On June 26, 2020, the General Assembly officially and finally adjourned the 60+ day COVID-19 suspended 2020 session, after passing the only Constitutionally required piece of business – a balanced $26 billion fiscal year 2021 state budget; Georgia’s new fiscal year begins on July 1, 2020. The new budget reflects a 10% overall reduction in spending to match Governor Kemp’s 10% projected reduction in state revenue.

Each year, the budget process begins with the Governor’s revenue projections; the balanced budget is then created based on that revenue forecast. As of just 45 days ago, and before May’s state revenues started being reported in early June, the Governor was forecasting a 14% decrease in revenue to the state equating to approximately $2.8 billion revenue drop.