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 Our safety net is outdated and eroding, our public education systems aren’t meeting students’ needs and our health care system is at a tipping point.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Legislative Session was the passage of HB 129, which expands access to TANF for pregnant persons and eliminates the outdated TANF family cap—another program feature rooted in racism.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 SB233 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

Introduction

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 fiscal year 2024 budget includes $55.9 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. With an unprecedented almost $6 billion in undesignated funds and $5.2 billion in the Revenue Shortfall, 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 reviews 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. Please visit www.gbpi.org for updates.

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.