Matt Dollar, a 19-year veteran state representative, gave a long and teary-eyed speech as he resigned from the Georgia House Tuesday to take a job with the Technical College System of Georgia.
“As a young person, this place and the campaign process endowed me with a degree of confidence and humility I’m not certain a person could have obtained any other place,” said Dollar, a Republican who represented East Cobb.
During the current legislative session, the lawmaker authored a bill to create a new city of East Cobb where he grew up and lives currently. The bill passed through the House and moved to the Senate Tuesday in Dollar’s last actions as a representative. It would allow citizens in the East Cobb area to vote in the May primary election on whether to incorporate.
In 2020 and 2021, Dollar chaired the first iteration of the creative arts and entertainment committee, which allowed him to author legislation in 2020 revising tax credits to support Georgia’s film industry.
“We’re going to miss you very, very much,” House Speaker David Ralston told Dollar.
Dollar assumes a new position as the deputy commissioner of economic development in the Technical College System of Georgia. His last day as a state legislator was Tuesday.
“We all must leave here someday, and the lucky ones get to leave when they choose, not when they’re told,” he said.
For more from Fresh Take Georgia and the latest updates, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
