Public Budgeting in Georgia Institutions, Process, Politics and Policy

This book describes the institutions and process through which the Georgia General Assembly adopts a budget, the executive-legislative branch politics that transpire during the process and the tax and spending policies that the process produces. It argues that the state’s budget is developed by fiscal conservatives within a culture of fiscal conservatism that is conducive to low taxes and low spending. It identifies the patterns and trends of taxing and spending over several decades and during the administrations of nine governors. Its chapter on the line-item veto illustrates the nature of executive-legislative budget relationships in the state. It concludes with an examination of the important milestones in the evolution of Georgia budgeting and a comparison of Georgia with other states on several dimensions. 

Thomas P. Lauth is Dean Emeritus of the School of Public and International Affairs and Professor Emeritus of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia. He is the author or co-author of many articles and book chapters on Georgia state budgeting, and co-editor of Governors, Legislatures, and Budgets: Diversity Across the American States (1991) and Budgeting in the States: Institutions, Processes and Politics (2006). He is a recipient of the Aaron B. Wildavsky Award for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement in Public Budgeting and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He earned the B.A. in Government from the University of Notre Dame, and the Ph.D. in Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.