Senate may bar some trips by exiting senators, lieutenant governor

Georgia Senate leaders have proposed a ban on chamber-funded outof-state trips by the lieutenant governor and senators near the end of their terms in office.

Senate Resolution 334 follows an internal investigation that was launched after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in February that outgoing Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and then-Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller led a 14-person delegation on an economic development trip to Europe after the 2022 elections. The two were weeks from leaving office.

The Senate approved legislation at the end of the 2022 session to create a special committee that later took the trip, and Miller was named chairman of the group.

Despite initial efforts by the General Assembly to hide the cost of the trip, the AJC found that the final bill to taxpayers was about $110,000.

The trip to Germany and the United Kingdom occurred Nov. 12-19, and the group met with government and business officials, toured training schools and other facilities, and attended receptions.

In response to AJC stories about the trip and its expenses, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy, the sponsor of SR 334, called for an investigation into how taxpayers got stuck with the tab.

A report from the investigation said the trip had “the appearance of nothing more than a taxpayer-funded vacation” for Duncan and Miller.

It also said Miller, whom Jones defeated in the 2022 GOP primary for lieutenant governor, chaired a committee of Senate leaders that was supposed to approve any taxpayer-funded out-of-state travel. It said committee policy barred the use of Senate funds for international travel, and that the European trip’s cost exceeded limits on how much could be spent on out-ofstate travel.

The report recommended changes to how the Senate spends and accounts for the millions of dollars it receives in taxpayer funds.

That’s a big deal because the General Assembly gave itself an exemption from the state’s Open Records Act and keeps a tight lid on information about how it spends its money — which in this year’s budget amounts to roughly $53 million.

Senate leaders said that as of April 1, all out-of-state travel expenses paid with funds appropriated to the Senate and Jones’ office should be posted on the chamber’s website (legis.ga.gov/senate) at the end of each month.