Written And Submitted By D.A. King
Dalton Republican Kasey Carpenter
A Republican-controlled Gold Dome committee has voted to advance legislation that would give illegal aliens lower tuition rates in Georgia than Americans and legal immigrants from most other states.
The bill, HB 120, was sponsored in the legislature by Dalton Republican Kasey Carpenter and has more Democrat cosigners than Republicans. Pro-enforcement opponents of the legislation began furious calls and emails to their legislators and Republican Speaker of the House Rep. David Ralston soon after the approval.
Advanced out of the twenty-five member House Higher Education Committee Thursday, the illegal alien friendly measure passed by a vote of 16-4, with
ATLANTA - The Georgia House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Tuesday that would make it easier to enroll low-income children in Medicaid.
Committee Reports
House Appropriations Human Resources Subcommittee
Chairman Katie Dempsey (R-Rome) and her Human Resources Subcommittee spent a part of President’s Day hearing more specifics regarding the FY 2022 Budget needs, particularly around the areas of the Departments of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Human Resources (including Division of Family and Children’s Services), Veterans Services, Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities and Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. The full tracking document for HB 81, the proposed spending plan for FY 2022, is here.
The Subcommittee heard presentations from the Departments and agencies, but the real discussions were the testimonies provided by the public. A few highlights of the agencies presentations included:
House Subcommittees Drop Hints on Amended FY21 Budget
Moving quickly after last week’s budget hearings, the subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee convened in sequence this morning to sign off on their assigned agency budgets. While actual tracking sheets were not released to the public, subcommittee chairs shared some highlights and hints about what we are likely to see in the full Appropriations Committee tomorrow:
Public Safety
The Public Safety Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Representative Bill Hitchens (R-Rincon), reviewed the changes to the Governor s proposed budget for Amended FY21, which include:
Provision of funds for a temporary judge on the Court of Appeals;
Small Business Development – Rep. Mike Cheokas
Special Rules – Rep. Dave Belton
State Planning & Community Affairs – Rep. Karen Mathiak
State Properties – Rep. Gerald Greene
Transportation – Rep. Rick Jasperse
Chairmen of the subcommittees of Appropriations are as follows:
Economic Development – Rep. Penny Houston
Education – Rep. Todd Jones
Health – Rep. Butch Parrish
Human Resources – Rep. Katie Dempsey
Public Safety – Rep. Bill Hitchens
Transportation & Infrastructure – Rep. Clay Pirkle
IN DEPTH: Health & Human Services Agency Presentations
Department of Human Services
Commissioner Robyn Crittenden kicked off the morning with an overview of the work of the Department of Human Services. Among the work under her Department’s oversight is providing protections and services to Georgia’s elderly. In the current proposal considered, there is the proposed combination of two program areas into one it would fold Elderly Supports and Elderly Living