Brian Kemp trims $300 million from Georgia’s budget

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed a new budget — but he deleted about $300 million of new spending approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature just last month.

Lawmakers approved a $38.5 billion spending plan for 2027 that included new money for a slew of priorities. Kemp used his line-item veto power to “disregard” the additional spending on scores of items the details of which his office is announcing Tuesday afternoon.

Kemp’s cuts come a day after he signed a law lowering the income tax rate, a move state officials say will leave a $1.3 billion hole in the state budget. The governor’s “disregards” — or line-item vetoes — address about $300 million of that hole.

The governor is counting on the state’s revenue to grow over the next year to fill some of that deficit. Whatever is left will have to come from the state’s $8 billion savings account, said Rick Dunn, director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.

Kemp acknowledged state lawmakers may not be happy with his decisions.

“But they also realized, like, we’ve got a hole in the budget that we’ve got to fix,” Kemp aid. “They may not really like that so much, but for the members who get reelected, who come back next year, when they’re dealing with the ‘27 budget, they’ll be thanking us for doing this.”

Kemp stressed that the budget still fully funds priorities like K-12 classrooms and HOPE Scholarships.