Legislation Recap

(Editor’s Note: The following is a recap of this year’s legislative session by Jasper County’s representative, Susan Holmes. The wrap-up will be continued in next week’s Monticello News.)

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, your state legislature successfully passed 267 pieces of legislation.
As stipulated in our state constitution, this legislation was sent to the governor, who had 40 days to sign or veto each of the 257 bills and 10 resolutions. Tuesday, May 24th marked the governor’s 40th and final day to consider legislation passed during this year’s session.

Any bills or resolutions not vetoed by the governor automatically became law. With that in mind, I would like to tell you about some of Georgia’s new laws that will affect education, health care, water resources, and public safety within the state.

Perhaps no single piece of legislation impacts Georgians more than the annual state budget. The Fiscal Year 2012 (FY 2012) state budget enacted through House Bill 78 totals $18.3 billion in state funds. This legislation directs state spending from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.

While our state economy seems to have stabilized and 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.

While the FY 2012 state budget affects all areas of state government, I would like to specifically highlight budget adjustments that were made to the lottery funded Pre-Kindergarten program.

Because Pre-K is 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.

These adjustments were decided after consulting parents, Pre-K teachers, and Pre-K providers. Though unfortunate, the changes implemented by HB 78 ensure that Pre-K remains a full day, six hour instruction program that will provide full nutritional and educational opportunities for 86,000 children next year.

Similarly, Georgia’s popular HOPE Scholarship programs have also out paced their lottery funding. Just as Pre-K required adjustments, the HOPE programs also required funding adjustments to ensure their continued financial stability. Under HB 326, next year, merit-based HOPE scholarship students attending public colleges and universities, as well as technical college students, will receive 90 percent of 2011 tuition amounts. HOPE scholarship students attending private colleges and universities 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.

Additionally, students will only be allowed to regain the scholarships one time if they lose it. Finally, HB 326 will also phase in new eligibility standards, one of which limits students’ eligibility to the first seven years after they graduate from high school.

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 grade point average 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.

Home school students will be able to receive the HOPE Scholarship, HOPE Grant, and Zell Miller Scholarship just like their peers in public and private high schools. Also, the HOPE Grant will continue to cover remedial classes at technical schools. This law went into effect on March 15, 2011, but will not affect students until the fall semester.

Please turn to this space in next week’s Monticello News to learn more of what the legislature did during the 2011 session.