State lawmakers on Wednesday gave final passage to a record $25 billion state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and here are some folks who came out ahead:
- Tens of thousands of state employees and University System staffers. Lawmakers approved 2 percent raises for most, and a 19 percent pay hike for child protective services workers. State government retirees will get a 3 percent bonus.
- Construction companies, road-builders, and the people who work for them. The state will spend more than $2 billion on new schools, college buildings, roads and bridges, or on fixing the ones already built. Orange cones and hardhats all around.
- HOPE scholars. They'll get 3 percent bigger scholarships.
- The state's more than 100,000 teachers. They'll get the 2 percent raises too, and the extra money in their paychecks will be built into their salary so the increase is permanent and counts toward their pensions. Many this year just got one-time bonuses instead of raises.
- Doctors, dentists, nursing homes and others who treat or house the more than 1.5 million Georgians who get their health care from Medicaid. The state will be paying them more money for what they do.
- Gov. Nathan Deal. He got pretty much everything he recommended in January, including a big chunk of change to complete a new technical college campus in his home Hall County and a new state courts building. He also got about $2.2 million added at the last minute to help turn around low-performing schools, one of his top second-term priorities.
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