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Gov. Zell Miller recommended adoption of an $11.8 billion state budget for fiscal year 1998, which begins July 1, 1997. This includes $700 million in lottery-derived funds earmarked for education. Funds for education account for 54 percent of the total proposed state spending plan. Included is a broadening of the lottery-funded HOPE program that provides full college scholarships for "B" students. Proposed is a 6 percent pay raise for teachers. State employees would get 4 percent raises, with additional supplements to boost the pay of correctional officers in communities where the state is having difficulty hiring them, and a 5 percent additional boost for guards in juvenile prisons if they take state-sponsored certification training.
In transportation, the Governor proposed $110 million for the Governor's Road Improvement Program, which is designed to upgrade roads to communities bypassed by the interstate system.
In corrections, the Governor proposed $14.2 million to build a new, 150-bed juvenile prison in Sumter County and $1.6 million to add a 25-bed unit at the juvenile prison in Macon.
Addressing the environment, the Governor's budget allocates $10 million to purchase additional riverfront property and protect it from development under the RiverCare 2000 program, boosting total funding for the program during his administration to $24.5 million.
Some key proposals:
He reported that the '"'state of the state of Georgia is great.'"'
Georgia, he said is now the 10th largest state in the nation. And that in the six years since January 1991, Georgia's population has grown by 13.5 percent. It is the 7th fastest growing state by percentage. And that by number of people, only Texas, California and Florida added more.
'"'Even more significant,'"' said the Governor, '"'the number of jobs in Georgia grew by 22 percent during the same time. And Georgia's unemployment rate has been dropping over the past five years to its lowest annual average in more than 20 years.'"'
And the Governor said the pay is getting better too.
'"'In 1995, our per capita income reached 94 percent of the national average. And our total personal income has increased by 37 percent since 1991'"' he said.
He outlined a legislative agenda that includes restrictions on teen driving, a teen pregnancy prevention program and efforts to end cash benefits to welfare recipients after four years. He called for bipartisan work on sweeping DUI reforms that would require a 24-hour jail sentence for first-time offenders, seize the tags of repeat offenders and erase the "no contest" plea that allows violators to keep their licenses.
Justice Benham Addresses Lawmakers -- On Friday a joint session of the General Assembly was addressed by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Benham, who reported on the '"'state of the Judiciary'"'. '"'I am pleased to report that while we in the judiciary are not without our share of problems, the state of the judiciary is good and we are still in the business of making the American Dream a reality,'"' he said. Justice Benham asked the lawmakers to take part in a blue ribbon commission to take a long range and comprehensive look at the court system.
The General Assembly will be in recess next week. Monday, January 20, the Capitol will be closed to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, and the remaining four days will be used for committee hearings on the proposed state appropriations bill. The General Assembly will reconvene Monday, January 27. And starting January 29, the Legislature will not convene each Wednesday. The day will be devoted to committee meetings.
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