When Republican Gov. Brian Kemp cut hundreds of millions of dollars from Georgia’s budget this week through his veto pen, among the casualties was a bill that would have brought nearly $6 million in additional funding to state nature and wildlife efforts.
Now, a prominent group of conservation advocates is slamming that decision.
Kemp struck Senate Bill 478, which would have increased the percentage of Georgia’s sales and use tax on outdoor recreation equipment that was allocated to the state’s Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, a dedicated pot of money for the protection of land. The bill passed the House and Senate nearly unanimously earlier this year.
The program, which remains in place, has helped conserve thousands of acres near the Okefenokee Swamp and endangered forests straddling the Alabama-Georgia border.
“By vetoing the bill, Governor Kemp acted against the wishes of Georgia residents, diminished economic opportunity, damaged efforts to safeguard Georgia’s natural heritage, and lessened protections for clean water and clean air,” members of the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Coalition wrote in a statement Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Kemp said the budget he signed included $10.7 million for the Outdoor Stewardship Program for park and trail improvement and land acquisitions, as well as an additional $1 million for the wildlife endowment trust fund generated through the sale of Lifetime Sportsman Licenses.
SB 478 was one of 12 bills Kemp vetoed, totaling about $300 million for homeless veterans, K-12 student transportation and other state programs, to help cover a $1.3 billion deficit caused by a last-minute income tax cut.
Republican lawmakers passed the tax cut, which went beyond what Kemp had proposed, in the final hours of the legislative session last month. The governor signed that tax cut Monday — a decision he says caused the deficit.
For every veto, Kemp gave essentially the same explanation: “The General Assembly failed to account for this loss of revenue in the appropriations process.”
Credit: Courtesy of Stacy Funderburke/The Conservation Fund
Credit: Courtesy of Stacy Funderburke/The Conservation Fund
“By expanding investment in conservation and recreational amenities — without raising taxes on hard-working Georgians — S.B. 478 would have provided critical economic opportunities for Georgia families,” the letter from conservationists said.
The income tax bill Kemp signed will lower the tax rate, raise the standard deduction and exempt some overtime and tips income. The governor is counting on the state’s revenue to grow over the next year to fill some of the remaining deficit. Whatever is left of that deficit will have to be funded out of the state’s $8 billion savings account.
— Staff writer David Wickert contributed to this report.
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