Sen. Ben Watson
Guest columnist
The Georgia Senate reconvened for the seventh week of the 2023 legislative session. My colleagues and I completed Day 23 of the 40-day session.
Crossover Day, which is the last day that legislative bills can be passed by the Senate and brought to the House of Representatives for consideration, has been scheduled for March 6.
This week we look at the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Amended Budget, as approved by the House of Representatives earlier and passed by the Senate, with changes. As mandated by the Georgia Constitution and much like the U.S. Constitution, all budget bills must be started in the House prior to Senate review.
The FY 2022-23 amended budget will determine state spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year ending on June 30.
The governor’s budget and the budget passed by House of Representatives for the upcoming fiscal year include a range of budgetary items that prioritize required state spending on education and health care, as well as other important government agencies. The plan would send back excessive tax revenue to the taxpayers, totaling approximately $1 billion in tax refunds. The Senate reviewed the budget, approved changes, and now heads to a conference committee to work out any differences with the House.
The Senate included in their amended budget package legislation to allow the state to return undesignated income tax revenue back into the pockets of Georgia taxpayers for a second year in a row.
Similar to legislation from last year, House Bill 162 provides a one-time tax refund through the Amended Fiscal Year 2023 budget to every eligible Georgian taxpayer for the 2022 tax year. These tax refunds range from $250 for single filers, $375 for head-of- household filers and $500 for married couples filing jointly.
This tax relief would only be available to taxpayers who filed income tax returns for both the 2021 and 2022 tax years.
The refund would not be available to nonresident alien individuals, those claimed as a dependent during the 2021 and 2022 tax years, nor provided to an estate or trust.
Property tax relief totaling $1 billion has been designated to assist homeowners in the form of grants to counties by helping lower the taxes on homesteaded (permanent home) properties. This one-time funding is for a $20,000 property tax exemption for homeowners and is targeted to singular homesteaded property. County governments will be forbidden to keep the money for themselves and must use the funds as intended. Georgians are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living, but our state has been fortunate enough to see record tax revenues, resulting in this undesignated revenue surplus.
The House and Senate budgets will be extremely helpful to several economic projects in the greater Coastal Empire.
To assist the new Hyundai plant being built in Bryan County, the amended budget has included for the Department of Transportation funding to build roads and other infrastructure necessary to help the over 8,000 workers alone at the new plant. Thousands of additional jobs that will support the many parts businesses that will flock to the area, as well.
We’ve also included for spending on a new QuickStart training center which will be located in Bryan County for employee training support for our new plants. Also, additional funding was designated for the current Pooler QuickStart Center.
In Savannah, funding was included to finish the Savannah Trade Center expansion on Hutchinson Island while additional funds were allocated to support Chatham Area Transit’s Savannah River ferry operations.
As we progress through the session, I will keep you updated on legislation. Thank you for your continued interest in the General Assembly session. As your public servant, feel free to visit me at the Capitol or to reach out to me by phone or email. I am in 325-A Coverdell Legislative Office Building. My office phone number is (404) 656-7880, and my email is ben.watson@senate. ga.gov. I look forward to continuing to serve you.