Ga. House approves $21.8B budget

Money to help fund state bridge, transit projects.

The Georgia House backed a $21.8 billion budget Thursday that pumps new funds into bridge and transit projects.

The House voted 171-2 for the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The Senate now gets its crack at the fiscal 2016 budget and will begin hearings on it Friday.

The House rejected Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to cut health insurance benefits to 22,000 parttime school employees and their families, but local school districts would wind up picking up the tab.

The spending plan also includes $200 million worth of borrowing for new transportation projects; $100 million to repair and replace dangerous bridges across the state; and $100 million for transit projects.

More money may be added later if the General Assembly passes legislation currently being debated that would put an extra $1 billion a year into transportation.

The House budget also would provide big raises for some of the state’s top judges, cut in half Deal’s proposal to add staff to the troubled state ethics commission, and deeply reduce a program designed to give low-interest loans to college students.

The spending plan includes about $1 billion in new construction proj- ects overall, mostly for K12 schools, colleges and transportation.

The state would borrow $23 million to build parking facilities near the new Atlanta Falcons stadium. Lawmakers approved borrowing $17 million for the project last year.

Deal’s efforts to remake Capitol Hill also would continue in next year’s budget. With work completed on Liberty Pla- za across from the statehouse and several other projects, the governor included $6.5 million to demolish the former archives building just off I20, and House leaders supported it. The building hasn’t been used as an archive for several years, and state officials want to tear it down and build a new courts facility on the location.