Georgia House of Representatives
Public Information Office
Room 505, Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, GA 30334
404-656-5082 1-800-282-5800

For Immediate Release

House Passes $16.2 Billion Amended 2004 Budget
Spending bill now awaits approval by Senate

Atlanta – Today the Georgia House of Representatives passed HB 1180 by a vote of 102-68. This is the $16.2 billion supplemental state budget, which is an amended spending plan for the current 2004 fiscal year that ends June 30th. The budget includes revised spending for education, healthcare and other services whose funding source originated in part when legislative budget writers discovered $180 million from an oversight in additional revenues by the Governor’s budget office.

Also included in the budget is an additional $1.5 million to keep the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety's travel teams program in operation; an additional $1.3 million to the Medicaid program to cover adult dental services; and another $1.7 million to the Department of Corrections to eliminate two days of employee furloughs for non-security personnel.

The House also added $472,184 to the Medicaid program to restore the incentive fee for pharmacists to dispense generic drugs; $280,000 to reduce the average wholesale price discount for prescriptions from 12 percent to 11 percent; and $153,000 to Secretary of State Cathy Cox’s budget so that her office can keep operating the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and the Capitol Education Center, which thousands of children visit each year.

HB 1180 also contains several bond funded projects including $17 million for technical college expansion projects; $14.6 million for projects at state universities; $20 million for water and sewer loans to local governments through the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority; $6.5 million for new Georgia Ports Authority facilities and $45 million for the Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) to build highways in rural areas.

“This mid-year budget is a solid spending plan that takes into account Georgia’s most pressing needs. I am proud the House adopted one of the most important pieces of legislation we address every year,” said House Speaker Terry Coleman (D-Eastman). “I look forward to working with other members to ensure its passage through the General Assembly.”

HB 1180 is now in the Senate awaiting a vote.

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