ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed a record $40.5 billion mid-year budget Thursday that prioritizes hurricane relief and invests heavily in school safety and Georgia’s prison system while providing relief to the state’s taxpayers.
The spending plan, which the General Assembly passed earlier this week, includes $867 million in response and recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, which devastated large swaths of South Georgia and the eastern half of the state last September.
Another $434 million will go toward a pay raise for state prison guards and additional correctional officers for a prison system that came under fire in a federal audit released last fall for failing to protect inmates from violence. The prisons also will receive funding to repair deteriorating infrastructure inside the lockups and give guards more tasers and drone detection equipment to combat the smuggling of cellphones and other contraband.
The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, also includes an additional $50 million in school-safety grants to all public schools.
The state is putting $501 million into improving water infrastructure in Coastal Georgia to serve the huge electric-vehicles plant under construction west of Savannah and the residents who will work there, as well as $266 million for water and sewer projects across the state.
Another $500 million will go toward highway improvements aimed at accelerating the movement of freight throughout Georgia, while $28 million will be used for workforce housing in rural areas and $20 million will boost economic development in rural communities.
“All of this investment is designed to benefit our local communities,” Kemp said during a bill-signing ceremony at the state Capitol. “But it’s also going to keep Georgians working in all parts of our state during these uncertain economic times.”
The mid-year budget also takes advantage of a $16 billion state surplus to return $1 billion to taxpayers in the form of a one-time rebate. The Georgia House approved the rebate later Thursday as well as a separate bill reducing the state income tax rate.
“We’ll be able to keep more of Georgians’ money in their pockets,” the governor said. “They know how to spend it better than the government does.”
With work completed on the mid-year budget, the state House of Representatives is expected to take up Kemp’s $37.7 billion fiscal 2026 spending plan next week.