Georgia State House Pushes Back On Many Of Kemp’s Proposed Budget Cuts In Amended 2020 Budget

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (left) and House Appropriations Chair Terry England.

Emma Hurt / WABE

The Georgia State House of Representatives passed an amended budget for fiscal year 2020 Wednesday afternoon, pushing back on many of the budget cuts proposed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

The House rejected some cuts altogether, including more than $1 million in proposed vacancy eliminations at the Public Defenders Council and proposed cuts to training dollars for public defenders. State lawmakers also rejected proposed one-time cuts to the Rural Health Systems Innovation Center, cuts to the Mercer School of Medicine, the Medical College of Georgia Hospitals and Clinics, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and cuts to the Georgia Poison Center.

“We’ve tried our best with this budget to address needs of Georgians, and I think the amended budget that left the House today is a much better budget in terms of taking care of things that Georgians need than the budget that was proposed to us,” House Speaker David Ralston said.