New car buyers in Georgia would have to shell out an extra $2 for the state's "lemon law" fee under a bill passed Thursday in the Senate.
The increase included in Senate Bill 305 would raise the fee from $3 to $5, a 66 percent increase at a time when lawmakers by the dozen want to more tightly regulate the state's fee system. Still, the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee, said the extra money would help the Governor's Office of Consumer Protection enforce the law, which was expanded in 2008.
The lemon law protects car buyers who, in their first two years of ownership, find new cars to be defective. The fee helps the state pay for enforcement.
Opponents, however, noted that not all revenue generated by the fee was used toward the office. Last year, for example, they said the fee generated $539,000, but only $400,000 of it was spent to administer and enforce the law.
Lawmakers in both chambers have complained that money collected from state fees often gets spent on other programs or moved around to cover state budget shortfalls elsewhere.
Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, last week filed House Bill 811, which calls for fees not appropriated and spent for their intended purposes in the state budget to be reduced or eliminated proportionate to the amount that gets redirected to other programs. More than 60 House members signed on.
Another bill filed by Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker, Senate Resolution 704, would let voters decide whether to change the state constitution and give lawmakers the ability to permanently set where fees go.
The Senate passed the lemon law fee increase on a 30-19 vote. It now goes to the House for consideration.
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