Blackwell, Justice.

In 2015, the City of Atlanta proposed to annex property in unincorporated Fulton County that the City recently had acquired, but the County objected to the proposed annexation. The property in question is a part of the Fulton County Industrial District, and the County pointed the City to a local constitutional amendment, which prohibits the annexation of property within the District. The City then filed a lawsuit against the County, alleging that the local amendment was never constitutionally adopted, it was repealed in any event by operation of the Constitution of 1983, and local laws purporting to continue the amendment are themselves unconstitutional.1 The City sought a declaratory judgment that its proposed annexation would be lawful. The trial court entered a declaratory judgment for the City, and the County appeals. For the reasons that follow, we vacate the declaratory judgment for the City, and we remand for the trial court to dismiss this nonjusticiable lawsuit.2

It is a settled principle of Georgia law that the jurisdiction of the courts is confined to justiciable controversies, and the courts may not properly render advisory opinions. See Hinson v. First Nat. Bank, 221 Ga. 408, 410, 144 S.E.2d 765 (1965) ("This court has many times held that it will not render advisory opinions...."). See also St. John's Melkite Catholic Church v. Commr. of Revenue, 240 Ga. 733, 734, 242 S.E.2d 108 (1978) ("We will not decide the constitutionality of a law where no justiciable case or controversy is presented." (Citations omitted)). This principle holds even in proceedings for declaratory judgments. See, e.g., Baker v. City of Marietta, 271 Ga. 210, 214, 518 S.E.2d 879 (1999) ("[T]he Declaratory Judgment Act makes no provision for a judgment that would be `advisory.'" (Citation omitted)); McDowell v. Judges Ex Officio, 235 Ga. 364, 365, 219 S.E.2d 713 (1975) ("Not even in a declaratory judgment action is the court permitted to render an advisory opinion." (Citation omitted)); King v. Peagler, 227 Ga. 29, 32, 178 S.E.2d 897 (1970) ("The Declaratory Judgments Act makes no provision for a declaratory judgment which is merely advisory." (Citations omitted)); Liner v. City of Rossville, 212 Ga. 664, 664-665, 94 S.E.2d 862 (1956) ("In this State, where no justiciable controversy is alleged, an action for declaratory judgment will not lie." (Citation omitted)). Indeed, the Declaratory Judgment Act, OCGA § 9-4-1 et seq., authorizes declaratory judgments only to resolve actual and justiciable controversies. See OCGA § 9-4-2 (a-b). See also Leitch v. Fleming, 291 Ga. 669, 670, 732 S.E.2d 401 (2012); Baker, 271 Ga. at 214 (1), 518 S.E.2d 879. And "[t]here can be no justiciable controversy unless there are interested parties asserting adverse claims upon a state of facts which have accrued." Pilgrim v. First Nat. Bank, 235 Ga. 172, 174, 219 S.E.2d 135 (1975) (citation omitted). See also Mullin v. Roy, 287 Ga. 810, 812, 700 S.E.2d 370 (2010) ("A controversy is justiciable when it is definite and concrete, rather than being hypothetical, abstract, academic, or moot." (Citation omitted)); Brown v. Lawrence, 204 Ga. 788, 790-791, 51 S.E.2d 651 (1949) ("Issues which are based on fictitious, colorable, hypothetical, or academic questions, or questions that have become moot, do not involve legal rights, legal status, and other legal relations within the meaning of an actual, justiciable controversy." (Citations and punctuation omitted)).

For that reason, questions about merely proposed legislation present no justiciable controversy, and judicial attempts to resolve such questions amount to advisory opinions. See O'Kelley v. Cox, 278 Ga. 572, 573, 604 S.E.2d 773 (2004) ("The judiciary is vested with the power to determine the constitutionality of legislation, but at present there is simply no legislation which can be the subject of a constitutional attack. All that does exist is a resolution of the General Assembly proposing that the Georgia Constitution be amended...."); O'Neal v. Town of Whigham, 206 Ga. 511, 513, 57 S.E.2d 591 (1950) ("The court could not, in advance, pass upon this proposed amendment [to a municipal ordinance]." (Citation omitted)).3 Cf. Liner, 212 Ga. at 664 (1), 94 S.E.2d 862 ("It appears that no action has been taken by the city to issue revenue-anticipation certificates or to incur any bonded debt, and the present action seeks a declaration by the court in advance of any proceeding or action by the city either to issue certificates or bonds. A declaratory judgment would therefore be purely advisory, and unauthorized by the [Declaratory Judgments Act]." (Citations omitted)); Georgia Power Co. v. City of Cedartown, 116 Ga.App. 596, 597, 158 S.E.2d 475 (1967) ("[I]f we suppose that the voters should elect not to issue bonds for the construction of an electric light and power plant, the declaration of the rights of the parties as prayed would be an advisory, academic, and useless declaration." (Citation omitted)). Not only would such an advisory opinion exceed the authority of the courts, but it would amount to an improper encroachment upon the legislative process. See Gaskins v. Dorsey, 150 Ga. 638, 104 S.E. 433 (1920) ("The judicial power will not be exerted to stay the course of legislation while it is in process of enactment."). See also O'Kelley, 278 Ga. at 573, 604 S.E.2d 773 (same).

Here, the controversy between the City and County is founded upon proposed legislation. The annexation that the City proposed in this case would amount to a legislative act, both in substance and form. As to substance, "[w]hen [a] municipality exercises the delegated power [of annexation], it is exercising the legislative power of the General Assembly." Plantation Pipe Line Co. v. City of Bremen, 227 Ga. 1, 7, 178 S.E.2d 868 (1970). And as to form, an annexation pursuant to OCGA § 36-36-20 et seq. — the so-called "100 percent" method by which the City proposed to annex the property in question here — requires the adoption of a municipal ordinance. See OCGA § 36-36-21. It is undisputed that the City has not yet enacted such an ordinance, and rather than seeing the legislative process through to completion, it instead filed this lawsuit. It did so for the sole purpose of testing its legislative authority to annex the property at issue here, as well as the validity of other "potential future annexations" within the District. The courts certainly have jurisdiction in appropriate cases to consider the validity of annexation ordinances. See, e.g., Cherokee County v. City of Holly Springs, 284 Ga. 298, 667 S.E.2d 78 (2008); Upson County School Dist. v. City of Thomaston, 248 Ga. 98, 281 S.E.2d 537 (1981); Paulding County v. City of Hiram, 240 Ga. 220, 240 S.E.2d 71 (1977). But in this case, there simply is no annexation ordinance, the validity of which properly could be called into question.

The City suggests that this case is mostly about the validity and continuing effect of the local constitutional amendment upon which the County relies, not the proposed annexation. The validity and continuing effect of the local constitutional amendment — an amendment that was, in fact, passed — is something that the courts in a proper case may be authorized to address. See O'Kelley, 278 Ga. at 573, 604 S.E.2d 773 ("[T]he amendment in question certainly can be challenged in the event that it is enacted by virtue of approval by the voters." (Citation and punctuation omitted)). But the local amendment concerns the City only because the amendment (if it was validly enacted and still is in effect) would preempt the annexation that the City has proposed. Questions about the validity and effect of laws that matter only because of their potential impact upon proposed legislation (if that proposed legislation were enacted) present no justiciable controversy. See Ga. Power Co., 116 Ga. App. at 596-597, 158 S.E.2d 475 (proposal to take on debt for the erection of a municipal power plant did not render questions about the validity and effect of earlier ordinances giving power franchise to Georgia Power justiciable, notwithstanding that the economic viability of proposal depended upon those questions). Moreover, the City could not have been more clear in its petition for declaratory judgment: "Atlanta seeks a declaratory judgment ... confirming its right to annex the property [in question] into its municipal boundaries notwithstanding the [property]'s location within the Fulton County Industrial District ... and a putative prohibition against annexation or incorporation of [such] property ... in a local constitutional amendment."

In any event, the City contends, a proposed annexation may present a justiciable controversy. In support of this contention, the City relies exclusively upon Higdon v. City of Senoia, 273 Ga. 83, 538 S.E.2d 39 (2000), a case in which we decided that an action for declaratory judgment would lie to resolve a dispute about a proposed annexation. In that case, however, the annexation proposal of the municipality and the objection of the county had immediate legal consequences, without regard to whether the legislative annexation process was complete. Indeed, Higdon involved a statutory scheme that required a municipality to submit to a dispute resolution process upon the county lodging a "bona fide land use classification objection" to a proposed annexation. See 273 Ga. at 83-84 (1), 538 S.E.2d 39. See also former OCGA §§ 36-36-11 (Ga. L. 1998, p. 856, § 2), 36-70-24 (4) (C) (Ga. L. 1997, p. 1567, § 1). The City of Senoia proposed an annexation, Coweta County lodged a land use classification objection, and the parties were compelled to go forward with the statutory dispute resolution process. After the parties went through a portion of the process, they reached an impasse, and rather than continue on with mediation (the next step in the process), the municipality filed a lawsuit for declaratory judgment, challenging the constitutionality of the statutory dispute resolution scheme. See Higdon, 273 Ga. at 84, 538 S.E.2d 39. That lawsuit presented a justiciable controversy because the statutory scheme was actually triggered by the proposal and objection alone and precluded any annexation ordinance from taking effect until the completion of the dispute resolution process. Id. at 85 (1), 538 S.E.2d 39. The only alternative for the municipality in Higdon was to continue to endure the dispute resolution process, inasmuch as the statutes denied it any legislative power of annexation until that process was complete.

The circumstances with which we were confronted in Higdon are unlike those of this case. Here, the City's proposed annexation and the County's objection to that proposed annexation are just that, a proposal and an objection to a proposal. The objection lodged by the County is not one that has immediate legal consequences.4 The City simply wants to know whether this objection to its proposal — if its proposal were enacted — would have merit. Such a question is no more justiciable than an inquiry by the General Assembly about whether a proposed statute would be inconsistent with, for instance, the First Amendment. The courts are not legislative counsel, and they cannot answer such questions. The trial court should have dismissed this lawsuit. Because it did not, we vacate its judgment, and we remand for the trial court to enter an order of dismissal.

Judgment vacated, and case remanded with direction.

All the Justices concur.