Georgia House Bill HB754

Georgia 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/10/25
• Report Pass: 3/21/25
• Engrossed: 3/21/25
• Refer: 3/25/25
• Report Pass: 3/28/25
• Enrolled: 4/7/25
• Chaptered: 5/14/25
• Passed: 5/14/25

Caption

Catoosa County; Board of Education; require an internal audit function and establish position of internal auditor

Summary

HB754 amends the local act governing the Catoosa County Board of Education to create a formal internal audit function and establish the position of internal auditor. The auditor may be either a board employee or the account manager of a hired firm, and must be appointed by the board from nominations submitted by the local legislative delegation. The bill requires the auditor to be a certified internal auditor or certified public accountant with at least five years of experience, and it prohibits the auditor from participating in partisan political activity or school-system politics. The bill gives the internal auditor broad authority to conduct one- and five-year performance and financial audits of the school system, its departments, and activities. Those audits are intended to assess legal compliance, efficiency, effectiveness, internal controls, financial reporting, and possible fraud or abuse. The auditor must report annually to the board and the local General Assembly delegation, and school officials and contractors must provide access to records, property, facilities, and relevant financial and performance information. Confidential information must be handled in closed executive session, while audit reports are generally available for public inspection. The new provisions expire on July 1, 2030.

Impact

HB754 changes the special local law for the Catoosa County Board of Education by adding a new oversight mechanism and a new office funded from local board funds. It expands the board’s governance structure by requiring independent audit review, mandating cooperation from employees and contractors, and creating reporting obligations to both the board and local legislators. The bill affects only the Catoosa County school system’s local act and does not amend statewide education law generally, but it does impose specific audit, access, and transparency requirements on the district until the sunset date.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It passed the House 158-0 and the Senate 53-0, indicating unanimous approval in both chambers. The absence of committee transcript discussion suggests there was little recorded debate or opposition, and the measure was treated as a local consent/calendar item rather than a contested policy bill.

Contention

No significant opposition is reflected in the available record. The main policy choices in the bill are administrative rather than ideological: who appoints the auditor, whether the auditor may be an employee or outside firm, how much access the auditor receives, and how confidential information is handled. Any potential concern would likely center on oversight authority, costs paid from local funds, and the balance between transparency and confidentiality, but the unanimous votes suggest these issues did not generate meaningful contention.