Sen. Ben Watson
Columnist
The Georgia General Assembly has completed 31 of 40 days of session, leaving us nine days to approve the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget that was just passed last week in the House of Representatives.
Gov. Brian Kemp last week signed the amended FY 2024-25 budget that passed the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago. Once again, we designated $2.72 billion in surplus revenue toward several items, including a tax refund to all taxpayers, as well as a lowered income tax rate from 5.39% to 5.19%. The Senate’s end goal is to lower it in the near term to 4.99%.
Another highlight of the legislative session has been the additional funding of hurricane relief, including $50 million for state/local match for debris removal, $53 million for state/local match funds for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds, and $40 million for state/local match with FEMA relief housing costs. We also set aside $501.7 million to support development and construction of additional surfaces water resources for the Coastal Empire.
In an effort to support foster parents, the Georgia Senate is looking to disagree with the House of Representatives on funding for the Georgia Promise Scholarship, legislation that passed last year which was designed to allow parents to have a real school choice with state funding of $6,500 per child. The funds “follow” the child to which ever school they wish to attend. We hope to include our foster parents to that same program since we believe that all children deserve to be part of the program. Senate Bill 152 will restore this necessary funding which is deemed a top priority.
In local legislation, I have joined the three state representatives of Bryan County in sponsoring House Bill 476. This bill is designed to provide a homestead exemption from Bryan County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in an amount equal to the amount by which the current year assessed value of a homestead exceeds the adjusted base year assessed value of such homestead. Essentially legislation will require the Bryan County school district to assess your property taxes based on what you paid for your house, not on the current value. Based on Bryan County’s growth, unless changes are made, taxes will continue to go up and tax people out of their homes. Chatham County has adopted this for over two decades and our schools continue to be funded while not taxing people based on temporary increases of value. This will require a referendum in November 2025 to implement. I am also waiting for two pieces of local legislation that passed last week in the House that only affect Bryan County. The first, House Bill 722, creates the office of chief judge and provides a new associate judge for the Bryan County State Court. The second bill, H.B. 724 increases the terms of the mayor and city council of the City of Pembroke to four years. The other local legislation, H.B. 763, would create the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Airport Authority, a new airport authority in and for the County of Bryan and the City of Richmond Hill. The Bryan County delegation will work on this issue.
I will keep you updated on legislation affecting our community as we progress through the session. Thank you for your continued interest in the work of our General Assembly. As your public servant, feel free to visit me at the Capitol or to reach out by phone or email. I am in 325A Coverdell Legislative Office Building. My office number is (404) 656-7880 and my email is ben.watson@ senate.ga.gov. I look forward to continuing to serve you.
