Rep. Alan Powell: 2024 Legislative Newsletter – Week Two

By State Representative Alan Powell, HD 33

The second week of the session, as in past years, is “Budget Week,” where the House and Senate Appropriations Committees meet with State Agencies to hear their budgetary needs and to scrutinize the Governor’s budget recommendations.

I always remind everyone that a balanced state budget is the only legislation that must pass each session, unlike the Actions of the U. S. Congress. We will be focused on issues to provide relief to everyday Georgians feeling everyday pressures of 40-year high inflation, public safety concerns, and rising healthcare costs.

The House Budget and Research Office produces budget tracking sheets for all stages of the budget in each fiscal year and can be viewed here: https://www.legis.ga.gov/house/budget-research-office Review the Resources and News and Highlights page. Below are some top issues:

Healthcare:

Updating our Medicaid Waiver: We will gather facts related to updating our Medicaid waiver to get our fair share of federal dollars. Any waiver plan would be expected to allow Georgia to draw down significant federal dollars.
Building on Mental Health: In 2023, the House passed HB 520 to improve mental health across Georgia. This year we will focus on ways to ensure the substance of HB 520 makes it to the Governor’s desk.

Public Safety: Increasing state law enforcement officer numbers; Prioritizing recruitment and retention; Cracking down on corruption and making improvements within Georgia’s prison system: Increased pay for our law enforcement officials, prohibiting local governments from cutting police budgets and increased criminal penalties for gang members, sex traffickers, and repeat offenders. We will be exploring measures that will help recruit and retain correctional officers and increase penalties for contraband and corruption in our prison system.

Education: Investing in Pre-K education; Funding additional school security measures to keep students safe; This year, we’re going to invest in our Pre-K education system by expanding Pre-K education to allow more Georgians the flexibility to take a new job, re-enter the workforce, or provide for their families.  This year, we will be advancing legislation that provides $45,000 per school to hire school safety officers and strengthen campus security.  We will also explore ways to moderate social media use for our students. We will be exploring aspects such as age verification, parental consent, and strengthening cyberbullying definitions and penalties to create safer learning environments in our schools.

Elections: Increasing transparency and accountability in the process of addressing election complaints; Protecting elections from AI interference; Replacing QR codes with visible watermarks. It is critical that we do everything in our power to continue safeguarding our elections, increasing transparency, and building on our efforts to increase voter participation at every turn.

We will explore measures that would make our State Board of Elections more autonomous by separating it from the Secretary of State’s office. We will prioritize legislation that strengthens the security of our ballots by moving away from the QR code, which many voters find confusing.

We plan to move toward visible watermarks on secure paper ballots to denote voter selections. We will also explore ways to protect the rights of Georgians by preventing any election interference through the use of generative AI. Measures will be prioritized that create significant criminal penalties for any bad actors attempting to alter an election.

Economy: Accelerating the reduction rate of state income tax and returning another $1 billion to taxpayers

Increasing child and homestead tax credits; Lowering Taxes, Creating Jobs, and Bolstering Georgia’s Booming Economy:
Georgians are still feeling the effects of record-high inflation. Georgia is set to accelerate the rate of income tax reduction in 2024, which will return nearly $1.1 billion to taxpayer pockets.

House Bill 1437 will be amended to further cut the tax rate from 5.75% to 5.39%, delivering significant tax relief to Georgia families. This year we intend to increase the child deduction on state income tax from $3,000 to $4,000 and adjust the homestead exemption from $2,000 to $4,000 to bring even more tax relief to Georgia families.

As part of the larger discussion around Georgia’s tax environment, the Joint Tax Credit Review will allow us to maximize the return on investment of current tax credits, ensure that they are creating jobs, and limit the state’s long-term fiscal exposure.

My number one job is to be your voice at the Capitol. I encourage you to visit or call me if you have any questions or concerns. My Capitol office number is 404-463-3793. My email is [email protected] or [email protected]. As always, thank you for allowing me to serve as your State Representative.