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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSenate committee approves spending plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Appropriations Committee this afternoon approved a spending plan for next year that includes $45 million for land preservation and all $19 million Gov. Sonny Perdue wanted for fishing tourism.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the $20.2 billion spending plan Tuesday, and Senate and House negotiators will then work to hammer out a compromise on the budget before the session is scheduled to end Friday.
As expected, the Senate stripped or slashed many of the pet projects inserted into the budget by the House and added its own. The winners in that process were Southeast Georgia lawmakers who help run the Senate and funneled more money to their areas. The loser was the Augusta area, home to House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans).
For instance, the Senate cut money Harbin wanted to prop up the Golf Hall of Fame in Augusta, stripped money designated for the Charlie Norwood dental school in Augusta and supported money to begin creating a medical school in Athens. Harbin had wanted the medical school money to expand the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
The Senate gave Perdue more of what he wanted than the House. For instance, Perdue got all the money he requested for “Go Fish Georgia,” which would build fishing facilities and a fish hatchery. The governor got nearly all of the $50 million he requested for land preservation. The House had approved no money for the program.
The Senate also put more money into adult literacy programs. The agency that runs adult literacy programs feared it would have to furlough teachers next month because of a funding shortfall.
And the Senate rejected a plan by House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) to force thousands of Atlanta-area residents in Medicaid’s elderly, blind and disabled programs into managed care. Richardson had estimated the shift to cheaper managed care programs would save state and federal taxpayers $80 million a year. The agency that runs Medicaid opposed the change.
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