State Senate passes $37.5 billion midyear budget
ATLANTA - The state Senate passed a $37.5 billion midyear budget Thursday that increases spending by $5 billion, including $2 billion from an unprecedented $16 billion surplus. The legislation, which sailed through the Senate 54-1, represents a 9.4% increase over the...
State Senate panel passes book banning bill
ATLANTA - Legislation that would create a state council to set standards for books that could be banned from public school libraries as obscene cleared a Georgia Senate committee late Wednesday. "This bill is about making sure our public school libraries are not...
State House panel approves changes to film tax credit
ATLANTA - Legislation putting guardrails around Georgia's popular film tax credit cleared a state House subcommittee Tuesday. House Bill 1180, which a House Ways and Means subcommittee approved unanimously, would require film production companies to meet at least four...
Penny Houston not running for reelection to Georgia House
ATLANTA - Longtime state Rep. Penny Houston announced Tuesday that she will not seek reelection this year. Houston, R-Nashville, has served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 26 years under seven House speakers. She told her House colleagues she wants to...
State Senate budget writers OK midyear spending plan
ATLANTA - The state Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $37.5 billion midyear budget Tuesday that includes $1,000 one-time pay supplements for Georgia teachers, state workers and University System of Georgia employees. The spending plan, which the full Senate...
Georgia lawmakers take up community solar bill
ATLANTA - Legislation that would let Georgia Power customers buy electricity from third-party providers of solar energy got a first hearing in the General Assembly Monday. Under House Bill 1152, customers could subscribe with community solar providers for projects...
Kemp announces additional federal pandemic relief for crime victims
ATLANTA - Gov. Brian Kemp is steering an additional $26 million in federal pandemic relief funds toward the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council's Victim's Services grant program. Following the addition of about $13.2 million to the program in December, the total...
Major changes looming for Georgia’s film tax credit
ATLANTA - Georgia legislative leaders' pledge to rein in some of the state's generous tax breaks to industry is starting with the most expensive on the books: the film tax credit. A bill introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives earlier this month would...