Official Press Releases
ATLANTA (March 5, 2020) | On Monday, the Senate voted to pass Senate Bill 396, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry). SB 396 would designate the pecan as the official state nut of Georgia.
Continue reading “Senate Bill 396 Passes out of the Senate”By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)
The Senate is now halfway through the legislative session and while this five-day period has been arguably one of the busiest weeks to date, members of the General Assembly will begin to see an expedited process of discussing and voting on bills. Our duty is to represent all aspects of Georgia and while the legislation I and my colleagues have introduced aims to do that, we are also given a deadline. From here on out, we have until March 12th to give every viable piece of legislation the chance to be voted on by the full Senate body. As we continue on, the budget will remain a major topic of concern, but my priority as always, is to make sure the needs of Senate District 20 are meet and that our local businesses are given the chance to prosper.
Continue reading “Capitol Recap: Week 7”By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)
Successively following last week’s extensive dedication to reviewing the budget, members of the General Assembly reconvened on Tuesday for Legislative Days 13 through 16 of the session. With each and every Appropriations subcommittee meeting, the General Assembly is getting closer to adopting our budgets for the Amended Fiscal Year 2020 and Fiscal Year 2021. As always, our intention as your state senators is to ensure this process presents Georgians with the greatest possible impact, while still maintaining a conservative spending model. In order to maximize the number of benefits available to citizens, we must also exert an equal amount of effort in determining the legislative solutions for other challenges affecting our state and Senate District 20, in particular.
Continue reading “Capitol Recap: Week 6”By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)
This week, the Senate took a slight pause from its regular cycle of legislative days in order to dedicate a significant amount of time to additional budget discussions. The Amended Fiscal Year 2020 Budget and the General Fiscal Year 2021 Budget have been a topic of concern over the last couple of weeks, as members of the General Assembly must ascertain which areas in our state agencies will see funding increases and which areas will see cuts. Business wise, Georgia is prospering. Our industries are growing, unemployment is at a record low and our workforce participation is at an all-time high; nevertheless, state revenues have been basically flat and we budgeted for increased revenues. Therefore, we need to make cuts in our spending plan to ensure we end the year with a balanced budget. Also, Governor Kemp wants to reallocate some resources in order to fund his priorities. Our state economy is strong, but we want to make sure we are operating as efficiently as possible and spending your tax dollars wisely.
Continue reading “Capitol Recap: Week 5”By: Sen. Larry Walker (R – Perry)
The Senate has completed another three legislative days and although the legislative cycle wasn’t as long in comparison to the previous week, that has not stifled any amount of work or progress. Rather, we have been able to accelerate our legislative discussions in a way that has allowed us to hear and pass an even greater number of bills, both in committee meetings and in the Senate Chamber. The work we have been able to accomplish this week is truly indicative of the progress we will be able to achieve in the coming weeks.
Continue reading “Capitol Recap: Week 4”