(The Center Square) – The Georgia House Committee on Appropriations approved its proposal Thursday to spend $2.6 billion more in fiscal year 2022 than previously planned.
The spending amount matches Gov. Brian Kemp’s directive for additional spending through June 30. Some of the House budget’s top spending lines were for state employee raises and bonuses, state vehicles and maintenance and repair and upgrades for government buildings.
House budget writers also followed Kemp’s desire to restore cuts to education.
Appropriations leaders in the Georgia General Assembly must review and approve spending changes for the remainder of fiscal year 2022 and approve a budget for fiscal 2023, which begins July 1. The governor released his budget proposal last month, which reflected an overall $3 billion increase in spending.
Much of the updated 2022 plan follows Kemp’s big spending priorities. Mirroring Kemp’s spending plan, House budget leaders propose spending $29.8 billion in fiscal 2022 and $30.2 billion in fiscal 2023. The current spending plan for fiscal 2022 is $27.2 billion.
The amended proposal restores more than $382 million in cuts to K-12 education and provides $93 million to K-12 schools to accommodate enrollment growth. House leaders proposed spending $500 million on $5,000 raises for employees and $2,000 bonuses for teachers.
House budget writers agreed to spend millions of dollars on state vehicles, mainly for law enforcement agencies. The Department of Public Safety will replace more than 300 vehicles. The state also would spend $188 million to replace 1,747 school buses over the next three years.
The proposal allocates additional funding to repair and upgrade state buildings. It includes $432 million to rollout Kemp’s $600 million plan to buy a newer prison and construct a new 3,000-bed prison and $45 million to move state agencies from a Peachtree building to Capitol Hill.
Budget writers also allocated money to fill new state positions. They also were able to save or redirect millions of dollars from job vacancies, delayed implementation of programs and unused federal funds. House Appropriations Committee Chair Terry England, R-Auburn, said they set aside $150 million to pay out state worker’s compensation claims that go as far back as 1982.
The proposal increases state Medicaid spending by $250 million, including $8 million to create the state health care exchange, under Kemp’s limited Medicaid expansion.
Georgia residents could receive more than $1.6 billion in tax refunds if the amended budget passes. Kemp announced a plan Jan. 11 to give single tax filers a $250 refund, heads of households $375 and $500 to couples that file jointly. The refunds will not come from the same pot of money set aside for the budget. Instead, they would come from an increase in state tax revenue resulting in a surplus at the end of fiscal 2021.
The full House must approve the appropriations committee’s proposal. The Senate also must propose an amended plan for fiscal 2022. Both chambers of the General Assembly then must agree on a fiscal budget before the spending plan is sent to Kemp for final approval.
By Nyamekye Daniel | The Center Square
