Archives Update: On To The Senate

The closer it gets to the end of the legislative session the faster things move.

Before most people had had their first cup of coffee on Monday, one House of Representatives committee had met and approved a budget for the Georgia Archives. A second committee approved the budget Monday afternoon.

The House Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee and the full Appropriations Committee agreed on a figure of $224,113 in addition to the $3,851,428 recommended by the governor. The additional amount is roughly half of what University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby recommended.

There is only one more step for any Archives legislation in the House of Representatives: approval of the budget by the full House.

The Senate will take up both the budget and House Bill 287 (the transfer bill) in the coming days.

The Senate will discuss House Bill 287 on Wednesday, March 13 at 3 p.m.

Preliminary meetings on the Senate’s version of the budget already are underway by members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

The Senate, in its version of the budget, could recommend more than the House. As always, the budget will go to a House-Senate Conference Committee in order to development a budget both houses can support.

At this point, the only way to get more money for the Archives is to convince members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to recommend the full $448,266 that Chancellor Huckaby requested.

To all of those who wrote or called over the weekend or on Monday: your voices were heard. To all of those who have voiced support for the Archives over the last few months: you are making a difference.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Terry England said in his presentation of the budget on Monday that he had heard from “many, many, many” Archives supporters. No other budget issue rated such a comment from the chairman.

Keep up the great work.

Below is a list of Senate committee members:

Senate Appropriations Committee Members

Jack Hill                         Renee Unterman               Tim Golden

Don Balfour                 Buddy Carter                       Ronnie Chance

Bill Cowsert                 John Crosby                         Gail Davenport

Vincent Fort                Steve Gooch                        Bill Heath

Judson Hill                  Bill Jackson                          Butch Miller

Jeff Mullis                   Jack Murphy                       Valencia Seay

David Shafer              Freddie Powell Sims         Cecil Staton

Horacena Tate          Curt Thompson                 Steve Thompson

Lindsey Tippins       Ross Tolleson                     John Wilkinson

Tommie Williams