Gov. Brian Kemp exercised his veto pen Tuesday less than a week after the General Assembly adjourned for the year.
Kemp vetoed House Bill 319, which prohibits the University System of Georgia Board of Regents from raising tuition or fees more than 3% without the approval of the legislature. The Georgia House of Representatives and state Senate each passed the measure unanimously last Wednesday, the final day of the 2023 legislative session.
In his veto message, Kemp called the bill unconstitutional.
“The Georgia Constitution makes plain the authority to govern, control, and manage the University System and all system institutions is vested in the Board of Regents,” the governor wrote. “Because of the constitutional reservation of authority in the Board of Regents, the legislation cannot be adopted without the approval of Georgians through exercise of their franchise.”
Tuesday’s veto was the first of Kemp’s second four-year term as governor, which began in January. Georgia governors typically don’t issue vetoes until near the end of the period of 40 calendar days they have following the end of each General Assembly session to act on the bills lawmakers pass each year.
However, there are exceptions, notably the late-March veto then-Gov. Nathan Deal issued in 2016 rejecting a controversial religious freedom bill civil rights advocates and business leaders opposed as potentially discriminating against Georgia’s LGBTQ community.
The provision in the legislation concerning tuition and fees in House Bill 319 was a small part of a broader bill aimed at abolishing the Georgia Higher Education Assistance Corp., which is no longer needed, said state Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, chairman of the House Higher Education Commission and the bill’s sponsor.
The Senate amended the bill last Wednesday to add the tuition provision, Martin said.
“I respect the governor’s decision,” he said. “We can do [the rest of the bill] next year.”
The Board of Regents has held the line on tuition recently, voting five times in the last seven years not to raise tuition at most of the university system’s 26 institutions.
