ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia’s lawmakers will take an unscheduled break to patch up the state’s ailing budget.
House and Senate leaders announced Wednesday that the chambers were going to adjourn until Feb. 18. During that time, House budget subcommittees will keep meeting, aiming to pass an amended version of this year’s budget, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England.
“This year, I think the biggest question is , ‘What do you cut?’” House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, told members Wednesday. “I don’t think it behooves us as a body to come down here and speed through spending $28 billion in taxpayer dollars.”
The recess underscored Ralston’s earlier statements that the General Assembly’s 2020 session might not wrap up as early as some members running for reelection might have hoped. Lawmakers can’t raise campaign money while in session, and some face a May 19 party primary.
“I think Georgians want us to get it right, no matter how long it takes us to get it done,” Ralston told reporters.
Wednesday was the 12th of 40 business days allotted for the annual legislative session. The new calendar approved Wednesday sets meeting days through March 12, the deadline for bills to pass out of their originating chamber.
England said that in addition to changes to the current year’s budget, lawmakers will lay groundwork for the 2021 budget that begins July 1.
“It’s going to be about both of them,” said England, an Auburn Republican. “Some of the things tie across.”
Gov. Brian Kemp has proposed more than $200 million in reductions in the current budget and $300 million next year. That’s not a large percentage of overall state spending, but the Republican governor is shielding most K-12, college, university and Medicaid spending from cuts, meaning some agencies are in line for reductions as high as 13%.
Proposed cuts to mental health, county health departments, accountability courts that provide alternatives to criminal convictions, and agriculture programs have raised alarms.
“We have to see where it lands, but the preliminary look at what was proposed caused deep concern,” said House Minority Leader Bob Trammell, a Luthersville Democrat.
Kemp is pushing for lawmakers to include a $2,000 pay raise for teachers in next year’s budget, projected to cost $376 million. That would complete Kemp’s campaign promise of a $5,000 raise. The Republican governor did not include in his budget a Ralston priority, the proposed second phase of an income tax cut. That quarter-point decrease in the top rate to 5.5% means the state would forgo $500 million to $550 million. Income tax revenues have lagged since the first cut.
Ralston told reporters that Kemp’s administration still isn’t providing enough information to legislative budget writers, continuing a pattern that he said began when Kemp told agency heads to not appear for budget hearings after he announced midyear cuts.
“That is part of the problem,” Ralston said. “We started asking for this information as far back as last September and were assured that we would have it, and frankly, some of the information we still don’t have.”
Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce shot back that Ralston wasted time seeking to change how Georgia holds special elections, seen as an effort to boost Ralston friend and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins in a U.S. Senate race over Kelly Loeffler, whom Kemp appointed to the seat.
“While we respect the Legislature’s purview, the governor does not need a lesson in conservatism from a man who brokered a deal with Democrats just last week for political gamesmanship,” she said in a statement.
Ralston said House and Senate leaders had “honest disagreement” about the pause, with some senators not seeing the need. Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, a Carrollton Republican, downplayed disagreement.
“We have a little bit of a budget shortfall, and we need to go through and look at everything that is out there to make sure that we’re doing this the best possible way,” Dugan said. ___
Associated Press reporter Ben Nadler contributed to this report.
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