2024 Georgia Budget Primer

2024

Georgia Budget Primer

June 2023 Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

All rights reserved. This document may not be quoted without proper citation. A PDF is available for reference and distribution at www.gbpi.org

Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

50 Hurt Plaza SE Suite 720

Atlanta, GA 30303

404-420-1324

www.gbpi.org

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s mission is to advance lasting solutions that expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians.

We examine the state’s budget, taxes and public policies to provide thoughtful analysis and responsible solutions that address inequities in our state.

We educate the public about complex issues confronting Georgia and activate Georgians to call for policy solutions that put people first.

We aim to inspire informed debate and decision-making, advancing our vision of a fair and inclusive Georgia where everyone can prosper.

If you would like to make a donation or find out more about us, please visit our website at gbpi.org/donate.

Letter from the President

Dear Georgians,

Georgia’s systems need repair. Our safety net is outdated and eroding, our public education systems aren’t meeting students’ needs and our health care system is at a tipping point. While some progress was made during the 2023 Legislative Session to bandage these systems, major renovations are needed to ensure all Georgians can access economic security, especially in a turbulent economy.

As we enter fiscal year (FY) 2024, Georgia is sitting on a massive piggy bank of cash—GBPI estimates that Georgia’s overall state reserves will be above $15 billion at the end of the fiscal year. On its face, this may appear to be a strong fiscal position, but these are public dollars that should be supporting Georgians’ needs, not withheld due to years of painful austerity budgeting.

The pandemic exposed the fissures in Georgia’s safety net programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Unemployment Insurance (UI). One triumph this Legislative Session was the passage of HB 129, which expands access to TANF for pregnant persons and eliminates the outdated TANF family cap—another program feature rooted in racism. Unfortunately, lawmakers passed a bill that reduces the UI contribution and impedes replenishment of the UI Trust Fund, which could leave workers vulnerable if they lose their job at no fault of their own and leave the state with no funds to pay unemployment claims. Lawmakers must expand access to TANF, increase the TANF monthly benefit amount and increase the UI contribution.

The FY 2024 budget fully funds Georgia’s Quality Basic Education formula for K-12 public schools, a formula that has undergone very few changes since enacted in 1985. Georgia remains one of a handful of states that has no funding to support students in poverty. Thanks to the efforts of advocates backed by GBPI’s research, we collectively defeated SB 233 which would have sent more public dollars to private schools. Lawmakers should enact an Opportunity Weight in the school funding formula to better address historic and current inequities in public education funding.

GBPI and several organizations successfully advocated to remove the fiveyear waiting period for Medicaid-eligible pregnant women and children who are lawful permanent residents. The state added funds to the FY 2024 budget to shore up staff to manage the unwinding of the continuous enrollment requirement for Medicaid health coverage. However, hundreds of thousands of Georgians—especially children and families of color—are at risk of losing coverage during the reenrollment process, which could have been prevented if Georgia fully expanded Medicaid. Instead, the state will launch

the Pathways to Coverage program that imposes work requirements and will cost about five times more per newly eligible enrollee than it would under full Medicaid expansion.

As we prepare for the 2024 Legislative Session, we call for a restructuring of Georgia’s broken systems to stabilize and strengthen our state and communities. We have the resources to create a more inclusive and equitable economy and society for Georgia, it is a matter of political will.

The pages that follow provide a clear explanation of the state’s spending plan and summarize Georgia’s 298-page appropriations bill so that you can better understand the effects of state spending on your community and your life. Only by uplifting solutions that center people’s dignity and humanity can we advance economic opportunities so all Georgians can thrive.

Staci Fox (she/her) President and CEO

At GBPI, we use data and evidence to pinpoint disparities with the goal of helping our state government find solutions that work. We also challenge state leaders to consider the effects of their decisions on communities who are most impacted by those decisions. The 2024 Georgia Budget Primer is GBPI’s signature annual publication that connects the dots between state revenues; investments in education, health care, human services and the justice system; and the effects of the budget on the people of Georgia.

Georgia’s FY 2024 budget includes $32.4 billion in total state funding for the period which runs from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. The majority of these funds are allocated to support education, health care and transportation—key infrastructures that have been neglected and underfunded for decades.

Our state now stands at a historic inflection point. Georgia’s Revenue Shortfall Reserve holds $5.2 billion, and we estimate that Georgia’s FY 2023 revenues will likely increase the amount held in unobligated reserves above $10 billion. With over $15 billion in overall state reserves, Georgia lawmakers have the opportunity to enact policies that support the economic mobility and well-being of every Georgian.

As you read the Budget Primer, you will find that there are a few policies that were passed during the 2023 Legislative Session to help advance the former. However, lawmakers failed to enact the sweeping reform that is needed to deliver true economic and social change.

Governor Kemp’s approval of the FY 2024 budget includes nine line-item vetoes and 134 non-binding orders to fully or partially dismiss language and appropriations regarding $242 million in state spending. These budget disregards will withhold tens of millions of dollars from the state’s ailing health care system and safety net programs, block $6.3 million in funding to the Department of Education to cover school meals for reduce-pay K-12 students and cut support across the aisle for other hard-fought legislation. These actions at-large are not only an unprecedented use of the gubernatorial powers, but also deeply troubling.

Our in-depth analysis of these and other issues is meant to inspire further investigations of the potential impact and feasibility of specific economic policies. The 2024 Georgia Budget Primer previews the fiscal year from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. It can help both experienced observers and novices understand the complexities of the state budget.

The governor proposed the 2024 state budget in January 2023. State lawmakers then modified it before Governor Kemp signed the budget into law in May 2023. Lawmakers will amend the 2024 state budget after the next Legislative Session starts in January 2024.

Budget Basics

Georgia’s 2024 fiscal year runs from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024. The total available funding to the state is $55.9 billion. That includes $32.4 billion in state funding, $17.9 billion in federal funding and $11 billion in agency funds and state employee benefit plan transfers. Before the Great Recession, adjusting for inflation, the state of Georgia spent about $2,987 per person in FY 2008. Under the 2023 budget, the state will spend about $46 less per person, a total of about $509 million less than if spending kept pace with growth.

The state budget outlines Georgia’s priorities, how it plans to spend money and how much revenue it expects to collect. It is the most important piece of legislation lawmakers pass. In fact, the budget is the only legislation that the General Assembly is legally mandated to pass each year. The Georgia Constitution also requires the state to maintain a balanced budget. If it raises more than it spends, remaining funds are automatically added to the state’s Revenue Shortfall Reserve savings account until it reaches 15 percent of prior year collections, at which point the funds shift to an ‘undesignated surplus’ account that can be tapped under the governor’s authority to set Georgia’s revenue estimate.

The budget process is ongoing and requires year-round engagement from advocates. Even as Georgia implements its current budget, it is auditing the previous year’s budget and planning for the next one. Beyond the General Assembly, many others participate in the process, including the governor, state budget director, state economist, agency leaders and budget officials, state auditors and the public.

Steps Along Georgia’s Budget Path

By the Numbers

Georgia’s budget for FY 2024 directly affects the quality of life for all 11 million Georgians across the state’s many diverse communities. The lion’s share of that money is allocated to core investments in the state’s economic future, including education, health care and transportation. Here are some examples of the way the state budget impacts Georgians:

3 million+ Georgians who are seniors, disabled, children or parents with low incomes receive health care coverage and services through Medicaid and PeachCare. As the state redetermines eligibility for all Medicaid enrollees over the next fiscal year, an estimated 540,000 Georgians could lose their health coverage under these programs ($4.4 billion in the FY 2024 state budget).

1.74 million students, supported by 136,000 teachers and administrators, enroll in Georgia’s 2,300 K-12 public schools ($11.9 billion in the FY 2024 state budget).

430,000 students enroll in Georgia public colleges, universities or technical colleges ($4.9 billion in the FY 2024 state budget).

247,000 Georgians live under correctional control, including 175,000 on probation, 49,000 individuals who are incarcerated, 17,000 Georgians on parole and 6,000 youth in the Juvenile Justice system ($1.5 billion in the FY 2024 state budget).

18,000 miles of state highway are overseen by the Department of Transportation, which will also direct $201 million in FY 2024 to help maintain and improve over 100,000 miles of county roads and city streets ($2.3 billion total in the FY 2024 state budget).

Source: U.S. Census; Georgia Department of Community Health; Georgia Department of Corrections, June 2023 Average Counts; State Board of Pardons and Paroles, population under supervision as of January 2023; Georgia Department of Community Supervision, annual population as of January 2023; Georgia Department of Education; Georgia Department of Transportation, Fact Book; Board of Regents, University System of Georgia Semester Enrollment Report, 2022; Technical College System of Georgia, total enrollment Fall 2022.

Georgia’s Revenue System Shaped by History of Racist Policies

The structure of Georgia’s modern revenue system—which determines how much money the state can use to fund Georgia’s budget—developed during the turbulent decades of the 1930s through 1960s, a period during which the state was primarily governed by segregationists who resisted New Deal-era federal assistance and struggled to finance basic government programs and services.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Georgia generated most of its revenue from a state property tax, which in the intervening decades was weaponized to systematically disenfranchise, intimidate and economically harm Black Georgians. Property tax was implemented alongside the state’s poll tax, which was maintained until 1945. Property tax assessors were given wide latitude to favorably value white landowners’ property while leveraging tax assessments to push Black land and business owners into poverty and, in many cases, eventually seize their property. In 1929, the state adopted corporate and individual income taxes and, in 1937, established the relatively flat individual income tax bracket structure that continues to form the basis for the current tax code. In 1951, the state enacted a sales and use tax of 3 percent, which was increased to its current level of 4 percent in 1989.

Structural racism exists when racist policies, practices, attitudes and other factors combine to create or perpetuate inequities. For example, racist policies and practices produced mass incarceration and worked alongside racism in hiring to worsen occupational segregation, where many people of color work in jobs that do not pay a living wage. As a result, unjust policies, like a regressive tax code, disproportionately impact workers of color and their families.

As revenues from income and sales taxes increased, the state phased out its property tax and eliminated it in 2016; local property taxes remain. Historic injustices and harmful policies have resulted in vast disparities in income across race and ethnicity in Georgia. Regressive tax policies at state and local levels worsen those disparities by asking those making the lowest incomes to pay the largest share of what they earn in taxes.

Georgians with Lowest Incomes Pay Highest Share of Income in State and Local Taxes

People of Color Overrepresented Among Those Paying Highest Share

Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, June 2023.

Where Does Georgia’s Money Come From?

Georgia’s fiscal health depends on the state’s ability to raise money from a variety of sources in a reliable way. Like most states, Georgia collects revenue from a mix of personal and corporate income taxes, sales taxes, gas and vehicle taxes and various other levies and fees. Income taxes are the cornerstone of Georgia’s revenue system, accounting for half of all state funds. Sales taxes are the second largest revenue source, representing slightly less than a quarter of annual collections. A fair and reliable revenue system requires both types of taxes.

Income taxes help balance the regressive effects of sales taxes and fees by allowing the state to collect a proportionate share of revenue from the wealthiest earners and most profitable corporations. A healthy income tax is also less sensitive to economic trends, which can boost revenue growth during good times but decline sharply when recessions occur.

Sales taxes provide a less consistent source of yearly revenue, and they fall more sharply on middle-class families and people with lower incomes. Georgia also offers broad exemptions from sales taxes for most services. However, sales taxes remain a core funding source that allows the state to generate revenue from consumption and economic inputs that would otherwise be exempt from taxation.

In recent years, lawmakers have enacted several measures to ensure sales taxes are applied to online marketplaces and, most recently—in the 2023 Legislative Session—digital downloads. However, the state’s sales tax is not assessed on the purchase of most services and large parts of Georgia’s economy, such as construction labor, the finance industry, attorneys or physicians. Some sales tax exemptions were intentionally created to avoid taxing products families rely on, such as groceries. In contrast, sales of most services are not taxed because lawmakers have not proactively updated the tax code to include them.

Income Tax Raises About Half of All State Revenue

Source: Governor’s Budget Report Amended FY 2023 and FY 2024; Office of Planning and Budget, June 2023.

Funding Sources

Georgia’s total FY 2024 budget, including federal funds, is $55.8 billion and is made up of six major funding sources:

General Funds–The state-funded portions of education, Medicaid and most other traditional state services are paid for through the $30.8 billion General Fund, which includes money raised by income taxes, sales taxes and various other taxes and fees.

Federal Funds–A large share of Georgia’s overall spending for health care, K-12 education, transportation and other services is paid through the administration of $17.9 billion in federal funds.

Agency Funds–These $5.5 billion in revenue include tuition and fees from colleges and university system research funds, in addition to regulatory fees and revenue raised directly by individual state agencies.

Lottery Funds–These $1.5 billion in revenue are dedicated to preKindergarten programs and scholarships for higher education.

Tobacco Settlement Funds or Grants–This ongoing annual payment, $149 million in FY 2024, resulting from a legal settlement with the country’s four largest tobacco companies over health care costs, can be used for anything in the budget.

Intrastate Transfers–The $5.5 billion of intrastate transfers include payments from the health benefit plan for state employees.

General and Federal Funds Make Up Most of $55.8 Billion in 2024 State Spending

Lottery Funds

$1,514,645,315

Motor Fuel Funds

$2,032,931,199

Agency Funds

$5,465,275,199

Federal Funds

$17,943,235,596

State General Funds

$25,788,959,077

Other State Funds

$2,951,586,308

Source: Conference Committee Substitute to HB 19 as signed by the governor; Office of Planning and Budget, June 2023.

General Funds

$30.8 Billion (55 Percent of Georgia’s Budget)

Georgia’s General Fund derives largely from income taxes on personal and corporate earnings and sales taxes on consumer transactions. The state also taxes motor fuel and assesses provider fees on hospitals and nursing homes, along with a variety of other taxes and fees. More than 97 cents of every dollar appropriated by the state pays for eight core priorities:

• Pre-K-12 Education (38 cents of every dollar spent)

• Health Care (21 cents)

• Higher Education (15 cents)

• Transportation (7 cents)

• Corrections, Juvenile Justice and Re-entry (9 cents)

• Debt Service (4 cents)

• Department of Human Services (3 cents)

The remaining General Fund spending is for state agencies, boards and commissions dedicated to activities such as economic development, agriculture and forestry and grant programs. The General Fund also covers the costs of operating the legislative, judicial and executive branches of state government. Not included in Georgia’s General Fund are dedicated taxes and fees that are collected into several other funds. Lottery proceeds are also not included in the General Fund and account for about 5 percent of total state funds or $1.5 billion.

Motor Fuel Funds

$2 Billion (4 Percent of Georgia’s Budget)

Georgia’s Constitution restricts spending revenue from state motor fuel taxes to roads and bridges. The money is dedicated to a mix of new construction, maintenance of existing infrastructure and debt service on past investments. Georgia’s 2024 motor fuel rates are 31.2 cents per gallon of gas and 35 cents per gallon of diesel, a slight uptick from last year. While the state taxes aviation gasoline at one cent per gallon, the state’s Department of Revenue has recognized a permanent tax exemption on the sale of jet fuel, which will cost the state an estimated $61 million in FY 2023. The state’s budget includes a total of $2 billion in motor fuel revenue.

Education and Health Care Equal 74 Percent of $32.4 Billion Budget for Fiscal Year 2024

Other Public Safety and State Courts, $0.7 B

Human Services, $1.0 B

Debt Service, $1.3 B

General Government, $1.2 B

Criminal Legal System, $2.0 B

Transportation, $2.3 B

Health Care, $6.7 B

Higher Education, $4.9 B

PreK-12 Education, $12.4 B

Source: Governor’s Budget Report Amended FY 2023 and FY 2024.

Agency Funds

$5.5 Billion (10 Percent of Georgia’s Budget)

Agency funds include $2.5 billion in tuition and fees collected by the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia. The University System of Georgia alone accounts for $4.2 billion in Agency and Research funds. The individual schools retain the money.

Source: Conference Committee Substitute to HB 19 as signed by the governor.

Federal Funds

$17.9 Billion (32 Percent of Georgia’s Budget)

Money from the federal government flows to a range of state programs and services. Georgia spends the vast majority of federal money on the following:

• $10.2 billion for Medicaid, PeachCare and other health care programs

• $2.6 billion for Pre-K-12 education, which includes school nutrition programs, services for students from families with low incomes and support for students with disabilities

• $1.9 billion to support Georgia’s Universities and Technical Colleges

• $1.5 billion for the Georgia Department of Transportation

• $1.1 billion for human services, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF or cash assistance) and child welfare programs

Federal rules require the state to match federal funding for Medicaid and many other investments that benefit Georgians. As a result, changes in corresponding state funding levels typically track changes in federal funding.

$17.7 Billion in Federal Funds Mostly Pays for Health Care, Education, Transportation and Human Services

Other

$1,014,046,017

Department of Human Services

$1,066,499,726

Department of Transportation

$1,521,052,838

Higher Education

$1,901,212,140

PreK-12 Education

$2,574,798,555

Health Care

$9,865,626,320

Source: Georgia’s 2023 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 911), signed by the governor.

Intrastate Transfers

$5.5 Billion (Included for Reference)

Intrastate transfers are primarily payments from the State Health Benefit Plan, which insures about 665,000 state employees, school system employees, retirees and their families. This year, the employer cost of providing health coverage through the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP)— which is paid by the state and public schools—spiked by 67 percent. Effective immediately for most state employees, with a two-year phase-in for K-12 schools, the required employer contribution will increase by $7,200 per year for each employee, or by $635 per member, per month from $945 to $1,580. This massive increase was driven by several factors, including an aging member population, the COVID-19 pandemic, stagnant subscriber levels and decisions made by state policymakers, such as a 2019 employer contribution holiday and a 2020 decrease in the employer contribution rate for state employees.

2023 Tobacco Settlement Fund Budget

$149 Million (0.3 Percent of Georgia’s Budget)

Georgia receives annual payments from a large settlement signed in 1998 with four of the country’s largest tobacco companies, known as the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Georgia is not required to dedicate these payments for specific purposes. As a result, the use of tobacco settlement money can vary from year to year, though most of the money in the current year’s budget is allocated to health care.

Source: Conference Committee Substitute to HB 19 as signed by the governor.

Source: Conference Committee Substitute to HB 19 as signed by the governor.

Budget Trends

Budget Trends

The $32.4 billion state budget signed into law by Gov. Kemp for FY 2024, which starts July 1, 2023, represents a relatively flat level of spending that remains well below the state’s capacity and falls short of meeting the needs of Georgians across core areas, from access to health care to public education. Georgia started the previous fiscal year with the state government employing nearly 6,400 fewer full-time employees in FY 2022 than it did in 2018, down nearly 9.5 percent. The state also struggled in a competitive job market to combat an all-time high employee turnover rate of over 25 percent.

Georgia’s governor holds unilateral authority to set the state’s revenue estimate. As such, under Gov. Kemp’s direction, the state responded to the 2020 pandemic-induced downturn by cutting spending and thinning its workforce under revenue estimates that projected state revenue growth would fall well below the rate of inflation from 2020-2023. Simultaneously, the unprecedented, strong fiscal response at the federal level helped to create a rapid rebound and surge in economic activity, which was reflected in higherthan-expected state tax collections that continued from FY 2021 through 2023. The combination of these dueling responses has produced a cycle in which state revenue collections continue to significantly outpace spending, adding to an already historic level of unobligated reserves available for allocation.

Entering fiscal year 2024, Georgia stands at a key inflection point, with an unprecedented level of resources on-hand, along with a current-year revenue estimate that is significantly below prior year collections for both FY 2022 and 2023. These indicators demonstrate the clear opportunity available to state leaders to respond to long-standing needs across public education, access to health care and economic mobility during the 2023-2024 session of the General Assembly—and reinforces that state leaders are actively choosing to leave resources on the table to accrue increasingly large reserves—while making no active plans for their use, rather than deploying them to meet urgent needs.

State Savings Account Remains Full as Georgians Struggle

The Revenue Shortfall Reserve (RSR), Georgia’s rainy-day fund, provides stability in economic downturns. The fund is like a savings account to pay expenses and maintain services when revenues decline unexpectedly. Maintaining adequate reserve money helps Georgia keep its AAA bond rating, allowing the state to borrow on favorable terms and save millions in interest. Money is not appropriated into the RSR; the balance grows at the end of each fiscal year if there is surplus state revenue (up to 15 percent of prior year revenue). The governor is also authorized to release for appropriation any amount over the minimum balance required—4 percent of prior year revenues—in case of a fiscal emergency or if tax collections have outpaced estimates. Since the end of FY 2021, Georgia’s Revenue Shortfall Reserve has remained at its maximum level, with consistently conservative revenue estimates issued by Gov. Kemp also resulting in an additional unobligated surplus.

At the close of 2023, Georgia’s Revenue Shortfall Reserve stood at an estimated $5.2 billion, equivalent to 15 percent of prior year revenues, or enough to fund the state’s operations for approximately 75 days.

Georgia finished FY 2021 with approximately $3.8 billion in unspent revenue, filling its rainy day fund to 15 percent for the first time ($4.3 billion), and designating the remaining $2.3 billion as ‘undesignated surplus.’ At the conclusion of FY 2022, $6.7 billion in unspent revenues were distributed to grow the state’s RSR to $5.2 billion and increase the amount in undesignated surplus accounts to nearly $7 billion. GBPI estimates that Georgia will generate revenues in excess of $5 billion above what the state spends in FY 2023, which is likely to increase the amount held in unobligated reserves north of $11 billion and to raise overall state reserves above $16 billion.

Georgia Revenue Shortfall Reserve Remains Full For Third Consecutive Year

B

Source: Governor’s Budget Report, AFY 2023 and FY 2024; *GBPI estimate calculated from the Comparative Summary of State General Fund Receipts, May 2023, Georgia Department of Revenue.

State Likely to Continue Trend of Adding Billions to Reserves in FY 2023, Following Historic Surpluses in FY 2021 and 2022

Total net taxes (Dept.of Revenue)

End of year net balance to be added to RSR/unobligated surplus

Total state funds Appropriations

Revenue Shortfall Reserve

Unobligated Surplus

Source: Department of Revenue, Comparative Summary of State General Fund Receipts (July 2022 – April 2023); The Governor’s Budget Report, Amended Fiscal Year 2023 and Fiscal Year 2024.

Tax Breaks Erode Georgia’s Budget: Nearly $11 Billion in Foregone Revenue Collections in FY 2024

Georgia offers a wide array of tax credits, deductions and other tax breaks, also known as tax expenditures, that give preferential treatment to certain taxpayers and corporations to achieve policy goals. The tax breaks will cost the state nearly $11 billion in lost revenue in the 2024 fiscal year. Some tax breaks provide key protections for families, such as the sales tax exemption on groceries, while others provide credits or incentives to specific industries or special-interest groups. Several of Georgia’s largest tax breaks deliver outsized gains to select groups or industries—such as manufacturing, film or insurance—often with questionable benefit to the state or its people.

Georgia lacks a standardized review process to measure and compare the costs and benefits of all existing and proposed tax breaks. During the 20212022 session, however, the state enacted legislation that allows the chairs of the General Assembly’s tax-writing committees to request individual analyses on a limited number of tax expenditures. House Bill (HB) 1437, passed in 2022, also requires the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance to review all state tax credits, exemptions, and deductions and to produce a report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2023.

The costliest industry-specific tax break offered is Georgia’s Film Tax Credit, which is designed to attract film production by subsidizing as much as 30 percent of the costs and ranks as the largest tax subsidy of its kind nationally at an annual cost of about $1 billion annually. The state also offers major tax breaks targeted to insurance companies, multinational corporations and various industries. As state leaders commit billions in taxpayer dollars to finance an increasingly expansive ecosystem of tax credits, subsidies and indirect expenditures under the promise of accomplishing specific policy goals, such as job creation, greater transparency is urgently needed to provide a basic level of accountability and help safeguard future resources.

Film Industry, Insurance Companies Receive Largest SpecialInterest Tax Breaks

Film Tax Credit

Special deductions insurance companies

Jobs Tax Credit/Quality Jobs Tax Credit

Research Tax Credit

Exclusion of global income (GILTI)

Qualified Education Expense Credit (SSOs voucher contributions for private schools)

Manufacturer’s Investment Tax Credit

Credit for retraining employees

Exemption for the sale and use of jet fuel

Income Tax Credit for Contributions to Rural Health Care Organizations

Revenues from coin-operated amusement machines

Qualified Law Enforcement Donation Credit

Agribusiness Tax Credit

Source: Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, “Georgia Tax Expenditure Report for FY 2024”.

State Plans to Begin Risky Income Tax Shift in 2024

House Bill 1437, signed into law by Gov. Kemp after a final version emerged during the last hours of Sine Die 2022, sets Georgia on course to adopt a flat personal income tax that primarily benefits the state’s highest earners at an annual cost of $2 billion when fully implemented. This session, legislators made positive changes to the original package through the passage of Senate Bill 56, which preserves and strengthens the standard deduction, rather than shifting to a new and less equitable filing system as the previous version called for.

Although the flat tax plan requires overall revenue growth of at least 3 percent to proceed without interruption through six steps to achieve full implementation by 2030, forgoing $2 billion in annual personal income tax revenues threatens the long-term stability of Georgia’s revenue system and places a continued burden on the state’s ability to meet the needs of its residents. Already, Georgia ranks last nationally—No. 50 out of 50—in the amount of general state revenues it raises per person (FY 2020).

Due in part to historic and systemic policies that have contributed to lower levels of income and wealth for Black Georgians and people of color, these tax changes would worsen racial inequities and expand the racial wealth gap. White Georgians (55 percent of tax filers) would see 66 percent of total benefits, and Asian Georgians (3.2 percent) would gain 4.6 percent of savings, while Black Georgians (32 percent) would see just 22 percent, and Hispanic Georgians (8 percent) benefit from 6 percent of the total tax cuts.

For Georgia families earning the median income or less, these pending tax changes would offer little to lift incomes or meaningfully increase economic opportunity. Rather, the changes may redirect resources from programs and services that could otherwise support working families, thus widening disparities across income, race and ethnicity. Unless further action is taken, the tax changes will become effective beginning on January 1, 2024, and are set to be implemented over a period of at least six years.

Gov. Kemp Sets New Precedent with $242 Million in Non-Binding Budget Disregards, $13.1 Million in Line-Item Vetoes

With Gov. Brian P. Kemp’s signature, Georgia’s FY 2024 budget became law ahead of the state’s next fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2023. However, Gov. Kemp’s approval of the spending plan was accompanied by a wave of 134 non-binding orders to either fully or partially disregard budget language and appropriations comprising $242 million in state spending, along with nine line-item vetoes, which cut $13.1 million from the budget entirely. In effect, these actions will withhold tens of millions from the state’s ailing health care system and safety net, block $6.3 million in funding to the Department of Education to cover the cost of breakfast and lunch for reduce-pay students and slash a host of priorities championed by lawmakers across the aisle. Taken together, these actions are relatively unprecedented. Cumulatively, throughout the previous four years of Kemp’s governorship, from FY 2020 –2023, 49 non-binding disregards were issued on $85 million of state spending and nine line-item vetoes were issued on $3.2 million in allocations.

Kemp Issues More Budget Vetoes and Disregards in FY 2024 Than in Previous Four Years Combined

Source: Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, vetoes and disregards compiled by GBPI.

Under Georgia’s constitution, the governor is entrusted with authority to veto “any appropriation” through the line-item veto. Throughout Kemp’s governorship, rather than rely primarily on the line-item veto to modify appropriations legislation, the governor has traditionally employed “nonbinding disregards” and signing statements to provide additional instructions to relevant state agencies and, in some cases, to explain why funds will be withheld for provisions approved by the General Assembly. This blending of executive authority demonstrates the wide range of powers held by the state’s chief executive over state appropriations, which Gov. Kemp has expanded use of in recent years. Although described as non-binding, these orders have a similar effect to line-item vetoes in practice, while preserving the availability of state funds for other purposes or to be appropriated in subsequent amended appropriations plans.

Georgia law also enables the governor to require agencies to reserve appropriations for budget reductions and to withhold agency allotments to maintain spending within projected revenues, which the governor holds unilateral authority to set in establishing the state’s revenue estimate. In practice, this authority offers the state’s chief executive wide latitude to exercise control over funding allotted to state agencies.

Of approximately $255 million in non-binding budget disregards and line-item vetoes issued by Gov. Kemp, the lion’s share of these cuts will reduce funding for health and education programs and services. Several of these items only slightly modify the spending plan approved by the General Assembly, such as the $11 million allocated to annualize the cost of 513 NOW/COMP waiver program slots for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In this case, the governor instructed the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to simply utilize funding for direct waiver expenses only, while removing the possibility of covering administrative overhead with these funds. In most cases, however, funds are withheld entirely from the programs and services approved by the General Assembly. Unless instructions state otherwise, appropriations will not be made to agencies for budget items that were disregarded, and the General Assembly will have the opportunity to reengage on these measures when the legislature convenes for its next session.

Education

Georgia’s 2024 Education Budget

The state budget for K-12 public schools is $11.9 billion in FY 2024, an increase of $1.2 billion from FY 2023. Seventy-two percent of the additional dollars ($840 million) reflect an increase in the State Health Benefit Plan for certified school employees. The employer costs for non-certified employees, including bus drivers, paraprofessionals and custodians, will also increase. The state stopped paying the employer portion of health insurance for these positions in 2012. Individual districts pay this cost today. The budget also includes $290 million to provide a $2,000 raise for certified employees starting September 1, 2023 and $27 million to provide schools with the funds to hire one school counselor for every 450 full-time equivalent students.

Rapid inflation in the past year has highlighted a longstanding problem in the state’s allocation for education funding: cost-of-living increases are not built into the state formula. Periodic raises, for one, have not kept up with the consumer price index, leaving schools to make up the difference with local property tax collection. School districts vary greatly in the amount of local taxes that can be collected, leaving a system of haves and have-nots. Without additional state investment, districts with lower property wealth will not be able to offer the opportunities students deserve.

Alongside K-12 public schools, Georgia’s Child Care Services and PreKindergarten programs provide critical support to families and their children. In FY 2024, $62.5 million was allocated for Child Care Services, which included a pay boost for state workers. The Pre-K program’s budget was $444 million, with legislators missing a critical opportunity to tap over $1 billion in unrestricted lottery reserves to boost Pre-K assistant teachers’ base pay—even with the $2,000 pay raise in the current budget, Georgia Pre-K providers are only reimbursed $20,190 for each of these professional’s salaries. Lottery reserves fund Georgia’s Pre-K, HOPE and student loan programs.

The budget for the University System of Georgia is $3.1 billion, despite sustaining a significant budget cut of $66 million dollars spread across all 26 institutions. The budget for the Technical College System of Georgia includes programs like adult education, workforce development and a $2,000 cost-ofliving increase for eligible staff, totaling $444 million. The lottery funds support higher education programs such as College Completion grants and the HOPE Scholarship. There are currently $1.1 billion in unrestricted reserves and $1.9 billion in total education lottery reserves. To appropriately utilize lottery funds, in the 2023 Legislative Session, lawmakers proposed House Resolution 281 to study lottery revenues and reserves to serve the needs of students in Georgia who are marginalized and cannot afford rising college costs.

Private School Vouchers Drain Rural Georgia

This year, the Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit (QEETC)—a voucher that the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts found lacks transparency and oversight—will divert $120 million from the state’s budget. This program provides a tax credit to those donating to pass-through organizations that pay private school tuition for parents who apply. Georgians have no assurances of how students perform once they enter this program, as these schools are not held to state standards or tested to measure performance.

The QEETC is one of two state vouchers that funnel public funds to private schools—institutions that can reject students by income, ability, language proficiency, sexual orientation or religion. A review of the county-by-county QEETC usage shows that a few wealthier counties are benefiting from a program that the entire state subsidizes. Thirty-one percent of the voucher dollars last year were funneled to just two counties: Fulton and DeKalb.

Voucher Dollars Take from the Many to Benefit the Few

> $15,000,000

$1,000,000–$15,000,000

$100,000–$1,000,000 $50,000–$100,000

< $50,000

Source: GBPI analysis of Calendar Year Qualified Education Expense Credit Report.

Inflation Swallows Recent Teacher Salary Increases

This year, lawmakers passed a $290 million increase to the state salary schedule for certified teachers and certified employees in Georgia public schools. The base salary for FY 2024 is $41,092 for 10 months of employment.

Governor Kemp has made teacher pay raises a primary education policy goal and successfully led the General Assembly in allocating raises of $3,000 in FY 2020, $2,000 in FY23 and $2,000 for this next year’s budget. These additions are welcome to a profession that saw stagnant state funding in the years following the Great Recession. The cost of living has increased at a rate that, even with the pay increases, the buying power of the teacher base salary is thousands of dollars less than it was 15 years ago. If salaries kept pace with inflation, teachers paid the base salary in 2023 would have made $7,700 more annually—$385 more per pay period.

Teacher shortages—in rural schools or those serving more students in poverty, as well as for specific positions such as special education—will only increase if districts do not have the funding to ensure competitive wages. Further, any attempts to recruit more teachers of color, a must-have to address the needs of Georgia’s students, will fall flat while public school employees incur a financial penalty for entering the classroom.

Teacher Base Salaries Continue to Lag Growing Cost of Living

Note: A constant dollar is an adjusted value of currency based on purchasing power, used to recognize impact of inflation.

Source: Georgia State Salary Schedule FY10-FY24; CPI-adjusted FY10 dollars.

Pupil Transportation Funding Continues to Ignore Cost of Living

The K-12 budget includes a grant specifically to address student transportation needs—school buses, drivers, monitors, etc.—funded at $149 million for FY 2024. Lawmakers added $4.7 million to provide transportation personnel a 5.1 percent salary increase. This year’s budget does not include any additional money for school bus replacement but did include $188 million for this purpose in the amended fiscal year (AFY) 2022 budget with instructions for it to be used for the next three years.

Even with the raise and AFY 22 infusion included, the state spent less per student in FY 2023 ($117.33) than FY 2002 ($120.73), over two decades prior, not even counting the impact of inflation. Over this 22-year span, the cost of labor, fuel and vehicles have increased—a trend especially stark in FY 2022. School districts, which are required to provide school bus services to students by state law, must find additional funding in other areas. When the state does not adequately fund pupil transportation, the result is longer school routes, safety concerns due to older buses and less money for the classroom.

State Funding for Pupil Transportation Does Not Address Inflation

Note 1: FY 2022 is the most recent data available of actual costs for student transportation. Note 2: FY 2022, 23 and 24 state funding each include one-third of the AFY 2022 bus replacement funding, per language in AFY 22 appropriations bill.

Source: Georgia’s 2023 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 911), signed by the governor.

Child Care Gained Little Ground Over the Past Decade

The Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) administers Child Care Services, the Pre-Kindergarten Program, Nutrition Services and Quality Initiatives. State resources only support the Pre-K program and Child Care Services. The FY 2024 budget includes $506 million for the agency.

For FY 2024, the legislature and the governor approved about $62.5 million for Child Care Services, up from $61.4 million in FY 2023. Child Care Services includes the Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, the state’s child care subsidy and support to child care providers. The $1.1 million in additional funds to Child Care Services includes a $2,000 pay increase for state workers in the division and an adjustment for the state match to draw down all available federal funding. Georgia has never adequately funded the CAPS program, even though the poverty rate for children five and under has been at least 20 percent since 2011. Funding for Child Care Services has only increased by about 13 percent over the past decade while child care costs have grown and workers are leaving the profession for higher wages elsewhere.

State Investment in Child Care Has Increased by Only 13 Percent Since FY 2014

$5.5 million increase for the Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) program

Recent increases have been adjustments to the state's contribution to the federal-state match.*

$$10,000,000

Note: The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages or FMAP determines the amount of federal matching funds for state spending on certain social services. When the federal contribution or FMAP declines, the state must contribute more in matching funds to maximize federal funds to the state.

Source: Governor’s Budget Reports and HB 19.

Georgia does the bare minimum to draw down all available federal resources, and it is inadequate given the needs of families and child care providers. The growing costs add greater economic pressure on women, who are often the primary caregivers, even if they are working. Women of color tend to have lower incomes than their white counterparts and are less likely to be able to afford the high cost of child care. Only about 15 percent of eligible Georgia children receive child care subsidies. Moreover, before the additional federal funds provided during the pandemic, the state’s CAPS reimbursement rates to providers trailed market rates at the 75th percentile, which made it hard for many child care businesses to invest in their staff. The pandemic has only made the crisis more visible. Federal resources from COVID relief packages protected Georgia’s child care system from the greatest harm, but these resources will expire in fall of 2024, creating a massive decline in the overall resources for child care.

Weekly Costs of Infant Care at the 75th Percentile*

Note: The federal Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Care has established the 75th percentile child care market rate as a benchmark for determining equal access to child care services for those receiving child care subsidies.

Source: Department of Early Care and Learning. Georgia Child Care Market Rate Survey, 2013 and 2021.

Although the state cannot make up for the hundreds of millions Georgia received in federal relief payments for child care, it must offer more than modest bumps or flat spending. For example, the state can increase its funding to CAPS by $20 million to add more subsidized slots for children and increase resources to child care centers. Additionally, the state missed the opportunity this year to use the $6.6 billion budget surplus to support staff who work in child care and early learning facilities. Georgia should have, as it did last year with federal money, made additional $1,000 bonus payments to early childhood educators and staff who are not part of the state’s Pre-K Lottery program and did not receive a pay increase this year.

Pre-Kindergarten Teachers and Providers Get a Bump; Base Pay for Pre-K Assistant Teachers Needs

More Attention

The FY 2024 budget for the Georgia Pre-Kindergarten program increased to about $444 million, up from $401 million the previous fiscal year. The increases included:

• $20.9 million for a $2,000 increase in base salaries for state workers, Pre-K teachers and assistant teachers.

• $14 million for Pre-K classroom operations so Pre-K programs can redirect resources to increase pay for lead teachers.

• $8 million to increase the employer contribution for the State Health Benefit Plan.

Georgia’s lottery-funded Pre-K program can serve up to 84,000 4-year-olds at about $5,285 per student, the most provided since inception. However, children one grade older in public kindergarten are allotted $7,032 per student in state funds, a difference of $1,747 per child. If Georgia were to fund Pre-K at the same rate as kindergarten, the program would need an additional $147 million annually.

Georgia Pre-K Provided $1,700 Less per Student Than Public Kindergarten

Source: GBPI analysis of FY 2024 budget.

Georgia’s Assistant Pre-K Teachers Need Bigger Pay Increase

One way state legislators could have increased per-student spending for Pre-K and improved assistant teacher retention was to increase their base pay. Pre-K assistant teachers have some of the lowest base pay among early childhood educators. Even with the $2,000 pay bump, the base salary for a Pre-K assistant teacher is $20,190 regardless of credentials; that’s about $11.47 an hour in a 40-hour week over the school year. Legislators ignored the resources available to help close the pay gap. Georgia has about $1.9 billion in lottery reserves, and the state requires only about $772 million in case of a shortfall in the net proceeds. Increasing assistant teacher pay helps keep workers in the role as they gain enough experience and/or credentials to become lead teachers, improving staff retention and classroom quality.

University

System of Georgia / Board of Regents

The 2024 budget for the University System of Georgia (USG) is $3.1 billion. The vast majority, $2.9 billion, is allocated to USG’s 26 colleges and universities for student instruction, support services and basic college operations. The remaining funds go to cooperative extension services, public libraries and special funding initiatives. The FY 2024 budget represents a total net increase of $65.67 million, or 2.11 percent.

The FY 2024 budget includes $2,000 cost-of-living increases for full-time, benefit-eligible employees totaling $83 million, and $7.6 million in new enrollment funding. Dual Enrollment experienced a $7 million cut, with a total budget of $76 million for FY 2024. The total budget for capital projects for the Board of Regents is $198.2 million.

One of the most impactful budget implications is the $66 million reduction in the teaching program state funds for FY 2024 due to decreased enrollment at 20 institutions. The reduction is allocated across all 26 institutions to minimize disproportionate impacts on students and operations. Despite this decrease, the Board of Regents has held tuition flat at most institutions for five of the last seven years.

FY 2024 $66 Million Dollar Budget Cut Is Spread Across the USG Institutions

State Universities

Clayton State University

Columbus State University

Fort Valley State University

Georgia College & State University

Georgia Southwestern State University

Middle Georgia State University

Savannah State University

University of North Georgia

Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College

Atlanta Metropolitan State College

College of Coastal Georgia

Dalton State University

East Georgia College

Georgia Gwinnett College

Georgia Highlands College

Gordon State College

South Georgia State College

Source: University System of Georgia Data.

Technical College System of Georgia

The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) includes 22 colleges that provide both technical and core academic education.

The FY 2024 budget for TCSG is $444 million. About $383 million is allocated to technical education, and the remainder is for programs like Adult Education for individuals without a high school diploma and business initiatives, such as Quick Start—a workforce training program designed to promote job creation and retention for start-ups and support business expansion. The Quick Start budget for FY 2024 is $22 million.

The Technical Education FY 2024 budget includes $2,000 cost-of-living increases for full-time, benefit-eligible employees totaling $11 million and a $9 million reduction in funds due to decreased student enrollment in TCSG during the pandemic’s height. Additionally, an $8 million increase was allocated for high-demand and high-cost careers, including aviation, commercial driver’s license (CDL) and nursing programs.

Despite decreased enrollment during the pandemic’s height, TCSG saw a 2.3 percent enrollment increase from 2021 to 2022. This increase was reflected in both credit hour completion and full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment.

FY 2024 Technical College System Enrollment Trends

Source: GBPI analysis of HB 19 and Governor’s Budget Reports, FY 2016–FY 2024. Adjusted for inflation. AFY 2023 academic year enrollment based on 1.1 percent decrease in fall semester. Enrollment for FY 2024 is projected to be flat.

Lottery Funds Support Georgia Pre-K & HOPE Scholarship

Georgia’s lottery funds are constitutionally dedicated to support education and are accounted for separately in the budget. Lawmakers appropriated $1.4 billion from lottery sales to fund and administer education programs. Pre-K funds grew by $43 million, 10.7 percent, with nearly half of that increase going to fund $2,000 salary increases for certified teachers and assistant teachers.

Lawmakers made several important policy changes to lottery-funded programs in the FY 2024 budget.

• HOPE Scholarships total $875 million for USG and $91 million at private institutions, and HOPE Grants amount to $81 million at TCSG.

• The HOPE Career Grant award amount increased from $1,000 to $1,250 to meet the projected 100% for students in Commercial Driver’s License and Law Enforcement programs at the Technical College System of Georgia.

• HOPE Grants and Scholarships now cover 100 percent of the prior year’s tuition at all TCSG and USG colleges and universities. In contrast, the Zell Miller Scholarship will cover the current year’s tuition rate at all TCSG and USG institutions.

• Increasing HOPE Scholarship coverage to 100 percent of the prior year’s tuition, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission, will impact at least 50,000 students. USG’s four research institutions—Augusta University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University and the University of Georgia—will experience the greatest benefit due to the policy change.

• The FY 2024 budget increases funds for private HOPE and Zell Miller award amounts. HOPE private awards increased from $2,977 to $2,985 and the Zell Miller award increased from $2,282 to $2,946, totaling $91 million for the FY 2024 budget for HOPE and Zell Miller awards at private institutions.

• Tuition Equalization Grants (TEG) provide grant aid to Georgia residents who attend eligible private postsecondary institutions. Funds from the Engineer Scholarship program were transferred to Tuition Equalization Grants to increase the award amount from $900 to $1,000 per year, totaling $24 million in FY 2024.

• The Inclusive Postsecondary Education Grants (IPSE) program was established with a total budget of $955,830 to provide financial aid to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are currently enrolled in the IPSE program at a postsecondary institution in Georgia.

Post-Secondary Affordability Barriers

Lottery-supported programs provide students in Georgia with assistance to prepare and complete their post-secondary goals; however, college affordability for Georgians has remained a challenge. The Board of Regents decided to keep tuition flat for the 2023-24 academic school year for the University System of Georgia, but data shows students require additional resources.

By the year 2000, the USG higher education formula covered 75 percent of the college costs in Georgia. The state’s share now covers just 57 percent, leaving students responsible for 43 percent of the cost of college. As such, Georgia ranks third in the nation for average student loan debt per borrower. Although lawmakers voted to fund HOPE at 100 percent of the prior year’s tuition rate, there is room for improvement to ensure that students have access to post-secondary options, beginning with need-based financial aid.

College Completion Grants

Georgia is one of two states that does not offer comprehensive need-based financial aid that would support students financially in the first year of college. To address this issue, in 2022, lawmakers passed HB 1435 to establish College Completion grants, a $10 million transfer from Student Access Loans that began rollout in the fall of 2023. The College Completion grants budget remains flat at $10 million for FY 2024.

Under the new program, institutions across the state were allotted various amounts of College Completion grants to disburse as needed. Students experiencing need and who complete at least 80 percent toward their postsecondary credentials at USG and TCSG are eligible for College Completion grants of up to $2,500.

During the 2023 Legislative Session, the General Assembly passed HB 249 to increase the award amount from $2,500 to $3,500. In addition, the eligibility toward degree completion requirement decreases from 80 percent to 45 percent for students enrolled in two-year programs, and from 80 percent to 75 percent for students enrolled at four-year colleges.

HB 249 was vetoed by Governor Kemp. Although $10 million remains for College Completion grants, $2 million was disregarded for FY 2024. The stated reason for the veto was that the College Completion grants were established in FY 2023 and have not had a full year of activity to assess usage and need.

College Completion Grant First Year Highlights

• In FY 2023:

• A total of 4,808 College Completion grants invoices were requested across USG and private institutions.

• The average award amount for all institutions was $1,150.

• Out of the $10 million budget, $5.5 million was spent to serve 4,254 students.

• Within TCSG and USG, most institutions utilized the College Completion grants, except for Augusta Technical College, Savannah Technical College, Gordon State College and Savannah State University.

Education Lottery Reserves

Every year, unspent lottery dollars transfer to reserves managed by the State Treasury. The beginning reserve for the education lottery on July 1, 2021, was $1.7 billion.

At the end of the 2021 fiscal year, about $71 million in surplus was transferred to the lottery reserves, along with an additional $5 million in interest earned by the end of the 2022 fiscal year.

Since 2011, state law has required the lottery shortfall reserve to hold an amount equal to 50 percent of the previous year’s net lottery proceeds. If lottery ticket sales underperform, the state can draw on this reserve to fund HOPE. After reaching the 50 percent target, additional reserves are considered unrestricted. At the end of FY 2022, the required Shortfall Reserve Balance was $772 million, and the state exceeded that balance by more than $1 billion. At the conclusion of FY 2022, the total education lottery reserves were $1.9 billion, or 129 percent of lottery proceeds.

$1,123,504,691 $772,477,000

Source: State Accounting Office: Georgia Revenues and Reserves Report.

Georgia’s 2024 Health Budget

The Departments of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Community Health and Public Health are the primary agencies focused on the state’s health care and public health systems. Georgia plans to provide $6.7 billion in state funds for these three agencies in the FY 2024 budget year, or about 21 percent of overall state spending. General Fund appropriations account for $5.9 billion, or about 89 percent, of the total state funds for these three agencies. Other sources, like Tobacco Settlement Funds, account for the remaining $712 million of state health spending. General Fund dollars for these three agencies increased by $638 million, or about 11 percent, from the AFY 2023 budget.

The Department of Community Health (DCH) accounts for about $4.8 billion, or 71 percent, of state health spending. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) accounts for about $1.5 billion, or 23 percent, of state spending on health. The Department of Public Health (DPH) accounts for $400 million, or about 6 percent, of state spending on health.

State Health Spending by Agency

Source: Georgia’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor.

DCH: $4,756

DBHDD: $1,498

DPH: $400

Health Priorities Impacted by Governor’s Directive to Disregard Budget Language

In May 2023, in his review and approval of the FY 2024 budget, the Governor issued guidance directing state agencies to disregard some budget language and to consider that language non-binding. In total, the Governor is directing state health agencies to disregard about $104 million in funding along with seven additional budget actions with no associated FY 2024 funding (also known as ‘Yes’ line items). These disregards are a small proportion of each Department’s budget but represent significant changes to address pressing needs like workforce gaps. For DCH, most of the disregards impact Medicaid provider reimbursement rate increases—from home and community-based services to obstetrics and gynecology rate increases. Due to concerns about a Medicaid base funding deficit, the Governor has redirected that funding to be used instead for Medicaid spending and growth.

For DBHDD, much of the disregarded funding for annualizing NOW/COMP waiver slots (to expand home- and community-based services and supports for individuals with disabilities) and for behavioral health crisis centers is still available for agency use with slightly modified language. However, about $17 million in funding for various purposes—from increasing salaries for state psychiatric hospital nurses and health aides to supporting the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline—has been entirely disregarded.

Source: Office of the Governor. HB 19 – FY 2024 Budget – Line-Item Veto and Disregard Letter and Statements, May 5, 2023.

Georgians Face Inequitable Access to Care

Unequal access to affordable, high-quality health care continues to impact Georgians. Ranking third nationally in the number of uninsured people, the state’s decision not to fully expand Medicaid reflects its history of oppression and an imbalanced power structure. While more than 1 in 8 Georgians does not have health care coverage, the burden is heaviest on Georgians living in rural communities and Georgians of color—particularly Latinx Georgians.

Georgia also ranks near the bottom for Medicaid spending per enrollee. On average, Georgia spent about $5,953 per full benefit enrollee compared to the United States average of $9,303 in 2020 (the most recent data available). Children make up a majority of Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare population, and the state spends about $2,426 per child enrollee—the second lowest in the nation. Georgia expects to spend $4.4 billion in state funds in FY 2024 to serve Georgians who are covered by Medicaid or PeachCare. Of note, the FY 2024 budget includes about $584,000 to allow pregnant women and children who are lawful permanent residents to enroll in Medicaid/ PeachCare without waiting five years. This small investment unlocks access to health care for new Georgians during the pivotal pregnancy, postpartum and childhood years.

Latinx and Rural Georgians Face High Uninsured Rates

Source: United States Census Bureau; Kaiser Family Foundation.

Medicaid and PeachCare Enrollment and Spending

Medicaid and PeachCare serve about 3 million Georgians, or about 1 in 4 residents. Low-income Medicaid serves children, pregnant and postpartum people, and some parents with very low incomes. The Aged, Blind and Disabled portion of the program serves older adults with low incomes and people with physical and developmental disabilities. PeachCare is a separate program serving children from families with incomes above the Medicaid threshold, but who often lack access to other forms of coverage.

About 46 percent of Georgia births are financed by Medicaid, and almost 70 percent of Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries in the state are children. Medicaid is also the main source of health coverage for Georgians with longterm health care needs, both in nursing homes and in community-based settings. Medicaid helps pay Medicare premiums for more than 268,000 Georgians aged 65 and older and younger adults with long-term disabilities.

Over Half of Medicaid Spending Goes to Older Adults and Individuals with Disabilities

Source: Georgia’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor.

Georgians—Particularly Children and Families of Color—At Risk of Losing Coverage During Medicaid Unwinding

Thanks to a pandemic-era policy, millions of Georgians have had uninterrupted access to affordable health care over the past three years— allowing them to see a doctor, refill prescriptions and get vaccines during a time of health and economic uncertainty. Starting in April 2023, that continuous Medicaid and PeachCare coverage began to unwind, and every child and adult enrolled in Georgia’s health care safety net will have their eligibility re-determined prior to the end of May 2024. This unprecedented health care event will put pressure on state agencies and jeopardize the health and financial security of Georgians with lower incomes. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians will lose coverage. An estimated 45 percent of those losing coverage will be impacted by procedural denials, which means they are still eligible but are denied coverage due to a human or technological error in the process—like the form being sent to the wrong address. The burden of this health care coverage loss will likely fall heaviest on children, young adults and postpartum people from communities of color.

Georgia will Continue to Receive Additional Federal Funding to Cover Medicaid Enrollees Through End of 2023

In exchange for keeping Georgians continuously enrolled in Medicaid since the pandemic started, Georgia has received an enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). Medicaid is a partnership between the state and federal government, and the FMAP determines the amount the federal government pays to the state for providing Medicaid services. The federal government gradually began decreasing the pandemic-related enhanced FMAP in April. Although the Medicaid unwinding period extends through May 2024, Georgia will go back to its standard FMAP of about 66% in January 2024. Medicaid unwinding is likely to result in significant declines in enrollment and, in turn, decreased total Medicaid spending. As the process unfolds, further adjustments to the budget will likely be needed to balance enrollment reductions and FMAP cuts.

April 1 –

July 1 –

September 30, 2023

October 1 –

December 31, 2023

*Assumes adjusted base Medicaid FMAP of 65.89 percent and PeachCare FMAP of 76.12 percent starting October 2023.

Source: Federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.

Investments in the Governor’s Health Care Expansion Plan for Low-Income Georgians

In 2019, the passage of the Governor’s signature health care legislation, the Patients First Act or SB 106, paved the way for Georgia to seek federal approval for three new programs:

• The Georgia Pathways to Coverage program, which proposes to partially expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults who meet work or other monthly reporting requirements;

• The Georgia Reinsurance Program, which establishes a claims-based reinsurance program to help offset costs of enrollees in the individual health insurance market who have large medical claims; and

• The Georgia Access Model, which would remove the state from the federal marketplace (often referred to as HealthCare.gov) without a statebased alternative. With the passage of SB 65 during the 2023 Legislative Session, the state has pivoted away from the original Georgia Access Model plan and moved toward a state-based health insurance exchange. Going forward, the program will be funded by user fees rather than state General Funds.

Overall, the state has made a significant investment in all three programs. The Pathways to Coverage Program and Georgia Access Model’s statebased exchange are set to launch in 2023, and the Reinsurance Program launched in 2022. It will be important to track the impact of these investments on increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care.

About $424 Million Invested Since 2021 to Launch Health Care Programs Established by the Patients First Act of 2019

Cumulative State Spending on Patients First Act of 2019 by Program, AFY 21 - FY 24

$160M

$140M

Office of the Commissioner of Insurance

Department of Human Services

$100M

$80M

$60M

$40M

$20M

$120M AFY21 FY22 AFY22 FY23 AFY23 FY24

Source: GBPI analysis of Georgia’s 2021 Amended Fiscal Year Budget (HB 80), 2022 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 81), 2022 Amended Fiscal Year Budget (HB 910), 2023 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 911), 2023 Amended Fiscal Year Budget (HB 18), 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor.

Department of Human Services

Department of Community Health

2024 Georgia Budget Primer | 55

FY 2024 Budget for Pathways to Coverage Program Falls Short

This budget year, the state is set to launch the Pathways to Coverage program. This program expands health care coverage for low-income adults who are currently in the coverage gap, meaning that they earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid coverage but not enough to qualify for subsidized coverage in the health insurance marketplace (or HealthCare. gov). This program does not impose new requirements on Georgians already covered under traditional Medicaid eligibility, such as older adults over 65 years old or pregnant and postpartum people. Instead, this program expands coverage to Georgians ages 19–64 years old who have a household income of up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level. To be eligible, enrollees must complete and report a minimum of 80 hours per month of qualifying activities like employment, community service or higher education.

The FY 2024 budget includes $52 million in 2024 state funds and recognizes $65.5 million in unused 2022 state funds (about $118 million in total state funds). Based on GBPI analysis, the total state funds allotted for the Pathways to Coverage program in the FY 2024 budget will allow the state to enroll about 47,500 Georgians—far fewer than the 345,000 Georgians that the Governor said are qualified for the program in his 2023 State of the State address. By contrast, if the state expands Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults without arbitrary restrictions or burdensome reporting requirements, the state could cover almost 500,000 Georgians at a much lower cost. In fact, the temporary financial incentives offered under the American Rescue Plan would make the state cost of full expansion net zero for the first 2 years.

State costs per enrollee of Pathways to Coverage program five times higher than state cost per enrollee of expanding Medicaid eligibility to adults earning less than 138% of federal poverty level without work or premium requirements (first two years would be net zero state costs).

Number of people who could enroll in first year of Pathways to Coverage program (based on FY 2024 budget allocation) almost ten times lower than number of people who could enroll in first year after expanding Medicaid eligibility to adults earning less than 138% of federal poverty level without work or premium requirements.

Source: GBPI analysis of data from Georgia’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor; 2019 fiscal note on Medicaid expansion; 2020 Pathways to Coverage approval from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) provides services primarily for uninsured and underinsured Georgians living with mental health conditions, substance use disorders and/or developmental disabilities. It operates state hospitals and provides community-based services through contracted providers. The department also operates programs for forensic evaluation and treatment under the court system’s jurisdiction. Georgia plans to dedicate almost $1.5 billion in General Funds along with $10 million in Tobacco Settlement Funds to DBHDD. Total state spending for DBHDD in FY 2024 represents an increase of almost 8 percent over the AFY 2023 budget.

Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Account for Nearly Three-Fourths of DBHDD Budget

Mental Health Services

$653,949,934

Addictive Diseases and Substance Abuse Services

$59,811,530

Administration

$31,964,012

Developmental Disabilities Services

$447,491,286

Direct Care Support Services

$154,255,108

Forensic Services

$149,000,511

Source: Georgia’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor.

Public Health

The Department of Public Health (DPH) operates programs focused on disease and injury prevention, health promotion and health-related disaster response and preparedness. The department receives about $369 million in General Funds and almost $14 million in Tobacco Settlement funds. The largest state-funded programs provide funding to 159 county health departments, help prevent the spread of infectious diseases and provide services for children. Total state spending for DPH in FY 2024 represents an increase of 5 percent over the AFY 2023 budget.

Georgia’s public health programs also receive substantial federal support. Federal money comprises almost half of the department’s $806 million budget, while state and other funds comprise the rest. Of those federal funds, more the half is accounted for by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (or WIC), which provides low-income pregnant and postpartum people and children up to age five with healthy food, nutrition information, breastfeeding support and other services.

About Half of Public Health Funding Flows to County Health Departments

Inspections & Environmental Health

$9,138,976

Infectious Disease Control

$45,305,157

Administration & Vital Records

$34,141,327

Adolescent & Adult Programs

$29,635,384

Emergency Preparedness & Trauma System Improvement

$7,459,048

Epidemiology

$7,326,337

Infant & Child Health Programs

$42,961,768

Funding to County Health Departments

$197,519,328

Immunization

$2,458,847

Source: Georgia’s 2024 Fiscal Year Budget (HB 19), signed by the Governor.

Remain an Issue for State Health Agencies

Turnover rates for the state’s health agencies have increased since 2016, ranging from about 20 percent for DPH to about 35 percent for DBHDD. DBHDD has seen a 28 percent decrease in staff from 2016 to 2022—from a high of about 4,128 full-time staff to a low of 2,982. Similarly, DCH has seen a 32 percent decrease in staff from 2016 to 2022—from a high of about 943 full-time staff to a low of 641. The AFY 2023 budget included $5,000 cost-ofliving increases, as well as salary increases for select job categories at both DBHDD and DPH. The impact of those increases is not reflected in the most recent workforce data. Full-time staff at all three agencies will receive an additional $2,000 cost-of-living increase as part of the FY 2024 budget. Even after these adjustments take effect, continued efforts will likely be needed to ensure that our state’s agencies are fully staffed with a trained, diverse, stable workforce that is ready to meet Georgia’s ever-shifting health needs.

Turnover Rates Among Health Agencies Near or Above State Average

Note: Agency-specific turnover rates unavailable for 2018.

Source: Georgia’s Department of Administrative Services’ Workforce Report for Fiscal Years 2016 – 2022.

Human Services

Georgia’s 2024 Human Services Budget

The FY 2024 budget includes $985 million for the Department of Human Services (DHS). It also includes a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for state workers and funds to hire several hundreds of Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) eligibility workers to support the state’s Medicaid Unwinding process. This process will redetermine the eligibility of 3 million Georgians after the end of continuous health coverage, which expired in March. The FY 2024 proposal increases investment in the agency by $65 million more than the lawmakers approved last year. The budget for DHS is about $156 million more than the FY 2020 budget, which legislators passed before the start of the pandemic.

FY 2024 Budget Would Include $985 Million for the Department of Human Services

Child welfare, foster care and adoption-related services account for about 63 percent of the agency’s budget. The next biggest share of spending is federal low-income assistance programs such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), accounting for 16 percent of the agency’s budget. Smaller programs such as elder care services, child support services and vocational training for adults with disabilities account for the remaining funds.

Source: HB 19.

2024 Fiscal Year Highlights

DHS’ budget includes $65 million in additional state funds for FY 2024 including:

• $15.4 million for the $2,000 COLA increase for full-time state employees.

• $11.1 million to hire 450 additional Medicaid eligibility caseworkers and 75 supervisors to support the state’s Medicaid Unwinding process. The state will also use federal Medicaid funds to help cover the cost of hiring new staff.

• $15.2 million to supplement state funds for loss of federal Foster Care Title IV-E funds to group homes caring for foster care children.

• $5 million to provide alternative housing and services for foster care youth with complex needs. This addresses the hoteling crisis where youth with complex needs may have to spend one or multiple nights in a DFCS office or a hotel because their foster care parent or group home can no longer care for them.

• The governor directed the Vocational Rehabilitation agency to disregard more than $400,000 from its budget for initiatives like the Georgia Radio Reading Service for the blind, independent living services and employment services for transplant recipients.

Major Changes to Medicaid Will Test DHS After Years-Long Disinvestment

DHS’s intent to hire 450 eligibility staff and increase salaries by $2,000 are positive steps. However, these measures don’t go far enough to address years of disinvestment by lawmakers in the state government’s workforce, which has contributed to the current staffing crisis. In FY 2022, DHS’s 30.3 percent turnover rate was higher than the state government’s. In DFCS, the workforce dropped by 16 percent between FY 2017 and FY 2022. Furthermore, the number of DFCS frontline staff processing Medicaid, SNAP and TANF cases declined over the past two years. As of March 2023, the staffing level for these workers was below 1,400, its lowest point since the start of the pandemic. Many vacant positions are still unfunded and thus unable to be filled, even with stronger hiring.

DFCS Has Lost about 16 Percent of Its Total Workforce Since FY 2017

Note: Total active count.

Source: Department of Administrative Services’ Workforce Reports from FY 2017 to FY 2022.

DFCS will not only redetermine 3 million Medicaid cases this year but will also launch Pathways to Coverage, the governor’s narrow Medicaid expansion that includes include work requirements. Because of persistent turnover, these two major initiatives impacting millions of Georgians will be implemented by mostly inexperienced staff. It will take several months for the state to hire 450 new caseworkers and fully train them to manage these enormous tasks. Yet even with training, it may be another few months to a year before new staff fully understand their role. Case managers’ workloads will remain high despite automatic renewals for many clients. High workloads combined with inexperienced staff will inevitably result in mistakes. These errors could mean an unnecessary loss of coverage for potentially thousands of children or seniors. Furthermore, news reports of delayed SNAP payments, which help people afford the cost of food, signal the workforce issues impact more than just Medicaid.

These growing pains may be worthwhile if DHS builds a more competent workforce that can effectively and efficiently get Georgians the benefits and services they need to be economically secure and protected from abuse and neglect over time. However, state leaders must be willing to take actionable steps now not just to hire but to retain staff. Such measures should include professional development, benefits like paid family medical leave, competitive starting salaries and a system of merit-based raises. Next year’s budget is another opportunity to consider some of these options.

Georgia’s 2024 Department of Labor Budget

The $8.1 million included in the FY 2024 budget for the Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) increases spending from FY 2023 levels by over $2 million. This increase is driven by pay raises that seek to improve staff recruitment and retention.

The bulk of FY 2024 state spending for the DOL will go to two divisions: (1) Department Administration, which provides administrative support to each program division within DOL, and (2) Unemployment Insurance (UI), which collects UI taxes from state employers and distributes unemployment benefits to eligible claimants. Each of Georgia’s DOL divisions administer programs that are funded by a significant share of federal dollars, which covers 84 percent of FY 2024 DOL spending, a slight decrease from FY 2023 as federal spending remained steady compared to state spending increases.

FY 2024 may hold fiscal uncertainty for DOL, as supplemental “administrative assessment” funding from employer payroll taxes expired under previous legislation and won’t resume through newly passed legislation for several months. Since 2016, administrative assessment funding has provided DOL with an average of $21 million per year, which is typically three to four times the amount lawmakers appropriate to DOL annually through general funds. With the possibility of another recession looming, DOL does not hold the claims technology infrastructure nor adequate UI Trust reserves to process and pay out significant UI claims should Georgia’s labor market significantly weaken.

Unemployment Disparities Within Georgia’s Current Labor Market Could Translate to Even Steeper Inequities in a Future Recession

A gradual economic slowdown has started, despite a labor market that remains broadly strong and has seen jobs return and surpass prepandemic levels in every major industry except its public sector. Several factors demonstrate that Georgia’s longstanding workforce disparities across race and ethnicity could worsen under a continued slowdown: disparate unemployment shifts among Black and white workers; net rises in underemployment among Black workers and Latina women from 2019 to 2022; and increases in overrepresentation of Black workers on UI rolls not seen since 2021.

Criminal Legal Systems

Georgia’s Department of Corrections Budget

Georgia’s Department of Corrections (GDC) FY 2024 budget is $1.33 billion. GDC oversees all aspects of the state’s prison system, including contracts carried out by private prisons. Corrections officers make up most of the department’s workforce. GDC corrections officers have experienced higher turnover than the Georgia state employee average, which recently exceeded historic highs of over 25 percent but generally less than 30 percent. In comparison, GDC corrections officer turnover rates have ranged from 35 percent in FY 2018 to 57 percent in FY 2021, and then 48 percent turnover in FY 2022.

Bills passed in 2023 further increased funds for incarceration including pay raises geared at employee retention, with FY 2024 becoming a second consecutive year of prison spending growth. In contrast, pre-2020 bills sought to reverse rising incarceration trends, and 2020 and 2021 bills sought better cost-efficiency and improved post-incarceration outcomes.

GDC FY 2024 spending is $48 million higher than FY 2023 spending and more than $200 million higher than FY 2022 spending. This increased investment in corrections, which includes expanding the state- and countylevel prison infrastructure fails to address persistent economic inequities across race and ethnicity. It also perpetuates the state’s criminal legal system spending imbalances, further weakening its due process functions. Collectively, these spending choices exacerbate the pernicious effects of mass incarceration.

Despite hundreds of millions in new spending, GDC maintains elevated commissary prices implemented in AFY 2020 and FY 2021. These higher costs make it harder for incarcerated Georgians to access basic necessities, placing more economic strain on those who support them.

Georgia’s Criminal Legal System Policies Help Maintain Its Leading Incarceration Rate

Per the Prison Policy Initiative, Georgia’s incarceration rate, which includes those in prisons and jails and on probation and parole, is 2.5 times higher than the national average.

Georgia inadequately supports proactive long-term investments, such as workforce development and public education that create pathways to livable-wage jobs and boost local tax revenue, which could support cash-strapped local governments. Furthermore, policies are needed to insulate local criminal legal systems from their local executive branch’s revenue interests and provide safeguards for Georgians earning low incomes who face spiraling fines and fees. These practices perpetuate an abusive and disproportionate reliance on criminal legal system debts to fund government operations.

Georgia also has a state legal framework that has allowed at least 26 localities to weaponize their criminal legal systems through abusive fines and fees practices that forcibly extract wealth from Georgians experiencing poverty, at rates that are at least 20 times higher than the national average. Consequently, Georgians experiencing poverty and entangled in fines and fees debt often spiral into probation or incarceration, contributing to Georgia’s record rate of correctional control.

Georgia inadequately supports proactive long-term investments, such as workforce development and public education that create pathways to livablewage jobs and boost local tax revenue, which could support cash-strapped local governments. Furthermore, policies are needed to insulate local criminal legal systems from their local executive branch’s revenue interests and provide safeguards for Georgians earning low incomes who face compounding fines and fees. These practices perpetuate an abusive and disproportionate reliance on criminal legal system debts to fund government operations.

Recent years of accelerated of state GDC spending, coupled with the state’s general failure to monitor fines and fees revenue and protect Georgians from instances of local government fine and fee abuse, represent both overinvestment and underinvestment of state resources.

These two contrasting realities ultimately drive Georgia’s record-level incarceration. They form a vicious cycle of incarceration of people of color, entangling them with stacking penalties at the local level which are driven by the fines and fees revenue they generate. Economically weak localities are more likely to over rely on that revenue. Those stacking penalties can eventually lead to an individual’s incarceration in a GDC facility, driving GDC population and program growth, and triggering more state investment in GDC itself. Georgia must disrupt this cycle and allocate more state funding to equitably support local governments, specifically their court systems, with funding driven by a mechanism like a state opportunity weight for K-12 school districts, with more funding allocated to geographic areas experiencing higher poverty rates.

The state has already shown that it is willing to pursue local intervention in criminal legal systems and unfortunately does so in ways that fuel mass incarceration and racial inequity. For example, recent state-level initiatives have included removing discretion from local law enforcement and prosecutors the state views as “soft” on crime, ultimately leading to heavier penalties like stacking fees, pay-only probation and jail time. These factors further exacerbate expansion of the criminal legal system and grow state spending on GDC.

Looking Ahead

The fiscal year 2024 budget continues a disappointing trend of the state hoarding resources to build large cash reserves rather than using its undesignated surplus to address long-standing needs related to health care access, public education and economic mobility. With protections under the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ending and the rising cost of living, struggling communities are at risk of falling deeper into economic decline. State leaders should use the multi-billion-dollar undesignated fund balance to address these urgent needs.

Although lawmakers made minor improvements in education and health care—such as small pay raises for teachers; improving higher education funding, including increasing the HOPE Career Grant award from $1,000 to $1,250 for students in Commercial Driver’s License and Law Enforcement programs at the Technical College System of Georgia; and removing the Medicaid/PeachCare five-year wait period for pregnant women and children who are lawful permanent residents—these efforts don’t go far enough to support Georgians, especially Black communities in Georgia who were already impacted by decades of divestment and a lack of government accountability and transparency.

Moreover, the state’s plan to shift to a flat tax model outlined in HB1437 passed in 2022 will provide a financial windfall to the wealthy, while middleand low-wage earners see little, if any, benefit. GBPI urges lawmakers to reverse their decision and consider progressive tax reform. Gutting state revenues in favor of a flat tax system means less funding can be used to improve roads, bridges, public education, higher education and health care.

Policies to better support Georgians should include:

• Making health care more accessible by fully expanding Medicaid

• Defending Georgia’s safety net programs (including food assistance, cash assistance and Unemployment Insurance)

• Creating and funding an Opportunity Weight to better support students living in poverty

• Increasing safeguards against abusive criminal legal system fines and fees practices

• Increasing need-based aid options for students pursuing postsecondary education

• Implementing policy pathways toward transparency and racial equity around our safety net programs

These and many other improvements are possible; Georgia has the resources—it is simply a matter of political will. Advocates and leaders should be resolute in championing inclusive and equitable policies that allow every Georgian to participate in the fullness of our state’s prosperity.

GBPI Leadership Team

Staci Fox, President & CEO sfox@gbpi.org

Dominique Derbigny Sims, Senior Vice President dderbignysims@gbpi.org

Kevin Amaya, Director of Development kamaya@gbpi.org

Lauren Frazier, Director of Strategic Communications lfrazier@gbpi.org

Crystal Johnson, Director of Administration & Human Resources cjohnson@gbpi.org

Erin Robinson, Director of Strategic Campaigns & Outreach erobinson@gbpi.org

David Schaefer, Vice President of Research & Policy dschaefer@gbpi.org

Jessica Woods, Finance Director jwoods@gbpi.org

Research Team

Leah Chan, Director of Health Justice lchan@gbpi.org

Jariel Davis, Southern Education Leadership Initiative Fellow jdavis@gbpi.org

Hillary Dong, Health Policy Fellow hdong@gbpi.org

Ife Finch Floyd, Director of Economic Justice ifinchfloyd@gbpi.org

Danny Kanso, Director of Legislative Strategy & Senior Fiscal Analyst dkanso@gbpi.org

Ray Khalfani, Senior Analyst, Worker Justice & Criminal Legal Systems rkhalfani@gbpi.org

Crystal Muñoz, Immigration Analyst cmunoz@gbpi.org

Stephen Owens, Director of Education sowens@gbpi.org

Ashley Young, Education Analyst ayoung@gbpi.org

GBPI Staff

Ruth Boyajian, Fund Georgia’s Future Coordinator rboyajian@gbpi.org

Nadia Hicks, Senior Digital & Brand Manager nhicks@gbpi.org

Anthony Hill, Communications Manager ahill@gbpi.org

Tasnim Mosabber, Outreach Manager tmosabber@gbpi.org

Rachel Stanley, Associate Director of Development rstanley@gbpi.org

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

50 Hurt Plaza SE, Suite 720

Atlanta, Georgia 30303 www.gbpi.org

404-420-1324