EXCERPT FROM: Walton Tribune
By Bruce Williamson
The Georgia General Assembly's 2011 legislative session began on an icy Monday in January and ended on a warm Thursday in April. During the 40 legislative days that fell within the months between, I had the privilege of working with our other Walton County representative, Len Walker, as we both focused on the needs of our county and state.
The Assembly passed 267 pieces of legislation this session. As stipulated in our state Constitution, this legislation was then sent to the governor, who had 40 days to sign or veto each of the 257 bills and 10 resolutions. Any bills or resolutions not vetoed by the governor automatically became law on May 24. With that in mind, I would like to tell you about some of Georgia's new laws that will affect education, health care and public safety within the state.
The fiscal 2012 (FY 2012) state budget enacted through House Bill 78 totals $18.3 billion in state funds. While our state funds have experienced a net increase of 2 percent, total state spending for FY 2012 decreased by over 14 percent. This decrease is due to expiring federal stimulus funds. Although significant cuts were made to account for these reductions, we were able to preserve critical services and programs in areas such as health care, education and state infrastructure.
Because pre-kindergarten costs are outpacing its lottery funding, HB 78 enacts necessary adjustments to ensure Georgia's pre-k program remains financially stable in the coming years. These adjustments will reduce the pre-k year from 180 days to 160 days and add two more students to each pre-k class, moving the class size from 20 to 22. Further, pre-k providers will receive 94 percent of their current operating funds, and pre-k teachers will receive 90 percent of their current salaries. Though unfortunate, the changes implemented by HB 78 ensure that pre-k remains a full day, six-hour instruction program for 86,000 children next year.
Similarly, Georgia's popular HOPE scholarship programs have also outpaced their lottery funding. Next year, merit-based HOPE scholarship students will receive 90 percent of 2011 tuition amounts. HOPE scholarship students attending private colleges will receive $3,600 for tuition. The HOPE Scholarship will continue to require a 3.0 grade point average, but will no longer cover books, fees or remedial college classes.
HB 326 also creates the Zell Miller Scholarship, which will offer full tuition to Georgia's public colleges to students who graduate from high school as a valedictorian or salutatorian. Students will also qualify for the Zell Miller Scholarship if they graduate from high school with a minimum 3.7 GPA and 1200 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT. To continue receiving the Zell Miller Scholarship, these students will have to maintain a 3.3 grade point average while attending college. Even with these adjustments, our HOPE program remains the best funded student- and taxpayer-friendly tuition program in the nation.
House Bill 192 creates the State Education Finance Study Commission, which will study and evaluate the costs and resources needed to educate a child in Georgia. The commission's findings will be used to develop a comprehensive K-12 educational funding formula reform that would allow the state to meet the modern needs of our elementary, middle, and high schools. The state's current K-12 funding formula has not been sufficiently updated since 1985.
The Georgia House also passed legislation this year that uses proven market-based principles to lower the cost of health insurance for Georgians. House Bill 47 does this by giving Georgians the option to purchase less expensive individual health insurance plans by allowing insurance companies licensed in Georgia to sell accident and health insurance policies that are approved for sale in other states. This simple change will create a more open insurance market with greater competition.
This bill will go into effect on July 1.
The recent economic recession made us all take a look at our personal budgets and evaluate how we can best stretch our limited funds. For the state, that meant cutting spending and restructuring services. These measures worked, but they also revealed the need for further changes, including changes to our immigration and criminal justice laws.
While I have no problem with legal immigration, the recent economic recession made it clear our reduced state budget literally cannot afford to support illegal aliens who unlawfully take advantage of taxpayer funded services. House Bill 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011, seeks to close legal loopholes and put an end to the incentives that bring illegal aliens to Georgia.
HB 87 will do this by requiring employers with 10 or more employees to ensure that their new hires are eligible to work in the United States. The new law will also require secure and verifiable identification for official purposes and help local law enforcement agencies handle issues associated with illegal immigration. This law will not affect existing programs that provide legal avenues for foreign workers to lawfully come to Georgia and work in our state.
This bill goes into effect on July 1.
Further, our reduced state budget has also made it clear that Georgia must develop a more cost-effective corrections system. Our state currently spends more than $1 billion a year on our corrections system and has the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the nation. However, recent studies suggest that an estimated three-fourths of the state's prison population is believed to have some type of drug addiction, which could be treated at much lower costs than imprisonment.
For example, Georgia pays $49 per day per inmate housed in a state prison, compared to $1.50 per day for probation supervision or $16 per day for community treatment at a Day Reporting Center. HB 265 authorizes a Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians, which will study criminal justice reform and make legislative recommendations to a joint legislative committee before the 2012 session.
This bill went into effect on April 22.