The legislators of Georgia

Capitol News Service defeated by Dave Williams

Atlanta-Die General Assembly gave a final passage with a record budget of $ 40.5 billion on Monday, which prioritizes Hurricane relief and prisons.

The budget of the middle of the year, which covers state expenditure until June 30, sailed 168-5 by the Georgia House of representatives before adopting the Senate 55-1.

It increases state expenditure by 4.4 billion US dollars compared to the budget budget, which was adopted last spring for the 2025 financial year, including a disaster aid package of 862 million US dollars for victims of Hurricane Helene, compared to 615 million US dollar from Governor Brian Kemp in January.

“We know that these are exchanged,” said Matt Hatchett, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, R-Dublin, to the colleagues of the house before Monday. “People hurt.”

Another big ticket article is $ 345 million for additional personnel work for Georgia prisons and security improvements. From this amount, 50.9 million US dollars will apply for the setting of additional prison officers.

After Kemp's request for four new modular units to temporarily accommodate occupants, while the crumbling infrastructure was replaced in existing prisons, the house and the Senate returned to the original recommendation of the governor of $ 80 million. Each of the units contains 126 inmates.

The budget of the middle of the year also includes $ 18 million for body cameras, Taser and surveillance technology upgrades and $ 17 million for drone recognition devices. Drone smuggling and other smuggling guards in government prisons have become a major concern for prison officers.

The various financing increases followed by a federal examination last autumn, in which the state's prison system was criticized for not protecting them from widespread violence.

The house and the Senate supported Kemp's request for $ 501 million in order to increase the surface water supply in coastal georgies in order to supply the Hyundai Electric Vehicle manufacturing plant, which was currently built along the Interstate 16 west of Savannah. Another 266 million US dollars are planned for water and wastewater improvement projects elsewhere in the state.

Another 500 million US dollars are intended for the freight and logistics program of the State Department of Transportation, a number of motorway improvements that aim to accelerate the movement of freight.

The legislator also supported the governor's recommendation for additional subsidies of $ 50 million to supply every school in Georgia with almost $ 70,000.

The house and the Senate have added 21.5 million US dollars to expand the offers for medical residence of the state, an initiative that aims to remedy a lack of doctors, especially in rural South Georgia. Another 38.5 million US dollars will go into the growing demand for care supply.

The budget of the middle of the year now goes for his signature to Kemp's desk.