ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday approved a $21.1 billion budget that boosts salaries for state employees and funnels money into new reservoirs for the drought-stricken state.
Perdue also signed dozens of bills on what is his final day to consider legislation passed this session, including one that critics say could boost auto insurance rates in the state.
Seventeen bills were vetoed, down from the 41 he rejected last year.
And Perdue left his mark on the budget. He stripped $14.2 million in spending from the plan for the fiscal year set to start July 1, cutting funds for things like the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund and the tourism program of the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning.
The Paulding County Airport - in House Speaker Glenn Richardson's backyard - also lost $4 million to Perdue's veto pen. Perdue and Richardson, both Republicans, have feuded.
The governor also stripped another $22 million in bond projects.
The insurance bill Perdue signed allows insurance companies to change their rates without review by the state insurance commissioner. Perdue said in a signing statement that the market should be allowed to regulate automobile insurance rates. He said his office compared states that are regulated with those that are not and found "no discernible difference" in rates.
But Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine predicted rates in Georgia would rise.
"If the insurance company lobbyists wanted this so bad there's a reason," Oxendine said.
Among Perdue's vetoes was a measure that would have boosted judges and district attorneys pay by 5 percent. The governor said he was concerned that lawmakers were raising judicial salaries without addressing the "well above-market retirement benefits."
Judges haven't had a raise - aside from cost-of-living increases - in nine years.
"We're very disappointed," said Gerald Edenfield, president of the State Bar of Georgia, which had originally pressed for a 20 percent increase. "I thought at 5 percent, it wouldn't be vetoed."
Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears said she was "dismayed" by the decision.
Perdue also rejected a measure - authored by state Rep. James Mills of Gainesville - that would have allowed police to impound the vehicle of any person caught driving without a valid driver's license. He said he was concerned with how the measure would impact new residents in Georgia. (See separate story).
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On The Net:
H.B. 89: http://www.legis.ga.gov
Thursday
May 2nd, 2024
6:04AM
