The Senate convened for the first session of the 155^th Georgia General Assembly on Monday, January 14, 2019. This marked the start of a session with brand new leadership within nearly every level of our state government. For the first time in eight years, we will have a new Governor – Governor Brian P. Kemp – and for the first time in over a decade, we will have a new president of the Senate – Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan. I had the great honor of serving on the escort committee for Governor Kemp and Lt. Governor Duncan during the inauguration. It was humbling to be part of this historic event and I am fully confident that with this new leadership, our state will continue to thrive and build on the successes of Governor Nathan Deal’s administration.

Along with new leadership, the Senate got to work and adopted our Senate Rules and our Committee on Assignments notified all of our members on what committees they will serve on. I am proud to say that along with remaining in my role as the Majority Caucus Chairman, I will serve as Vice-Chairman of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, Secretary of the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, and as a member of the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Reapportionment and Redistricting Committees. Additionally, I have the honor of once again serving as an Ex-Officio on the Senate Rules Committee which sets the calendar for consideration of legislation on the Senate Floor. Last Tuesday, we also adopted the calendar which sets our legislative schedule until February 8, 2019.

We ended our first week with Governor Kemp’s first State of the State address. During his remarks, he echoed many of the priorities our caucus plans to focus on this year. These priorities include broadband expansion, school safety improvements, enhanced access to quality health care and furthering incentivizing economic growth and business development throughout the state. Governor Kemp provided a few of his budget proposals which he elaborated further on during his message to the Joint Senate and House Appropriations Committees. During the budget hearings, we heard from our state agency heads along with the Governor. As a member of the committee, I was interested in several items that are proposed and have highlighted them below.

The Amended Fiscal Year 2019 budget – House Bill 30 – totals around $26.9 billion and includes some of the following recommendations:

• $68.8 million for school security grants which will enable each school statewide to utilize $30,000 to enhance school safety.

• $8.4 million appropriated in the Behavioral Health for Georgia Apex Program to address mental health services in high schools by meeting the needs of our support counselors.

• $9.3 million to Mercer University School of Medicine. This funding would be used to establish a four year medical school campus in Columbus, GA. I am particularly happy with this proposal since it will further grow Mercer University whose main campus is located in Macon, Georgia.

• $5.8 million for the Georgia Trauma Network Commission so they can further enhance the trauma system in our state.