Crossover Day 2026: Data centers, income taxes and mugshots
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Taxes, data centers and even psychedelics remain on Georgia lawmakers' agendas as the legislative session moves toward its final weeks.
Why it matters: This past Friday marked Crossover Day — the deadline for bills to pass either chamber and stay alive before lawmakers adjourn April 2.
Caveat: Nothing's off the table until House Speaker Jon Burns and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones gavel Sine Die. Lawmakers can still tack stalled proposals onto surviving legislation.
Zoom in: Here's what passed and remains on the table.
🍄🟫 Psychedelics: A bill that would allow the Georgia Composite Medical Board to create the framework for psychedelic-assisted treatment clinics passed the House.
🤖 AI safety: AI companies would have to implement safety features to protect minors who use chatbots under legislation approved by the Senate.
📸 Mugshots: The Georgia Senate approved a bill requiring people seeking to obtain mugshots to make their requests in person and know the suspect's full name.
💵 Taxes: The state income tax would decrease from 5.19% to 3.99% under legislation that passed on a mostly party-line vote in the Georgia House.
- A House proposal to ask Georgia voters to cap property taxes passed the chamber after lawmakers rejected Burns' plan to phase them out.
⚖️ More scrutiny on prosecutors: Legislation that would add more reasons why a local district attorney or solicitor-general could be removed from office or disciplined cleared the Senate.
💾 Data centers: Roughly a decade after giving data center developers a tax break, the Georgia Senate voted to end the incentive for new projects.
"Stand your ground": State senators approved a bill expanding the definition of what can be classified as self defense. The law allows people to claim immunity from being prosecuted after they are charged.
- Cases that involve self-defense claims would only proceed if there's "clear and convincing evidence" that a crime occurred.
🫏 Campaigns: Candidates would have to raise more than half of their campaign funds from Georgians, under a bill approved by the Senate.
- Democrats argued the law could hurt their candidates whose underdog campaigns in a Republican-controlled state become nationally significant.
What didn't make the cut: A repeal of the state's ban on silencers, a resolution to create statewide grand juries for voting and election crimes, an effort to legalize sports betting and a push to implement paper ballots.
- Lawmakers also failed to pick up a bill designating lemon pepper as Georgia's official chicken wing flavor.