Oconee Commissioners Pass Resolution Opposing House/Senate Bills

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution opposing House Bill 302 and identical Senate Bill 172 that would prohibit local governments from regulating design standards on one and two-family residential properties.

The resolution is directed at Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower, who represent Oconee County in the Georgia House, and Sen. Bill Cowsert, who represents the county in the Senate. All are Republicans, as are the five Oconee County commissioners.

None of the three legislators has taken a public stand on the bill, and Gaines and Wiedower, in a column in the Thursday edition of The Oconee Enterprise, say they are still soliciting “input and opinions” on the legislation.

The pair sent a letter to the commissioners on Tuesday, however, thanking the commissioners for meeting and discussing the bills and asking the commissioners “to take official action and adopt a resolution opposing” the bills.

Vance Smith, a Republican from House District 133, north of Columbus, who is the lead author of House Bill 302, appeared before the Rules Committee of the House Wednesday. The Rules Committee did not take a vote on the bill before it adjourned.

For more on the story, with a video of the Board of Commissioners meeting and of the Rules Committee meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.