State Lawmakers Furloughed

Georgia lawmakers are the latest group of state employees to be furloughed. The House and Senate lawmakers will take one furlough day each month. They will go on through the end of the year, when legislative leaders will decide whether they should continue. House Speaker Glenn Richardson said House lawmakers should not only control the state's spending but also "carry a part of the financial burden that we are asking of other state employees." Lawmakers are not in session, but they are still receiving an annual salary. It was not immediately clear how much money the move would save.

(Associated Press)

ASA Cuts More Pilots

A regional carrier for Delta Air Lines is cutting more of its workforce. Atlantic Southeast Airlines is furloughing an additional 56 pilots this fall. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the layoffs go into effect September 1st, and its on top of the 80 laid-off earlier this year. The cuts are the first in the history of ASA. It was last month that Atlanta-based Delta announced it would be making deeper cuts to its capacity to help weather the economic downturn.

Furloughs Approved By Regents

University workers could get put on unpaid leave to make up an over half billion dollar budget shortfall over the next two years.

The state board of Regents voted unanimously Tuesday to furlough employees at the state's colleges and universities if needed.

School presidents would ultimately make that decision.

Earlier this year, the board also voted to increase tuition and fees as a way to help make up the budget deficit.

Politicians had criticized University System of Georgia Chancellor Errol B Davis for increasing staff pay and steering clear of furloughs this past January.

Georgia has 35 colleges and universities, and collectively, they are expected to be short some 513 million dollars over the next two years.

More Furloughs For Savannah's Gulfstream

Gulfstream in Savannah says another 170 workers are being furloughed amid down sales in the struggling economy. A spokesman for the Georgia business jet maker says those furloughs will run through April 19th. Back in March, Gulfstream announced it would furlough at least 1,500 workers for five weeks starting in July.

General Assembly Roundup: Day 31

Money apparently has been found to keep nurses in Georgia schools. Budget writers in the House Tuesday came up with $29-million for the school nursing program, with some of that money coming from federal stimulus dollars headed to the state. Governor Sonny Perdue had previously cut money for nurses. Still, the chair of a House education panel says furloughs should be considered for teachers to get money into the state’s ‘in trouble’ school districts. State Representative Ed Lindsey is a Republican from Atlanta:

"Particularly the poor school districts and the small school districts are being hit awfully hard regarding school financing. And we're already getting reports of layoffs and cutbacks in the various school districts."

Lindsey says furloughs for six planning days a year would save about $200-million.

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House Republicans plan to look at the measure to revamp Georgia’s capital punishment laws, whereby the death penalty would be allowed without a unanimous jury decision. House leaders pulled the proposal from debate Tuesday until they can make some technical changes.

Governor Reduces 2010 Budget

Today Governor Sonny Perdue reduced the 2010 state budget by $1.6 billion . Earlier, the Governor projected 3% growth over this year in state revenue, but with the economy continuing to decline next year's budget will be flat. Perdue is asking state employees to pay 5% more of their health insurance costs. He is also banking on %1.1 billion in stimulus money and the Governor has agreed to take all the available federal stimulus funds for state unemployment benefits. He says it would add $150 million to Georgia's unemployment trust fund. Regarding state employee furloughs, he says he will leave that up to state agency heads.

Furloughs On The Way For Corrections Employees

The number of furloughed state employees is growing. Georgia's budget crunch means furloughs for more than 6,000 workers at the State Department of Corrections.

Those employees will have to take a day off with out pay in March, April, May and June. It's part of a plan the department submitted to Governor Perdue last year. His office recently approved it. Kristen Stancil is a Corrections spokesperson.

"We were asked to cut six percent of our budget and this is one of the things that we decided to do. We've cut in other areas and this is one of the extra things we felt we needed to do to help get to that six percent that he requested we cut."

The furloughs could cut up to $4.5 million from Corrections Department's budget. Not all department staff will have to take four days. Security staff will only take two because of safety concerns.

Corrections is just one state department furloughing workers. At least five others have been doing the same.