Perdue Signs FY 10 Budget

Governor Sonny Perdue signed the state budget for fiscal year 2010 on Wednesday. It's two point five billion dollars less than the previous budget.

Perdue calls this 18.6 billion dollar budget a "thoughtful and conservative way to ensure Georgians are receiving value for their tax dollars." Some 23 million dollars will go towards trauma care funding, with cuts to Medicaid and education spending dampened by federal stimulus dollars. Perdue also used his line item veto to axe three minor projects totalling less than two hundred thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, state tax revenues are still down, with the April numbers showing a more than twenty percent drop off from the previous year. Furloughs for state employees are likely to continue, with about twenty five thousand state workers already taking some unpaid furlough days.

Perdue Set To Sign '10 Budget

Today is the deadline for Governor Sonny Perdue to sign or veto legislation still on his desk from the General Assembly session. The biggest item remaining is the new $18.6 billion budget for the state. The blueprint for the next fiscal year includes deep cuts at state agencies, and using federal stimulus money to prop-up Medicaid and education.

But in the big picture, the just-released bad revenue numbers from April don’t bode well for fiscal 2010. State Senator Jack Hill is the Senate Appropriations Chair.

"We’re still not only in danger of not making revenue estimate for this year but we’re now under revenue estimate for 2010 which starts in July and there’s a whole set of problems that creates."

Senator Hill says if the trend doesn’t radically change over the next two months, the state would likely have to use up the $560 million in rainy day funds. Lawmakers then would have to rework the 2010 budget with two options in mind--call a special session to move more stimulus funds from 2011 back into the 2010 budget, or take a hard look at state government and do more cutting.

Legislative Round-up: Bills Passed Final Day

The 40-day session came to a close, Friday. Here's some bills that passed the finish line before the gavel came down.

Georgia Budget 2010

The $18.6 billion state budget slashes about $1 billion in spending because of the lagging economy. The Senate's top budget writer said agencies will see an average cut of about eight percent. The plan voids increasing health insurance costs for state workers by tapping federal stimulus dollars to pay for Medicaid, the health program for the poor that's seeing enrollment soar as the economy worsens. The budget covers the fiscal year beginning July 1st.

Transportation

Lawmakers agreed on a separate transportation overhaul that would give state politicians vast new control over infrastructure dollars. The transportation makeover, which passed the Senate
33-22, comes after heavy lobbying from Republican leaders who argued that granting the governor and lawmakers new powers over transportation funding would help transform a dysfunctional bureaucracy into one that is more accountable to voters. However, no new funds for transportation were passed.

Tax Breaks

Lawmakers approved a sweeping new tax break that cuts the state's capital gains tax in half over two years. A capital gain is the difference between what you paid for an investment and what received when you sold that investment. Investments include mutual funds, bonds, stocks, options, precious metals, real estate, and collectibles.

The measure also doles out a $2,400 income tax credit to any business that hires someone who has been unemployed for at least four weeks. It creates a one-year "new business holiday" that waives the $100 filing fee for new businesses. Those efforst are aimed at encouraging businesses to hire new employees, but critics say the capital gains cuts would rip an even greater hole in the recession-ravaged budget and would benefit only the wealthiest Georgians.

Tax Delinquent Lawmakers

Georgia lawmakers who fail to pay taxes could soon face sanctions from a legislative committee.
The House and Senate each overwhelmingly passed measures late Friday that would allow their chambers' respective ethics committees to investigate and sanction legislators who fail to pay
their taxes.

The vote comes after the state Department of Revenue revealed that 22 state lawmakers - about 10 percent of the General Assembly - are delinquent on their taxes. Only three of those lawmakers' names have been made public. Legislators said they cannot consider sanctions unless they know who they are.

Voting Checks

Georgia lawmakers voted Friday to require prospective voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before they cast their ballots. Georgia would become the second state with such requirements. Only Arizona requires its residents to prove they are U.S. citizens to register to vote.

The measure, which passed the House by a 104-67 vote, would require voters to prove their citizenship using a passport, a driver's license or other documents. It now goes to Gov. Sonny
Perdue.

Access to Flu Vaccines

Pharmacists would be able to continue administering flu vaccines under legislation that cleared the Georgia Legislature. The "Access to Flu Vaccines Act" received final passage on Friday.

It allows doctors to enter into agreements with pharmacists and registered nurses to order and dispense the shots without each one needing a separate prescription.

Governor Sonny Perdue said the bill was needed to prevent confusion among pharmacists about whether they could dispense the shots. Perdue said the bill makes it easier for Georgians to receive their yearly flu shots.

(The Associated Press)

State Budget Moves Through Senate Panel

Senate budget writers have given their stamp-of-approval to the $18.6 billion spending plan for Georgia’s 2010 fiscal year ahead. The budget includes a boost of $140-million for Medicaid to help the program keep up with enrollment. To help cover the cost, state employees will be asked to pay a bigger share of their health insurance costs. The spending plan also includes $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funds to help soften the blow of cuts. The budget now moves to the full Senate Wednesday for a vote.

State Lawmakers Race Against Clock

It’s now a race against the clock--or legislative calendar--for state lawmakers. Six days remain in the General Assembly session, with the big topics of the state budget and transportation hovering over the proceedings.

Concerning the budget, with the full House passing its version late last week, the 2010 fiscal blueprint has now landed in the lap of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Meanwhile, a transportation funding plan for Georgia continues on two tracks. The House is expected to vote on a regional sales-tax plan for transportation projects, perhaps as early as today. The full Senate is likely to vote soon on its transportation funding proposal.

As the clock winds-down on lawmakers, stay with GPB on radio and the internet. Check out our Georgia News blog anytime for the latest by going to gpb.org.

This Week's Legislative Preview

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 marks day twenty-two of the Georgia General Assembly’s 2009 legislative session. Here is a preview of some of the legislation coming up for debate in the state House and Senate this week.

• Under a proposal now being considered by the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, the state would no longer enroll new members in Medicaid and PeachCare. Instead, Senate Bill 92 calls for the state to enroll low income residents in approved private health plans with the state picking up part of the premium costs. The proposal also includes an incentive plan where costs may be reduced for individuals who participate in certain health improvement initiatives.
• Also in the Senate this week … a proposed universal school voucher plan is being considered in the youth education committee. The measure would let parents enroll their children is any public or private school and expands the existing special needs voucher program to all public school students.
  

From the House side …

• H.B. 233 calls for a two year moratorium on increases in ad valorem taxes.
  During the two year period ending in 2011, every parcel of real property in the state will be reassessed at least once. The measure is up for consideration in this Senate this week.
• Finally, with projected 2009 revenue down more than 400 million dollars, the House is expected to approve a pair of budget bills this week. First is Governor Sonny Perdue’s midyear adjustment to the 2009 budget. House Bill 118 goes before the full House later this week and includes more than 400 million dollars to fund the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant to local governments. The second budget bill … HB 119 … for fiscal year 2010 currently still includes the Governor’s recommendations for a one point six percent tax on hospitals.

School Nurses Lobby Legislators Over Funding

Nurses' lobbying group on the State Capitol staircase, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

School nurses lobbied hard at the state capitol Tuesday, hoping to dissuade lawmakers from slashing their budget.

Governor Sonny Perdue proposes a $30 million cut for school nurses from the coming school year budget. But a spokesperson from his office says schools will have the flexibility to keep the program using local, and other state funding.

Legislative official speaking with nurses at the State Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Joanne Giel is a school nurse and the president of the Georgia Association of School Nurses. She says the future of school nurses in Georgia is in jeopardy, if it’ll be up to local school districts to fund the program:

“It may mean a significant loss to their school nurse program if not the elimination.”

Its unclear how many districts would be able to keep the program alive.

The cuts come as lawmakers look for ways to fill a $2.2 billion hole in the state’s budget.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of budget issues

Muscogee Co.: School Budget Cuts Will Put Us In 'Dire Need'

The Muscogee County School District is scrambling for funding as they await the arrival of several thousand students of military families over the next two years.

School district officials say they’re going to ask the state legislature to exempt them from close to five and a half million dollars in planned cuts for the 2010 budget.

The US Army is closing down its Armor School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and moving 30,000 troops and their families to Fort Benning near Columbus.

James Walker is Vice-Chairman for the Muscogee County School District. He says that move - part of the Army's international Base Relocation and Closure Program - will swamp their classrooms with over 4,000 new students:

"...and when you have that many children, we need school buildings; we need property, we need land to build the school's on; so the bottom line is that we need money to do all of this stuff. If we're going to be cut funds because the state doesn't provide a lot of money for building, we'll just be in dire need of money to get these things done, in order to accommodate the children that are coming."

Walker says the state's already cut close to four million dollars from their '09 budget.

But, the district is not taking any chances. They’re also turning to the Department of Defense, and federal and state departments of education to close the shortfall.

Right now there are 33,000 students in the Muscogee County School District.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of education issues statewide.