Georgia House leaders Wednesday rejected Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to cut health insurance benefits to 22,000 part-time school employees and their families, but local school districts would have to pick up the cost of that decision.
That would greatly cut into the extra money Deal and state lawmakers had promised schools next fiscal year.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a $21.8 billion budget for fiscal 2016, which begins July 1, that includes major increases in spending on education and $200 million more in borrowing for transportation projects. Included was $100 million for transit projects.
More money may get added later if the General Assembly passes legislation currently being debated that would put $1 billion a year into transportation.
In their budget plan, House leaders also more than cut in half the increase Deal proposed to boost the staff of the state ethics commission, which enforces the state’s campaign finance and lobbying laws.
The full House is expected to approve the budget Thursday, and then the Senate will get its turn to rewrite the spending plan.
House leaders went against Deal’s plan to stop subsidizing State Health Benefit Plan coverage for part-time school staffers, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. Bus drivers and teachers had lobbied the General Assembly hard for more than a month to reject Deal’s proposal, which the administration said would save the state about $81 million a year.
“We feel like there is a vital role these individuals play in transporting our students,” said House Appropriations Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn.
However, House leaders also increased “employer contributions” to pay for insurance for non-certified school employees, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. The increased contributions by school districts: $102.8 million.
The House leaders supported pay raises for the state’s top judges. Supreme Court and Appeals Court judges would get $12,000 raises. Superior Court judges and district attorneys in some districts that don’t provide big supplements would also get raises.
The spending plan includes about $1 billion in new construction projects, mostly for k-12 schools, colleges and transportation.
The state would borrow $23 million for parking facilities near the new Atlanta Falcons stadium. Lawmakers approved borrowing $17 million for the project last year.
Deal’s efforts to remake Capitol Hill would also continue in next year’s budget. With Liberty Plaza across from the Statehouse and several other projects completed, the governor included $6.5 million to demolish the former archives building just off I-20, and House leaders supported it. The building hasn’t been used as an archives for several years, and state officials want to tear it down and build a new courts facility on the location.
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