Budget Foremost Issue for ’09 Legislative Session

The opening gavel of the 2009 legislative session fell Monday, Jan. 12, with lawmakers pledging to reach across the aisle and close the state’s nearly $2 billion deficit. Clearly, the budget will dominate this year’s session. Gov. Sonny Perdue joked at the annual Eggs and Issues breakfast that the event could have been re-named to just "Eggs and Issue."

Georgia State University President Mark Becker has been making the rounds at the Gold Dome. Becker held one-on-one meetings with House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and is planning more such meetings with House and Senate leadership.

Tuesday, Jan. 13 was dubbed “Georgia State Day” at the capitol. Becker, university administrators, lawmakers and members of the Board of Regents gathered at an event at the Georgia Railroad Depot to talk about Georgia State. Earlier in the week, Georgia State teamed with the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech to throw a barbeque Jan. 8 for legislative interns.

The session will present challenges for higher education. The governor’s budget recommendations, released last week after his State of the State address, show an overall 9 percent reduction for 2009 for the university system, and 10 percent reduction for 2010. University system budget officials will be providing more detailed analysis over the next week.
Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland) heads the Senate Higher Education Committee. Sen. Bill Hembree (R-Winston) leads the House committee.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page