Friday, February 17 will mark the halfway point for the current legislative session. We are fully involved in the committee process and passing legislation to better Georgia.
Senate approves amended budget
Last week, the Senate passed House Bill 43, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 amended budget. The amended budget is often referred to as the “little budget” and gets passed halfway through each fiscal year. We go through the entire bill, line by line, and look for areas that are being over or under-funded and make adjustments where necessary to ensure our state departments, agencies and school systems are able to operate at the best possible efficiency.
As Chairman of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Sub-Committee on the Appropriations Committee, I am responsible for chairing hearings on agriculture spending in our state. It should be encouraging to all of us that our state revenues continue to increase slightly and we have not been forced to make cuts to the budget. We will now turn our attention to the FY 2018 budget.
Georgia Mental Health Treatment Task Force
Mental illness and substance abuse are growing concerns for many in our great state. Most of us know someone who suffers from one of these issues, or our lives have been touched by them in one way or another. To address this, the Senate passed Senate Bill 4, creating the Georgia Mental Health Treatment Task Force.
The task force is charged with examining Georgia’s current Medicaid program, evaluating the mental health landscape and understanding the connection between serious mental illness and substance abuse to provide effective treatment. While this task force is not a permanent solution to mental illness, it is a step forward. A final report will be required of the task force which will provide suggestions to help Georgia improve our treatment options.
SB 69 lifts state registration requirement for organic farmers
We are also working to eliminate duplicative regulations and paperwork in state government. Last week we passed Senate Bill 69, a bill I sponsored, that repeals the requirement for individuals who grow, process, distribute or handle organic products to be registered by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Organic operations will still be required to register with the USDA.
Welcoming guests and midway point
It is always a pleasure to welcome and recognize outstanding individuals and groups in the State Senate. February 8 was Veterinary Medicine Day in the Senate. On February 15, the Senate recognized The Georgia Farm Bureau Federation for their contributions to our state for the past 80 years, and welcomed Leadership Habersham to the Capitol.
After Friday, February 17 we will only have eight more days to pass any bills or resolutions originating in the Senate before we focus our attention on House legislation. It is an honor to serve you. If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding legislation pending under the gold dome, please feel free to reach out to me.
About the author: Sen. John Wilkinson serves as the Chairman of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee and Vice Chairman of the Education and Youth Committee. He represents the 50th Senate District which includes Banks, Franklin, Habersham, Rabun, Stephens and Towns counties and portions of Hall and Jackson counties. He can be reached by phone at 404.463.5257 or by email at [email protected].
