Legislative update [Jan. 18, 2008]

January 18, 2008 Volume 2008, Issue 1

2008 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Technical College System of Georgia

The Week Ahead:
Budget hearings for agencies will be held on Wednesday, January 23 and Thursday, January 24.
Interim Commissioner Ron Jackson is scheduled to address the Joint Appropriations Committee on the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 23, in room 341 of the State Capitol.
Lawmakers will recess for the week of January 21 for budget hearings and will reconvene on January 28 for day 6 of the legislative session.
Legislative Updates will resume the week of January 27

Governor Perdue Unveils Budget

Governor Perdue released his recommendations for the Fiscal Year 2009 budget in his annual State of the State address before a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Key items for the Technical College System include over $93 million in capital funding for the following:
Construction projects for Central Georgia Technical College (Milledgeville Campus), Athens Technical

College (Elberton

additional career

Campus), Appalachian

academies

Technical College (Cherokee County

Additionally, the Governor

Campus), Albany

recommended a 2% salary increase, additional operating

Technical College, Southeastern Technical

expenses to reflect an increase

College, Lanier Technical

in square footage, and redirected funds from personal

College (Forsyth and Dawson Campuses) and

services due to declining

Gwinnett Technical

enrollment to fund additional MRR needs.

College.

Equipment for construction projects funded in prior years.

For more details on the Fiscal Year 2009 Governor's Recommendation, log on to www.opb.state.ga.us and

Construction for

select "FY 2009 Budget".

Highlights from the Georgia Chamber Eggs and Issues Breakfast

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce held its annual Eggs and Issues Breakfast on Tuesday, January 15, at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Governor Perdue highlighted his initiatives for a Growing, Safe, Educated and Healthy Georgia. Included in his education initiatives was the implementation of the first single source available to education stakeholders that clearly and concisely reports the quality of Georgia's education system Georgia's Education Scoreboard, which is available on the website of the Governor's Office of Student

Achievement at http://www.gaosa,org.
Career Academies continue to be at the forefront of Lt. Governor Cagle's priorities for the upcoming session. "Every student should have a chance whether through a traditional career path of through a career academy to get their educational needs met in order to be prepared for the workforce of tomorrow," said Cagle.
Included in Speaker Richardson's key initiatives was the "BRIDGE" program Building Resourceful Individuals to Develop

Georgia's Economy, designed to improve high school graduation rates, prepare students for both college and careers, and increase the percentages of high school graduates who earn a formal credential. The BRIDGE program would allow high schools to partner with the technical colleges to offer students an alternative path to the traditional fouryear college. Richardson stressed "We must be realistic and acknowledge that not all students will attend a four-year college. Of those that do, only 22 percent will graduate."

2008 Legislative Update

Page 2 of 2

Priority Legislation Affecting the Technical Colleges

Other Information:
For more information on House and Senate members along with contact information, log on to www.legis.state.ga.us and click on "Find your Legislator".
For a complete list of Legislators representing each technical college, log on to www.ciclt.net/dtae.
To access live committee meeting broadcasts in the House and live broadcasts from the House and Senate floor, log on to www.legis.state.ga.us, then select Georgia Legislative Network and chose from the menu of broadcasts.

The 2008 session is the second year of a biennial session which means that bills that were not passed in the 2007 session will remain where they were when the gavel fell at the close of the 2007 session. The following bills were introduced last year and will remain a priority for the department:
1. House Bill 243, legislation that would exempt from the HOPE cap hours earned through the dual enrollment program for high school students, passed unanimously out of the House last session but was amended in the Senate. Unfortunately, a conference committee compromise was never reached. This legislation will continue to be a priority for the system.
2. Senate Bill 68, legislation for career academies, passed out of the Senate last session but never received final approval in the House. This bill also remains a top priority for the 2008 session.

As far as new legislation, the department will also pursue the following:
1. Legislation to change the official name of the agency from the "Department of Technical and Adult Education" to "The Technical College System of Georgia."
2. Legislation to continue to allow the colleges to carry forward to the next fiscal year revenue collected from continuing education and contract training fees, technology fees and indirect cost recoveries.
All remaining legislation from 2007 will continue to be monitored as well as new legislation introduced, particularly bills that are assigned to the Higher Education committees in both the House and Senate.

Contact information for the Division of External Affairs:
Laura Gammage lgammage@dtae.org (404) 374-6557