2026 Legislative Session: Week 9 Review from Rep. Bruce Williamson

Dear Friends,

Legislative Week 9 is complete. Now that Crossover Day is over, the House spent this week reading Senate bills for the first time and assigning them to committees. We also had the Small Business Administration Administrator, Kelly Loeffler, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, and the USDA Secretary, Brooke Rollins, stop in and give us an update on what they are working on in Washington, D.C.

I am happy to announce that this week, my legislation, HB 945, a banking and finance bill that will put guardrails in place to prevent the financial exploitation of the elderly and the disabled by allowing our financial institutions to pause financial transactions when there is a reason to suspect fraud. This bill also provides training for bank employees to identify financial exploitation. This legislation has PASSED the Senate and is now on its way to the governor’s desk for final approval.

This week, the House passed a couple of resolutions. House Resolution 948 will establish a House Study Committee on Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumer Access to Prescription Medications. This committee is responsible for examining the rising drug costs and the impact of pharmacy benefit managers on those costs.

House Resolution 1049 was passed to designate the last Wednesday in October each year as Fentanyl and Opioid Awareness Day in Georgia. This aims to raise awareness of opioid-related overdose deaths, which have more than doubled since 2019.

House Resolution 145 is an “urging” resolution to encourage the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health to collaborate and prioritize the expansion of vision and hearing screenings at various grade levels to identify students with undiagnosed vision and hearing problems.

The main item the House addressed this week was the General Appropriations Budget for the fiscal year 2027. Passing a budget is the only constitutional duty of the General Assembly. House Bill 974 is based on a revenue estimate of $38.5 billion, an increase of $738 million, which is a 1.95 percent rise over the FY 2026 budget. This budget reflects the House’s priorities of investing in education, healthcare, and infrastructure

General Appropriations Budget FY 2027

Budget includes:

Fully funds the Quality Basic Education program (QBE) at $14.9 billion. Also places targeted funds to help children experiencing poverty.
- Expands the SUNbucks program to feed hungry children over the summer.
- Increases funds to provide transportation for children to get to school.Also places targeted funds to help children experiencing poverty.
- Increases funds for additional social workers at schools.
$60 million allocated to fund the statewide literacy initiative aimed at helping students progress from learning to read to reading to learn. This funding will be used to hire literacy coaches for every public school and provide the necessary resources to support these coaches. This budget item fully backs the implementation and goals of HB 1193, the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026.
$2.7 million to provide a one-time grant of $15,000 to each school system for the purchase of vision and auditory screening equipment to support annual screening for students in elementary school.
$9.7 million to expand the extended day program for pre-K students.
- expand the CAPS program to assist more low-income families with the cost of childcare.
- expand DECAL to increase the number of rising pre-K programs throughout the state.
Higher Education: $4.8 million in additional funds to Kennesaw State University and Georgia Southern University to bring world-class talent into our state to drive economic growth.
$9.5 million for the start-up costs for the University of Georgia School of Medicine.
$6 million for the Behavioral Health Professions Service Cancelable Loan program to attract and retain behavioral health professionals in Georgia.
Healthcare: $45.3 million to increase reimbursement rates for providers who serve Medicaid patients in our state.
- $7.9 million to bring parity between in-home and in-office reimbursement for autism care.
- $4.6 million to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to help individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.
Additional $27 million to the Division of Family & Children Services to address the rising costs in foster care services.
$6.9 million to expand the DPH maternal home visiting program to improve maternal and child health outcomes.
Public Safety: $101 million increase to provide funds to improve recruitment and retention of correctional officers.
- $12.7 million to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council and the Public Defender Council to ensure salaries remain competitive and keep talent in these roles.
Transportation: an additional $112.8 million for the Capital Construction program to support transportation construction projects.
Veterans Affairs: $1 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries and mental health conditions for veterans and active duty military members