After being postponed for more than a week, House Bill 287 has passed the full state House of Representatives.
The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
HB287 transfers the Georgia Archives from the Secretary of State to the University System of Georgia as of the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1.
The House Appropriations Committee seriously gets down to business on the budget in the final 10 legislative days, as well as on days when the full House is not in session. (There are several recess days scheduled).
Gov. Nathan Deal recommended $3,851,428 for the Archives for Fiscal Year 2014. Subtracting the “lease” (bond) payment on the Archives building, this budget leaves about $1 million to operate the Archives for an entire year. This won’t do.
USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby is asking for an additional $448,266, for a total of $4,299,694. This is a fair amount. Last fall, Gov. Deal mandated that all state agencies cut three percent from their budgets. Secretary of State Brian Kemp cut $730,000 (intended as the total cut for all of his divisions). Adding the Chancellor’s recommendation brings the Archives back to the governor’s 3% mandated cut, the same as every other agency has had to take.
The Chancellor’s $448,266 also is a reasonable request, an amount that is neither greedy nor impossible.
It is very important that all Archives supporters immediately contact all members of the full House Appropriations Committee in support of a larger budget than the one recommended by the governor. Members of the committee can be found here:
http://www.house.ga.gov/Committees/en-US/committee.aspx?Committee=88&Session=23
Thanks to all of you who have worked and continued to work to support the Archives.
Vivian Price Saffold
GeorgiaArchivesMatters 