Senate passes Dome bill, but amendment sends it back to House
In a 42-4 vote, the state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill designed to make negotiations to keep the Atlanta Falcons downtown easier by extending hotel/motel tax collections for the Georgia Dome.
But HB 903 will head back to the House and a conference committee after it was narrowly amended by two representatives from Macon who wanted to add help for Bibb County.
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) and Sen. Robert Brown (D-Macon) proposed an amendment that would allow Macon and Bibb County to increase hotel/motel taxes to aid the struggling Georgia music and sports halls of fame. The amendment passed 23-20.
“Macon has a passionate plea for what they want to do, but this is important to Atlanta,” said Don Balfour of Snellville, the Senate sponsor of HB 903. Balfour, a Republican, opposed the amendment and predicts that it will be stripped in the House.
“I want to get the Macon part taken off,” Balfour said.
HB 903 would move the sunset date of the taxes for the Dome, currently pegged at 2020, to 2045. The bill also stipulates that the extension would be contingent upon keeping the Falcons on the campus of the state-operated Georgia World Congress Center.
Where the Falcons play in the future has been the subject of much speculation recently. Built in 1992, the Georgia Dome is becoming one of the oldest stadiums in the National Football League. Observers have said that a new stadium will help persuade owners to bring the Super Bowl, the Holy Grail of sports, back to Atlanta.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank has hinted that he could move the team from the Dome to the suburbs. One speculated-upon option -- a stadium in Doraville in DeKalb County -- was rejected by the city's leaders in October.
Frank Poe, executive director of the GWCC, said, “We continue to monitor the progress of House Bill 903 and look forward to a positive outcome.”
Susan L. Meyers, a spokeswoman for Rep.Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) -- the original sponsor of HB 903 -- called it a "single-issue bill" and said it will stay that way.
"He will insist on his position when it gets back to the House," Meyers said.
Balfour said he does not object to the concept of Macon’s proposal, but he wanted to pass a clean bill.
