Editorial: Rep Powell on Week 6 of Georgia General Assembly

The Georgia General Assembly met for week six of the 2016 legislative session last week. Several Second Amendment bills have made their way through my committee and one passed the House on Monday.

HB 859, also known as, “The Campus Carry Bill” favorably passed out of the House on Monday, after passing out of my committee last week. This bill authorizes the carrying and possession of certain weapons by weapons carry license holders in or on certain buildings or real property owned by or leased to public institutions of post-secondary education.
HB 792 was also favorably passed out of my committee last week to authorize the carrying, possession, and use of electroshock weapons by persons who are students or who are employed at a public institution of post-secondary education.

With “Crossover Day” rapidly approaching, we are passing crucial pieces of legislation each day that we are in session. Last week, we passed several bills, and among those was one of our most important pieces of legislation of the year: House Bill 751, the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY2017) state budget.

The General Assembly has one constitutional obligation each year: to pass a balanced state budget. This budget will serve as a spending guide for the state beginning July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. The FY2017 budget is the largest budget in our state’s history at $23.7 billion, which is an increase of $673.9 million, or 2.9%, over the amended FY2016 budget. The House was able to secure funding for several of its priorities, including: education funding, additional funding for transportation as a result of the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, health care, and economic development funds.

Education spending accounts for more than half of the annual budget each year. As a result of revenue increases, the FY2017 includes a $300 million appropriation for K-12 education for local school boards to give salary increases, eliminate furlough days or increase instruction days for education.

The House version of FY2017 also includes $5.1 million for a 3 percent pay raise to teachers in Agriculture Education and Tech/Career Education programs, school bus drivers, lunchroom workers, nurses, and Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) employees. The budget provides an additional $28.6 million in funding for Pre-K teachers for salary increases up to three percent, as well as increasing salaries for assistant teachers. We also gave state retirees a one-time 3% increase.

The FY2017 budget also provides funding for higher education initiatives in our state, including the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships. Since 2012, the number of Zell Miller Scholars at both public and private universities has significantly increased, and to account for this increase in eligible scholars, HB 751 allocates $59.1 million for FY2017 for Zell Miller and HOPE Scholarship recipients. FY2017 also appropriates $29.4 million in funding to the Move on When Ready dual enrollment program and an additional $1.2 million to the North Georgia Military Scholarship Grants program.

College students will not experience a tuition increase next fall due to the diligence of the governor and the General Assembly to keep college affordable by providing adequate formula funding.

Our state has seen a tremendous growth in our state population in recent years, and as our population grows, we must guarantee that all Georgians have access to proper healthcare. As a result, FY2017 has allocated $66.7 million to offset Medicaid enrollment growth in our state. In order to see that all Georgians are in close proximity to quality healthcare, the House version of the FY 2017 budget includes several initiatives to ensure that basic services are available in underserved areas.

This includes $200,000 to maintain the rural dentistry loan program; $100,000 to establish a loan repayment program for physician assistants and advance practice registered nurses; $100,000 for the Georgia South Family Medicine Rural Residency Training Program; and $200,000 for OB/GYN physicians who want to return to practice in underserved areas. FY2017 also provides a one-time start-up grant of $250, 000 for the Champions for Children program, also known as the “Katie Beckett waiver,” which provides grants to families with medically fragile children who do not qualify for Medicaid.

Quality healthcare should be available to all of our citizens, and I was proud to see funding for these initiatives included to provide increased access for Georgians statewide.
Georgia has been at the forefront of criminal justice reforms, and since the implementation of these reforms, state juvenile justice facilities have seen a 25 percent decrease in population. To maintain this progress, FY2017 includes an additional $3.8 million to expand the state’s accountability courts, which are aimed at providing community alternatives, as proven alternatives to sentencing, to rehabilitate offenders and juveniles.

In his State of the Judiciary, Chief Justice Hugh Thompson credited accountability courts with reducing crime by 45 percent, and with saving the state more than $51 million in prison costs in 2015. FY2017 also allocates $5.6 million to support educational initiatives in the state prison system, including operational costs for two charter high schools and expansion of GED fast track, vocational, and general education programs.

By providing these individuals with beneficial skills, it will make their transition to re-entry more seamless and reduce their chances of recidivism. Georgia’s recidivism rate is at its lowest in 30 years, and I am proud of the work we have done in the General Assembly to give our citizens a second chance.

The final portion of the FY2017 budget I would like to highlight is the inclusion of hundreds of millions of new transportation dollars to improve our state’s transportation infrastructure. As a result of House Bill 170, the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, FY2017 appropriates $825.6 million in new state general and motor fuel funds to help improve the state’s roads and bridges to keep freight and our commuters moving safely and efficiently.
Of those funds, $543.1 million are budgeted for capital construction and maintenance projects; $204.7 for routine maintenance; and $41 million in Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants (LMIG). An additional $1 million in bonds were also allocated for the repair, replacement, and renovation of our state’s bridges to ensure safety for all who travel on our roadways.

Prior to the passage of HB 170, Georgia’s roads averaged resurfacing once every 50 years. As our population has grown, so has our need for transportation investment, and with this new funding, we will now have the ability to dedicate the essential resources to addressing Georgia’s infrastructure needs.

I applaud the Georgia Department of Transportation for their long-term solution to our current issue, and I encourage you to view their website and the list of upcoming projects at www.GAroads.org.

Another significant measure that passed out of our chamber with overwhelming support was House Bill 798. HB 798 would change some requirements for the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships to consider home schooled students and students graduating from previously ineligible or non-accredited high schools. Eligibility would be determined by standardized college admissions tests, such as the SAT and ACT, which are available to all students.
Home schooled students and students graduating from ineligible high schools that score in the 75th percentile or higher nationally would be eligible for the HOPE Scholarship. Students who score in the 93rd percentile or higher nationally would be eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship.

The bill also changes the Zell Miller Scholarship eligibility for students graduating from eligible high schools by requiring a score in the 80th percentile or higher on the ACT or the SAT, in addition to maintaining a minimum 3.7 GPA. The HOPE Scholarship was created to keep our state’s brightest students in Georgia for college, and this legislation would give even more students that chance.