Appropriations Committee advances Senate’s amended 2021 budget proposal
(The Center Square) – Georgia Senate budget writers presented their recommended changes to the state’s spending plan for the rest of fiscal year 2021 on Thursday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the proposed Amended Fiscal Year (AFY) budget, which redirects $11 million in bond financing for the Georgia Department of Public Health, $150,000 for nursing staff and $7.5 million for the governor’s emergency fund.
Another notable allocation is nearly $50,000 for the state to hire a chief labor officer to oversee all unemployment insurance benefits and respond to financial audit requests.
The Georgia Department of Labor has been criticized by lawmakers and workers over its delay in processing unemployment claims. The agency has received a record number of claims because of COVID-19, depleting the state’s $2.5 billion unemployment trust fund by early fall. A group of unemployed workers has sued the department, and Democrats have called for a federal probe and audit of the program.
“We want to do our role as a state to make sure that the commissioner has the resources there, the department has the resources there, and that the rank and file employees who are working long hours now for months have the resources, the direction and the management they need to make sure that they’re in the best position to continue to do their jobs efficiently, effectively and to continue to help Georgians,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said.
Two budgets are passed through the General Assembly every legislative session. Lawmakers must review and approve spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year, also known as the AFY budget, and approve the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Budget writers must consider Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal in their spending decisions. Kemp directed state agencies last year to reduce the state’s $28 billion spending proposal by 10%. The General Assembly passed a $25.9 million budget in June for fiscal year 2021.
The House’s AFY budget reflects a $654 million increase in spending from the original fiscal 2021 budget. It was approved Jan. 28. The Senate proposal maintains most of Kemp’s and the House’s spending recommendations for the $26.5 billion budget, Tillery said.
About 54% of the state’s budget is spent on education. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed with House budget writers on its education spending plan, but Tillery said the Senate found savings from reductions in testing and dual enrollment.
The Senate redirected most of the savings to public health and to promote tourism. The Georgia World Congress Center would receive an additional $3 million under the Senate proposal. The Georgia Historical Society would receive $50,000 instead of the $24,000 proposed by Kemp and the House.
Senate budget writers allocated $10.23 billion from the state’s general fund to the Department of Education, reflecting a more than $600 million difference from the $9.6 billion that was allocated in June. The House allocated $10.24 billion, and Kemp recommended a $10.27 billion allocation.
The Senate AFY budget proposal also sets aside $150,000 for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to push through temporary permits for nurses to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Kemp signed an executive order Jan. 22 that allows registered professional nurses with a lapsed or expired license from the past five years to apply for the permit.
The Senate kept the nearly $286,000 the House added to hire a chief medical officer, a deputy commissioner of public health and a chief data officer to support the agency with COVID-19 response, but it also added two additional Department of Public Health positions to its AFY budget proposal.
“Through discussions with (Public Health Commissioner) Dr. (Kathleen) Toomey and her staff, we were able to pinpoint two additional positions that, if we could find, would be very helpful for her during this time,” Tillery said.
The Senate plan calls for an additional $200,000 to hire a senior programmer and a financial manager.
The Senate agreed with the House recommendation to spend $18 million to replace and upgrade the public health surveillance system for vaccinations and more than $15 million to support the state’s plan to vaccinate people in its HIV/AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
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