The Senate approved a midyear budget Thursday that calls for Georgia to spend $18.5 billion during the current fiscal year -- nearly $207 million more than was originally planned.

The vote on House Bill 741 was 51-1, with Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, casting the only opposing vote.

Slight differences exist between the Senate and House versions of the amended 2012 fiscal year budget, including funding for several k-12 education programs. Members from both chambers will hammer out an agreement.

Both the House and Senate versions included using $300 million in gas tax money toward a toll road project along I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties.

The 2012 fiscal year began July 1 and will end June 30.

Appropriations subcommittees in the House and Senate are reviewing Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed 2013 fiscal year budget. That budget goes into effect July 1 and ends June 30, 2013.

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Georgia Lt. Gov. Lester Maddox, angry about an article, burns a copy of The Atlanta Constitution in the state Senate on March 10, 1971, saying the paper did not have the "guts, integrity, manhood or decency" to report the situation accurately. (AJC file)

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Ja’Quon Stembridge, shown here in July at the Henry County Republican Party monthly meeting, recently stepped from his position with the Georgia GOP. (Jenni Girtman for the AJC)

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