Update 2024-12-27: Final Report: Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams 2024-12-01.

The Georgia House Navigable Streams Committee is meeting in Newnan on Wednesday morning, November 13, 2024, after the Nahunta meeting a few weeks ago was cancelled due to Hurricane Helene aftermath.

Georgia House Study Committee on Navigable Streams in Newnan 2024-11-13: Law: Ownership, Property Rights; Passage: Recreation, Economy

Instead of a whole meeting, we get this item:

• South Georgia Waterways Perspective (45 min.; holdover from cancelled Waycross meeting)

And this subject of the entire meeting:

Meeting #3: Utilizing Mechanisms to Increase Public Access to Waterways

We don’t need fancy mechanisms. We just need a Georgia navigability law that matches what people actually use waterways for these days: paddling, motoring, fishing, and swimming. That’s a substantial part of the outdoor economy and recreation.

So if you want to continue to be able to paddle or motor on your favorite stream, you may want to show up and speak, or send written input to your state representative. You can ask them for a 21st-century update to the 1863 Georgia navigability law.

Here is the meeting notice and agenda (local copy): Continue reading →