By Sen. Lee Hawkins
ATLANTA (Feb. 19, 2010) – The Senate and House have passed the Fiscal Year 2010 Amended budget, which outlines our spending plan until July 1. We have only $15.5 billion to spend over the next six months, which is $4.6 billion less than we had in 2009. These sobering numbers reveal the dire budget crisis our state is in as revenues continue to fall. The numbers for FY11 look even worse, and we want to ensure that every taxpayer dollar is spent as efficiently as possible. In order to produce a fiscally responsible budget, the legislature has decided to recess for two weeks to give lawmakers and budget writers time to analyze where efficiencies can be found while protecting core areas of government like education and public safety.