Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday he’ll present a state budget to the General Assembly that addresses dwindling state revenues while also aiming to keep some of his most-prominent campaign promises.
Although he predicted the budget debate would be tougher since there is less money available, Kemp said he believed he and lawmakers would be on the same page.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” Kemp said. “I’ll present the budget and the legislature will work on it and dig into it. The legislators have got their priorities, and they’ll be doing some of that themselves. But the negotiation at the end is us working all of that out and I’m confident we will.”
Kemp made his remarks during an appearance Wednesday on “Morning Talk with Martha Zoller.”
Kemp is expected to discuss some of the details on his proposed budget on Thursday when he delivers the annual State of the State address to the General Assembly. Although Kemp wouldn’t confirm whether his promised teacher pay raise will be in the budget, he told Zoller he intended to keep that promise in some form.
“I think when the legislature looks at the budget, they’re going to like the way we went through it,” Kemp said. “Certainly, there will be things that concern them, and they will want to dig into.”
State revenues have declines for three of the last five months. Kemp had previously asked state departments to cut spending by 4 percent this fiscal year and 6 percent in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. He said some agencies wanted across-the-board cuts on spending or employee furloughs, but he said that wasn’t an option.
“I told them you’re going to go find efficiencies, you’re going to figure out how to do more with less, you’re going to learn to use technology,” Kemp said. “Some of our departments are recommending really innovative plans to really make their agencies more efficient, by using technology and thinking of new ways to do things.”
About $219 million would be cut this year and $310 million in fiscal 2021.
Kemp also said the state is seeing a waiver from the Trump administration that would allow the state to open competition for health insurance so that Georgians can find affordable plans without going through the Affordable Care Act portal.
“Things like this are what (the Trump administration) wants states to do, and they are willing to give us the opportunity to be innovators,” he said.
He also praised programs at the medical colleges at Augusta University and Mercer University that are working to bring more physicians to areas of rural Georgia that are underserved by medical professionals.
Kemp said the Augusta University program is streamlining medical education, allowing degrees to be obtained in three years instead of four. Those doctors would then serve three years in residency. If they then serve in rural Georgia for six years, they would essentially have zero tuition costs, Kemp said.
“This will really get people to go and invest in rural parts of our state to deliver that care,” Kemp said. “And a lot of these folks who are coming from metropolitan areas, they don’t know what it’s like to live in rural Georgia. And we feel like when they get there and see the quality of life and the people they are helping, they are going to want to stay there.”
