.
“There’s a multi-million dollar expense they don’t talk about,” she claimed.
Marks said things like new security paper and cities and counties hiring security guards to watch empty and locked Dropboxes are just two things that could cost a lot of money.
Dugan stood by the bill with limited cost increases.
“Using a driver’s license instead of a signature has no tax implications,” he said
However, Marks said it could be costly to have a secure system to prevent anyone from stealing someone’s identity.
“If we think of 159 counties trying to install a new secure transmission – just the installation cost, the training cost will be very high,” she said.
Additionally, Marks fears cities and counties may not have time to make changes in the November local elections, even if the cost is low.
While neither side can definitively say how much the bill could cost, neither have they given a picture of how much money, if any, the law could save Georgia.
