How the State Creates a Budget

Georgia Tech Office of Government and Community Relations

Georgia's budget process is one driven by the executive branch and debated and approved by the legislative bodies. Beginning a full year before the January introduction and 18 months before the July enactment, the governor and his Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) work with state agencies to determine budgetary needs and priorities. As a member of the University System of Georgia (USG), Georgia Tech works with fiscal affairs colleagues at the USG to shape the System's budget request, which is inclusive of the requests from all member institutions across the state. OPB gathers these requests and works with the governor to build a comprehensive state budget proposal that is presented to the General Assembly in January.

As in Congress, all fiscal legislation in Georgia begins in the House of Representatives, and the state budget proposal is no different. After the governor presents his proposal to the legislature, the House Appropriations Committee reviews it, conducts hearings and prepares amendments based on its findings. The budget proposal with its amendments then appears on the House floor for debate and voting. Following approval, the budget bill goes to the Senate, where the process is repeated.

After the Senate reviews and approves the budget, the versions passed by each body are typically quite different. The House and Senate each elect three members—normally majority party leaders—to meet as a conference committee to resolve differences in the versions. Once agreement is reached, which many times is in the waning days or hours of the legislative session, the consolidated bill goes back before each body for final votes of approval.

Following passage by the General Assembly, the governor maintains line-item veto privilege on the budget act. After making any vetoes, the budget act becomes law with the governor's signature. Budget allotments become available to state agencies on July 1, and the budgeting process comes to a close.

Almost.

Once the budget takes effect, the General Assembly does retain some power to edit the allocations. Each spring, before the next year’s budget is reviewed, legislators review the budget currently in effect. Known as the "supplemental" while under consideration, the current budget is edited as deemed necessary by both bodies to align with tax revenue figures or for other reasons.