“This year’s midyear budget is different than most,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia. “We’ve held our cash close, and it’s served us well.”

Tax collections were slow for most of 2023 after three years of skyrocketing growth, which allowed the state to build up those reserves.

That matters because the money the state collects in taxes helps pay for K-12 schools, colleges, public health care, prisons, policing, business regulation, roads and a host of other services.

The state spent about $26.6 billion — excluding federal funding — in fiscal 2020, the last budget plan approved before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Last year, it was more than $32 billion, and the midyear plan would spend $37.5 billion for fiscal 2024. Of that, $2 billion would come out of “undesignated” reserves.

The budget covers a range of major infrastructure and education projects, including a new medical school at UGA, a new dental school at Georgia Southern University, large-scale computer system upgrades, more money for sewer improvements and massive spending on building roads. The state would spend an additional $1.5 billion alone on road building and maintenance.

The state would also spend $40 million on renovations at the Atlanta Farmers Market, and $450 million would go for a new state-of-the-art prison in Washington County as well.

Like the House, Senate leaders went along with Kemp’s proposal to restore $66 million in spending cuts to the University System of Georgia — which he opposed when lawmakers made the reduction late in the 2023 session.

The midyear budget passed by the House and now the Senate panel includes $29.25 million for public safety and infrastructure costs related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship events in Atlanta.

Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com

The General Assembly is run by rural lawmakers, and so Kemp and the House and Senate leaders also included big money for projects in those areas.

The budget would put $100 million into supporting rural economic development projects and expanding grant opportunities for rural site development. The House added $27 million for aid to small-town airports, another favorite program for rural legislators. The Senate pumped that up to $98 million.

The panel went along with Kemp’s proposal to spend $500 million propping up the state’s pension system for retired state workers. Lawmakers have said they hope that will mean in the future a return to providing cost-of-living increases for retirees, something they have rarely received since 2008.

In some cases, the House and Senate leaders put money back in the budget that Kemp cut out in May. For instance, the House added $315,000 to provide sexual assault nurse examiner coordinators at all state-funded sexual assault centers that don’t have one. Senate leaders backed the House’s position.

The SANE positions are used to schedule and manage nurses who perform forensic medical exams and collect evidence. In some cases, the coordinators also perform forensic medical exams, especially since there is a shortage of nurses to do the work statewide.

Money for those positions was essentially pulled by Kemp last year, along with dozens of other spending items after he warned lawmakers that a recession loomed.

The Senate panel backed adding $11 million to Kemp’s emergency fund, some of which could go to pay for his recent decision to send more National Guard troops to the southern border to curb illegal crossings.

The full Senate is expected to pass the measure Thursday. Then leaders of both chambers will work to come to an agreement on the plan.

Capitol Recap: The 2024 Legislative Session

Want to know what legislators did this past week and how it might affect you? Check out our weekly newsletter, Capitol Recap: The 2024 Legislative Session, every Friday.

To subscribe, go to https://www.ajc.com/subscribe-2024-legislative-session/.