Gov. Brian Kemp greets Georgia lawmakers before giving his last state of the state address in the Georgia House of Representatives on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Ty Tagami/Capitol Beat)
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp’s last budget proposal would stockpile billions for any rough economy one of his successors might encounter while also asking lawmakers to return over $1 billion to taxpayers.
In his eighth and final state of the state address Thursday, Kemp said his budget proposal to the Georgia General Assembly will give average rebates of $250 per individual taxpayer plus a fifth of a percentage point reduction to the state income tax rate, lowering it to 4.99%.
Like perhaps every other politician, Kemp nodded to what is shaping up to be a dominant issue in the upcoming elections: affordability.
“The reality is too many of our citizens are still struggling to make ends meet each and every day because costs are still too high,” he said, speaking from the well of the Georgia House. “Groceries, rent, insurance, clothes for the kids, it all adds up to more than it used to.”
He said if lawmakers approve his rebate his administration will have returned over $7.5 billion in surplus funds over the past four years. Yet, the state would retain $10 billion in reserves, enough to run government for three months.
Kemp’s budget proposal spends money, too, on roads, on pay supplements, on retirement benefits and, for the first time in state history, on needs-based scholarships for higher education.
But there were no big gestures about the rising cost of health care at a time when many in the state are poised to lose their insurance as federal premium tax credits expire for policies under the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.
“We have been talking about expanding Medicaid year after year. And we know that the ACA subsidies have expired,” Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, said after Kemp’s speech. “There are cuts to Medicaid coming down to us from the federal government. That’s a real challenge, and I’m surprised that it was not mentioned.”
Hugley, who is the House minority leader, also said Kemp’s rebates would do little to help struggling families.
“They’re thinking about child care. They’re thinking about paying rent,” she said. “But a one-time 250 or a one-time 500, what is that really going to do?”
But even she had praise for Kemp’s proposal to infuse a needs-based scholarship fund called Georgia DREAMS with a one-time $325 million grant to serve as an endowment, something Democrats have been requesting for years.
On the House floor, after Kemp left, Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, praised the governor for removing an abiding stigma around college funding for students from low-income families.
“This is the first governor since 1992 who has used the words ‘needs based,'” he said. “Thank you.”
The idea has also been floated in the Senate, where a bipartisan study committee recommended late last year that the state provide need based financial aid like 48 other states.
Kemp is proposing billions in other new spending, in addition to the nearly $1.2 billion rebate and the ongoing annualized $750 million cost of the income tax cut.
He didn’t mention it Thursday, but in a speech the day before at a state Chamber of Commerce event he revealed $2 billion in his budget request to relieve congestion on I-75 south of Atlanta and on Georga 316 from Atlanta to Athens. His budget also includes $350 million for local road and bridge improvements.
And Kemp would help state employees with their living costs by giving a $2,000 pay supplement to all of them, including educators and state public safety officers.
It will cost over $600 million.
State law enforcement would also get a retirement boost that would add about $5 million a year to annual budgets. The proposal would accelerate the annual increases in the percentage state match for each officer’s contribution to their 401(k) plan and lift the cap to 15% of salary from 9%.
Near the end of his speech, Kemp acknowledged that governors lose clout as they near their final hour, but he also noted the substantial power that Georgia governors wield through the line-item budget veto.
“For those of you who may think I’m a lame duck,” he said, “just remember I have a big red pen.”
It was a joke, and the lawmakers laughed and applauded. But it was also true. Lawmakers have nearly always given Kemp what he asked for.
ATLANTA — The voters in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old northwest Georgia congressional district have less than two months to winnow a winner out of a list of 22 candidates who qualified to succeed her.
The March 10 special election for U.S. House district 14 will feature 17 Republicans, three Democrats and an Independent and a Libertarian.
The free for all was triggered by Greene’s surprise announcement in November that she would be stepping down a year early, on Jan. 5. Her decision was due in part to a threat against her son’s life and her own home after her public disagreements with President Donald Trump, which included the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The largest contingent of those who want to succeed her — four of them — hail from Paulding County. Cobb, Dade, Floyd and Whitfield counties produced three candidates apiece. The other six candidates are from Catoosa, Coweta, Fulton, Polk and Walker counties.
The mix includes an auctioneer and truck driver, who was until Tuesday a member of the Georgia Senate: Republican Colton Moore, of Trenton, stepped down to run for this congressional seat.
Also in the running are a U.S. Marine, two attorneys (one a prosecutor), a pastor, several business owners (one who deals in electric bicycles), a couple farmers (one a cattle producer the other also a teacher), a couple retirees (one is now a political writer), a risk engineer, a patent practitioner, a travel consultant, and one who works in the railroad supply chain sector. Several listed their occupation as self-employed, another as financial services and one as entrepreneur.
The three Democrats are Shawn Harris from Cedartown in Polk County, Jonathan Hobbs from Dallas in Paulding County, and Jim Davis from Floyd County.
The Independent is Rob “Rush Ruszkowski from Dade County.
The Libertarian is Andrew Underwood from Walker County.
The Republicans are Tom Gray from Powder Springs in Cobb County, James Marty Brown from Tunnel Hill in Whitfield County, Jennifer Jaye Turnipseed from Chickamauga in Walker County, Brian Stover from Dallas in Paulding County, Star Black from Kennesaw in Cobb County, Megahn Strickland from Marietta in Cobb County, Christian Michael Hurd from Rocky Face in Whitfield County, Reagan Box from Rome in Floyd County, Beau Brown from Silver Creek in Floyd County, Colton Moore from Trenton in Dade County, Clayton McLean Fuller from Trenton in Dade County, Jared Craig from Coweta County, Nicky Lama from Whitfield County, Trey Kelly from Fulton County, Eric Cunningham from Paulding County, Larry E. Hilley from Catoosa County, and James Edward Tully from Paulding County.
If no candidate takes a majority of the vote, which is likely with such a large field, a runoff will occur April 7.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s website lists candidate details, including residency, occupation, contact information and campaign websites. Find that information by selecting the March 10 special election here: https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/qualifying-candidate-information
ATLANTA — Data centers in Georgia did not produce the same high payback in exchange for nearly half a billion dollars in tax breaks as reported by state auditors last month, according to a correction issued Wednesday.
In a report first released on Christmas Eve, the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts said the state effectively gave away $474 million in the fiscal year that ended in July by exempting data centers from some taxes.
In exchange, auditors said, data centers created 28,350 construction-related jobs in 2025, adding $3.4 billion to the state economy. And they created another 5,471 data center operations jobs, for an additional $823 million injection into the state economy.
But on Wednesday, the state agency revised those numbers. Data centers produced less than a third as many jobs and less than a third as much economic value, they wrote in a summary of a full report by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.
Data centers actually produced 8,505 construction jobs that added $1 billion to the economy and 1,641 operations jobs for another $247 million added.
There was no explanation for the error. The table with the employment and value numbers in the underlying Carl Vinson report that was linked to the corrected release still contained the same figures as the December version.
Data centers have become controversial due to their demands on water and power infrastructure.
Last month, the state Public Service Commission approved a nearly 10-gigawatt expansion request by Georgia Power to supply current and anticipated demand by the centers, which are powering the development of artificial intelligence as well as traditional internet services.
Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia outlines plans for highway improvements during the Georgia Chamber of Commerce annual Eggs and Issues event in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Ty Tagami/Capitol Beat)
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp will take a hammer to gridlock during his last year in office, spending more than $2 billion to upgrade major highways south and east of Atlanta.
The term-limited Republican governor, entering the end of his second four-year term, told a large crowd at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs and Issues event at Mercedes-Benz stadium Wednesday that a conservative approach to budgeting had allowed the new investments in road infrastructure, which he said brings the total upgrades to transportation, water and energy during his tenure to $6 billion.
“While some politicians across the country are suddenly talking about affordability and quality of life,” he said, “in Georgia we’ve been actually doing something about it.”
His budget includes $1.8 billion for new dedicated express lanes on I-75 in Henry County and $200 million to add interchanges and overpasses along Georgia 316 from Athens to Gwinnett County, converting it to an expressway.
“It shouldn’t take you a full afternoon to get from Athens to Atlanta or vice versa,” said the governor from Athens.
He is also allocating $250 million to grants for local road projects, $100 million for rural bridge improvements and $35 million for natural gas delivery projects.
One new investment is coming ahead of the World Cup events in Atlanta, when visitors across the country and the globe will visit the state.
Kemp is putting $50 million into a one-time grant to address homelessness in the capital city and other urban areas. The goal is to draw other funding from donors to establish programs that get people off the streets, he said, adding it is not a handout.
Two other leading state politicians spoke at the event, and they both talked about the cost of living.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican campaigning to follow Kemp in the governor’s mansion, said affordability is the number one concern he hears about from people on the campaign trail. To that end, he said, the Senate, which he leads, will focus on lowering both the state income tax and local property taxes.
Income tax reduction was already a focus in the Senate, where a special committee studied the issue for months last year.
House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, said last week that he was prioritizing property tax reduction but was open to lowering the income tax, too.
On Wednesday, Burns expressed frustration that more than 300 local governments had opted out of a law asking them to restrain rising property valuations by linking those increases to the generally lower rate of inflation.
The amount homeowners pay is based on two things: the assessed value of their property and the local millage rate.
“This year,” Burns said, “the House will put forward legislation enabling the elimination of the homestead property tax statewide.”
ATLANTA — The Republican leaders of Georgia’s Senate will push to reduce both income and property taxes while targeting other cost-of-living issues during a legislative session that will be influenced by election-year politics.
Senate leaders gave a brief outline of their priorities at the Capitol Tuesday, the second day of their 40-day session.
Last week, a high-priority Senate study committee wrapped up its work, issuing a recommendation to eliminate the state income tax by 2032, with gradual cuts starting in 2027. And on that same day, House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, announced his plans to pare back local property taxes.
On Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Dallas Republican Jason Anavitarte, said his chamber’s caucus “can and will do everything in our power” to embrace both approaches to bring down costs for taxpayers.
He also said Republican senators would target institutional investors who “gobble up” houses then resell them, driving up prices for regular homebuyers while “Wall Street billionaires” profit.
The Senate will also consider ways to expedite building permits, he said. Developers criticized local building departments for causing expensive delays during a hearing in November, but local officials said developers were filing sloppy plans that slowed the review process.
Both the Senate and the House are also interested in improving literacy. Burns said last week that he wanted to see literacy coaches in every elementary school, and Anavitarte said Tuesday that the Senate wanted to provide resources to address the concern.
Anavitarte also mentioned resources for foster children and to combat chronic absenteeism, also the subject of a Senate study committee last year. Also on the agenda are “guardrails” around technology accessible by children including artificial intelligence, he said.
The senators did not offer much detail about how they would accomplish their goals. Property taxes fund about half the cost of public education, so curbing school districts’ authority to raise tax revenue could result in service cuts.
Anavitarte said some school districts were flush with money while others were broke, and “we have to figure out what is that right balance.” He had a similar answer about how to curb institutional residential investors: “I think we have to address the balance and there will be more to come on that.”
