Lawmakers Return To Gold Dome

Published March 8, 2010 at 2:35 a.m.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- State lawmakers return to the gold dome today after taking two weeks off to work on the 2011 budget.  During that time they heard from state department heads on ways to trim $1 billion from the proposed spending plan.

Some of the more controversial cuts came from the Board of Regents which predicted thousands of layoffs, elimination of entire degree programs, significant tuition increases, and the elimination of the 4-H program run by the University of Georgia if it had to trim an additional $300 million from its budget.

Lawmakers are awaiting February's revenue figures due out early this week to learn if they'll need to cut more from the midyear budget as well.  The 2010 budget has already been cut $1.5 billion from when it was first passed a year ago.

Besides the budget, lawmakers still must deal with a host of other important issues as they begin the final half of the legislative session including a transportation funding plan, ethics reform, and a water conservation plan. None of those bills have passed one chamber or the other.  Neither has a bill to allow guns in more places, a proposal to raise the tax on tobacco by $1, or a 1.6 percent fee on hospitals and insurance companies.

 

 

 

 

Back | Read more at WSB News