2006 LEGISLATIVE REPORTS
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2006 LEGISLATIVE REPORTS |
| January 20, 2006
$2 million for Augusta library in proposed budget
By Rep. Quincy Murphy The House and Senate Appropriations Committees held two days of hearings this week on Gov. Perdue’s proposed $18.6 billion fiscal year 2007 budget, which is 8.2 percent higher than last year’s spending blueprint. I am pleased to report the budget includes $2 million in bonds to fund the construction of a new library headquarters branch in Augusta. These funds would help defray the $22 million overall cost of the new library, to be constructed at the northwest corner of James Brown Boulevard and Telfair Street. This new facility will benefit all residents of the CSRA, including the 120th House District. Last week, I discussed the governor’s budget proposals for K-12 public education. Here is how the budget breaks down in some other key categories:
Higher education. The $1.9 billion proposed University System budget is $300 million larger than the 2006 appropriation and includes a 4 percent pay hike for faculty and employees, costing $47 million; $38 million for a nanotechnology facility at Georgia Tech; and $37.5 for a teaching lab at Georgia State University. Adult and technical education. The governor wants to spend $47.8 million on major capital projects at the Okefenokee, Savannah, Lanier (Forsyth campus) and Chattahoochee (Paulding County campus) Technical Colleges. His choices bypass colleges in some areas of the state that had been deemed as higher priorities by the Department and Adult and Technical Education. Health care. Part of the $10 billion Department of Community Health budget is slated for health care initiatives in the Medicaid and PeachCare programs and the State Health Benefit Plan. United Healthcare’s new contract with DCH to administer the benefit plan raised concerns among state workers because some doctors and hospitals they use were excluded from United’s provider network. On Tuesday, DCH Commissioner Rhonda Medows told Appropriations Committee members the issue was being addressed. Legislation has been proposed to give state legislators, employees and health care providers a bigger voice on any future changes to the Health Benefit Plan. Transportation. The governor’s “Paving the Way Home” program involves $234 million in already-earmarked federal funds that during the next two fiscal years (2006 and 2007) would go to Georgia cities and counties for high-priority transportation projects. Federal taxes on motor vehicle fuels would pay for this. The Local Assistance Road Program proposal takes $60 million from the total in each year to resurface and patch deep holes in roads, while $57 million in state funding is allocated in both years to pave rural dirt roads, improve intersections and resurface and repair existing roads. Social services and public safety. The governor is seeking $45 million to buy more than 4,300 more beds for State prisons and $8 million more to absorb fuel price hikes at correctional facilities. Social safety net requests include $285 million in tax relief for seniors; a new child care tax credit; $2.8 million in state funds (plus another $3.1 million in federal funding) to hire 175 more child welfare caseworkers; and $1.3 billion in state monies (up $28.2 million from FY 2006) toward a requested $2.9 billion total Department of Human Services budget. In the coming week, House members will consider House Bill 1059, which would considerably tighten penalties and restrictions on sex offenders. The measure, sponsored by the House Majority Leader, mandates at least 25 years in prison for aggravated instances of child molestation, sodomy and sexual battery, prohibits registered sex offenders from working within 1,000 feet of any place children congregate, and compels all convicts classified as “sexually dangerous predators” by a state board to wear electronic tracking monitors for life. While the bill is expected to broad bipartisan support, concerns have been expressed about the practice removing sentencing discretion from judges regarding minimum prison terms and making it harder for sex offenders on probation to find work, unemployment being a contributing factor to recidivism among those who have served time for sex crimes. There are also reservations about the longer prison terms contributing to jail overcrowding and forcing construction of expensive new correctional facilities. Hopefully, these issues will be reconciled during debate in committee and on the House floor and we can pass a bill that strengthens the protection of all Georgians, especially children, from the most dangerous of these criminals. Another proposal that House members will be considering is HB 18, which would remove the exemption for drivers and passengers in pickup trucks from the state’s seat belt laws. This exception is costing Georgia $20.7 million in federal highway funds, and AAA has estimated that 22 lives could be saved each year if state law required seat belt usage in pickup trucks. I’d like to know what you think about this issue. Please contact my Capitol office at 404-656-0625 or send an e-mail at quincy.murphy@house.ga.gov to express your views.
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