Georgia House members who passed a bill to prevent the state from shifting dedicated fees to other budget items pushed back on a Senate amendment that would make the bill ineffective for years.
"This is particularly galling, because we have watched this happen for years," said Rep. Al Williams, a Midway Democrat who spoke on the House floor Wednesday in support of Camilla Republican Rep. Jay Powell's legislation.
"It is misleading the taxpayers," Williams said.
Powell's House Bill 811 would require the state to spend fees it collects for programs such as police training, driver education and cleaning up leaking dumps and scrap car tires on those programs or begin scaling back the fees. The state has shifted such fee revenue elsewhere to soften budget shortfalls, particularly during the recession.
For example, the Joshua's Law fee is added onto traffic fines to pay for driver education training. It brought in $10 million last year, and none of it was appropriated to pay for such programs. In total, five fees have collected $140.5 million since 2004, of which $84 million has been directed elsewhere.
Powell's bill passed the House Feb. 22 and was sent to the state Senate for consideration. A Senate subcommittee Monday amended the bill in a way that would keep it from becoming effective upon the governor's signature. The amendment says fee cuts would only take place after Georgia builds up a spending reserve of more than $1 billion. That could be more than three years if the economy continues to improve. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the amended version Wednesday and the full Senate must vote on it.
Sen. Greg Goggans, R-Douglas, who chaired the subcommittee that made the amendment said it was done in consultation with Governor Gov. Nathan Deal's office to give the General Assembly flexibility in spending during tough times.
"We get beat up for cutting spending in education," he said. "There may be times when you realize that paying a school teacher or a prison guard comes in front of cleaning up a tire. I think that is fair."
"And [the amendment] doesn't say we can't appropriate the full amount of money," Goggans said.
He said the state has done a pretty good job with one of the fees, a $1 per tire fee that goes toward cleaning up dumps. It brings in more than $6 million a year. The General Assembly appropriated about $700,000 for cleanups in fiscal year 2011 and none appropriated in 2010, but nearly all the $6 million was appropriated in 2007 and 2008.
A spokesman for Deal said the governor does not comment on pending legislation.
If HB 811 passes the Senate, it will come back to the House for approval and the two chambers could work out a compromise. Powell hopes to cut the $1 billion trigger point so the bill will become effective sooner. He said if passed in its amended form, the General Assembly could cut the trigger point next year.
Powell said it is an issue of trust: how can Georgians trust the General Assembly to spend taxes when it collects fees for a stated purpose and spends it elsewhere?
"I am hopeful the Senate is going to do the right thing and not break faith with the voters," Powell said.
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