The State House Appropriations Committee has passed the budget for 2008:

The $20.2 billion spending plan for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1, also includes dozens of pet projects for lawmakers and $6 million for unspecified grants that won’t be made public until just before the end of the 2007 session.

The House Appropriations Committee backed the budget this morning, and the full House will consider it Friday. Lawmakers hope to end the 2007 session next Friday.

The spending plan gives Gov. Sonny Perdue much, although not all, of what he requested. It includes $18 million of the $19 million he wanted for “Go Fish Georgia,” the state’s effort to promote fishing tourism. However, it doesn’t include any money for land preservation, another of Perdue’s priorities.

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House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans), is from the Augusta area, and that East Georgia city had a good haul in the House budget. The Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, located in Augusta, would get $550,000 for operations and a feasibility study on its future. Another $2.8 million would go to expand the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

Gainesville, home of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville), would get $2 million for a parking deck.

Paulding County, home of House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), would get $1.5 million for a new library.

While we scored a huge victory earlier in the week, we have a battle on our hands now and this one is going to be tough.

I’ll post a copy of the 2008 budget as soon as it is available.

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