Georgia Senate approves spending increase in amended fiscal 2021 budget

(The Center Square) – The Georgia Senate unanimously approved its recommended changes to the state’s budget for the rest of fiscal year 2021 on Tuesday, allocating millions of dollars more for public health.

The Senate proposal maintains most of Gov. Brian Kemp’s and the House’s spending recommendations for the remainder of fiscal 2021, which ends June 30.

Two budgets are passed through the General Assembly every legislative session. Lawmakers must review and approve spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year, also known as the Amended Fiscal Year (AFY) budget, and approve the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Budget writers must consider Kemp’s proposal in their spending decisions. Kemp’s amended plan, the House plan and the Senate plan all propose $26.5 billion in spending, representing a $654 million increase in spending over the $25.9 billion budget passed in June for fiscal year 2021.

The House AFY budget plan was approved Jan. 28 and includes additional funding to support nursing homes, administer COVID-19 vaccines and replace more state agency vehicles and school buses.

Lawmakers were able to fill gaps and redirect revenue because of federal COVID-19 relief, especially in public health and transportation. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said the Senate was able to move $92 million from transportation maintenance to construction because of federal aid.

“When we do that, it helps us move things faster if we’re funding the construction side with state dollars,” Tillery said.

The Senate AFY budget plan also sets aside money to hire a chief labor officer to oversee all unemployment insurance benefits, a senior programmer and a financial manager to help with the state’s COVID-19 efforts. It redirects $11 million in bond financing for the Georgia Department of Public Health, $150,000 for vaccine permits for nurses and $7.5 million for the governor’s emergency fund.

The new positions in public health and unemployment administration would cost the state more than $530,000. The House earmarked funds to hire a chief medical officer, a deputy commissioner of public health and a chief data officer to support the agency with COVID-19 response. In total, the Senate proposal includes about $41 million more for public health.

Senate budget writers allocated $10.23 billion from the state’s general fund to the Department of Education, reflecting a more than $600 million difference from the $9.6 billion allocated in June.

“Those were painstaking days,” Tillery said. “I know you agonized with us as we made those reductions, but now because of Gov. Kemp’s really bold move at the time to leave Georgia open so the hard-working Georgians could continue to run their businesses, could go to work, employ other Georgians and keep our revenues at a level that was slightly higher than we thought they would be, we’re going to be able to add back roughly 60% to almost every Quality Basic Education formula.”

Lawmakers also were able to supplement local tax bases and the hospitals with a majority of indigent patients in the AFY budget.

Senate budget writers used savings from the reductions in standardized testing in schools and dual enrollment programs to support tourism and public health. The state also saved about $860,000 from delaying the construction of a 40-bed forensic unit at West Central Regional Hospital in Columbus.

Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, said budget writers should have added more funding for county health departments and to vaccinate teachers against COVID-19. She said the state should have found more ways to accumulate tax revenue.

“We could scale back on tax breaks. We can increase the tax on tobacco. There are things we could consider to help our citizens,” Butler said.

State fiscal analysts estimate Georgia could generate nearly $700 million next year by raising the tobacco tax closer to the national average.

“But we didn’t,” Butler said. “The politics of the day should not drive our best thinking and our best policy and budget-making decisions.”

The Senate’s substitute AFY budget was sent back to the House for review. If the two chambers cannot agree on the current version of the bill, a conference committee with members from both chambers must convene. Once a compromise is reached, the final version of the bill must be approved in both chambers before being sent to Kemp. The governor can strike out portions of the bill through a line-item veto.

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