While the bill explicitly states that a "township" would not be a municipality, the definitions set forth in the law make it nearly identical in function to villages or hamlets in some other states, including neighboring North Carolina and Florida, where they are the lowest level of a three-tiered system of municipalities. One major factor in this comparison is that, unlike most minor civil divisions, the proposed areas would be very small in size, and together would not cover the entire or even a large part of a county. The other major factor is that, like any municipality, they would not be subject to involuntary annexation by nearby cities (which for several decades have been the only type of municipality allowed under the Georgia State Constitution). The township designation may therefore be in order to avoid a broader and hence more complicated and politically charged overhaul of local government classifications in the state.