Georgia House moves to boost spending on Hurricane Helene relief

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s state House wants to spend more on Hurricane Helene relief and is cutting some of Gov. Brian Kemp’s prison and construction spending proposals to do so.

The state House voted 166-3 on Thursday to pass House Bill 67, which amends Georgia’s current state budget running through June 30. It would boost spending on low-interest loans to farmers and the cleanup of downed timber on private lands by $75 million apiece. The measure moves to the Senate for more consideration.

The budget also includes $1 billion for a third round of income tax rebates that Kemp and legislative leaders have promised. The plan would again give refunds of up to $250 to single filers, up to $375 to single adults who head a household with dependents and up to $500 to married couples filing jointly.

Earlier actions already allotted $75 million to agricultural loans and $25 million to timber cleanup, but House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett said there’s more demand than those earlier amounts can meet.

“The House felt compelled to make additional resources available,” said Hatchett, a Dublin Republican.

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There’s also $10 million for grants to rural communities, $35 million for grants to rural hospitals and $1.4 million to boost pay for the Department of Human Resources employees who determine benefit eligibility. Hatchett described all that spending as Helene relief.

If Kemp and the Senate agree, Georgia would spend more than $800 million to aid local governments and individuals after Helene cut a swath across eastern Georgia.

Lawmakers are considering tax breaks for farmers and timber growers that could boost relief costs well above $1 billion.

Kemp proposed boosting overall spending by $4.4 billion in state funds in the remainder of the budget year, with $1.7 billion coming from increased revenue. The remaining $2.7 billion would come from Georgia’s $16 billion in surplus and reserves.

Georgia would spend $40.6 billion in state funds, up from the $36.1 billion passed last spring. The state will spend billions more from federal aid and other sources.

Because lawmakers can’t spend above the amount that Kemp proposes, they have to cut other areas to boost spending on their own priorities. Kemp wants four new modular prisons, but the House wants to save $47 million in spending by building just two of them. Lawmakers also cut $10 million from planning costs for another new prison.

The House also cut $100 million proposed to pay off existing debt and more than $40 million from repair projects on state buildings. Finally, the House cut $15 million from replacing Georgia’s ballot scanners and printers so they would no longer use machine-readable barcodes.

Despite those reductions, the House agrees with Kemp that Georgia needs to spend much more on prisons, with Hatchett calling a proposed $333 million boost “the centerpiece of the budget”

“I know this is still just the beginning of a costly, but crucial endeavor,” Hatchett said of prison upgrades. Prison plans call for years of higher spending to renovate and secure prisons.

The House seeks to hire more correctional guards more quickly to address understaffing. Boosting spending by $3 million over Kemp’s proposal, Hatchett said House members believe prisons can hire 400 new guards by June 30 instead of 330. The House budget also boosts pay for private prison guards and spends more on body-worn cameras, electric stun guns and an electronic monitoring system.

The House also agreed to Kemp’s plans to boost spending on infrastructure, including $502 million to withdraw water from the Savannah River to supply Savannah and surrounding counties, including the new Hyundai Motor Group plant in Ellabell.