After Gov. Brian Kemp’s State of the State address last week, his budget was released and is now being debated. Did you know that passage of a balanced budget is the only requirement the state constitution requires of the General Assembly? It’s true. So you can find the budget here.
Furthermore, here are some budget items you may have missed:
* Workforce development efforts are especially targeted for more funding, as well as Georgia’s K – 12 teachers and technical college instructors. Salary increases are reflected across this budget in hopes of improving teacher retention rates and attracting industry experts to the profession. Economic development, with funds to support the employer costs of apprenticeships and the needed training to support the electric vehicle industry coming to east Georgia, is also emphasized.
* And here’s what our staff believes is an under-reported item: Increased funding from dollars collected by the state Lottery Corporations to fund popular HOPE student scholarships and grants at 90 percent of tuition. In fact, many lawmakers InsiderAdvantage talk with believe more can be done to fully fund the HOPE grant at 100 percent so more students can participate in Georgia’s growing technical college programs.
All information concerning the General Assembly, including legislation, legislator contact information, calendar, committee hearing, where to go to watch committees and the session virtually, is available here. And, as was announced yesterday, April 4th will be the last day of the session.
