Here are some of the goings-on around The Peach State last week that you may have missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gov. Brian Kemp released a $32.5 billion fiscal 2024 state budget proposal Jan. 13 that\u2019s heavy on spending for education and gives Georgia teachers<\/a> and state employees $2,000 raises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spending plan, up more than $2 billion over this year\u2019s record budget, is built on an all-time high state surplus of more than $6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe \u2026 budgets I am presenting herein ensure that we continue to meet our financial obligations as a state while also investing in the education, health, and safety of our citizens to maintain our position as the best state in the country to live, work, and raise our families,\u201d the governor wrote in his annual budget message to legislative leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kemp is calling for fully funding Georgia\u2019s Quality Basic Education (QBE) k-12 student funding formula. The QBE was not fully funded when Georgia was suffering leaner economic times, but full funding has been restored during the last several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor\u2019s budget also earmarks $61.2 million to fully fund the HOPE Scholarship program for the first time since then-Gov. Nathan Deal<\/a> and the legislature cut HOPE benefits more than a decade ago due to growing demand for scholarships combined with rising tuition costs. Kemp is fulfilling a promise he made on the campaign trail last year to provide a second $1 billion state income tax rebate on top of the refund Georgia taxpayers received last year. He also is proposing $1.1 billion in property tax<\/a> relief to homeowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese actions will put real money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians facing unforeseen jumps in property values and record-high inflation,\u201d the governor wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Korean solar panel manufacturing company announced plans Jan. 11 to expand an existing operation in Dalton and build a new plant in Cartersville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The commitment of more than $2.5 billion by Hanwha Qcells, the largest-ever single investment in solar manufacturing in the United States<\/a>, will create 2,500 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project is a direct result of new solar<\/a> tax credits contained in the Inflation Reduction Act a then-Democratic controlled Congress passed last summer, President Joe Biden said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHanwha\u2019s Qcells investment will create thousands of good-paying jobs in Georgia, many of which won\u2019t require a four-year degree,\u201d Biden said. \u201cIt will bring back our supply chains<\/a> so we aren\u2019t reliant on other countries, lower the cost of clean energy, and help us combat the climate crisis. And, it will ensure that we manufacture cutting-edge solar technology here at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hanwha Qcells opened the Dalton plant in 2019, the largest solar manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere, generating 750 jobs. An expansion already in progress will create another 470. The new facilities in Dalton and Cartersville are expected to bring Qcells\u2019 total Georgia workforce to more than 4,000 by the end of next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Qcells expansion is just the latest clean-energy project Georgia has landed. Last year, Hyundai broke ground on a $5.5 billion electric vehicle manufacturing plant<\/a> near Savannah \u2013 the largest economic development project in the state\u2019s history \u2013 and announced a joint venture with SK On to build a $5 billion EV battery plant in the Cartersville area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Solvay Specialty Polymers is investing nearly $1 billion in an EV-battery parts plant in Augusta<\/a>. FREYR, a Norwegian battery company, has announced plans to build a $2.6 billion plant in Coweta County<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Fulton County special grand jury investigating whether former President Donald Trump should be criminally prosecuted for allegedly interfering in Georgia\u2019s 2020 election results has now delivered its final report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not yet clear what the report says and whether it will be made public. Though the special grand jury<\/a> recommended that the report be published, Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney still must decide whether Georgia law requires a special grand jury\u2019s report to be published. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Arguments about publishing the report are scheduled for Jan. 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case centers around Trump pressuring Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to \u201cfind\u201d 11,780 votes for the then-president during a lengthy phone call in January 2021. Democratic President Joe Biden had carried Georgia\u2019s 16 electoral votes the previous November by a margin of 11,779.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first of two new nuclear reactors being built at Georgia Power\u2019s Plant Vogtle will go into service later this year about a month after anticipated, the Atlanta-based utility announced Jan. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vibrations of pipes within the cooling system were discovered during startup and pre-operational testing at Unit 3, the company reported in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After raising teacher salaries in Georgia by $5,000 during his first term, Kemp is calling for another $2,000 raise for teachers and other certified educators<\/a>. State employees also would see their pay increased by $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKorean solar panel manufacturer expanding Georgia operations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fulton special grand jury in Trump case completes work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Completion of Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion put back a month<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n