Georgia’s $37.7 Billion 2026 Budget: Healthcare, Education, and Political Firestorms

Georgia’s House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives green­lit a $37.7 bil­lion 2026 bud­get, boost­ing health­care, schools, and trans­porta­tion with a 4.4% increase over 2025, dri­ven by a 23% spend­ing surge over three years. Repub­li­can-led, the state lever­ages a post-COVID eco­nom­ic boom, fed­er­al funds, and infla­tion-fueled sales tax revenue—hitting 8% in some counties—amassing $16.5 bil­lion in state reserves while cut­ting tax­es. SB144 sparks a show­down between South Geor­gia farm­ers and moms over pes­ti­cide law­suits, poten­tial­ly shap­ing 2026 elec­tions as mater­nal health con­cerns rise. Mean­while, SB154 pre­empts a pos­si­ble Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion clo­sure, adding “or its suc­ces­sor” to state laws. Tune in to unpack how these bil­lion-dol­lar moves and leg­isla­tive bat­tles could rede­fine Georgia’s future.

• Geor­gia is mak­ing bil­lion dol­lar deci­sions about health care, schools and trans­porta­tion. The House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on Tues­day approved a $37.7 bil­lion dol­lar 2026 bud­get. Your coun­ties, cities, states should be flushed with cash because of infla­tion. Now in GA we have repub­li­can lead­er­ship and the bud­get is up by $1.6B that is 4.4% over the orig­i­nal 2025 bud­get. Pro­posed spend­ing is up 23% over the last 3 years. Most of the spend­ing has been fueled by a post-COVID eco­nom­ic boom (print­ed mon­ey that bol­stered the states enor­mous­ly while the fam­i­lies suf­fered and they want to pat you on the head and send you $500), big increas­es in fed­er­al spend­ing and infla­tion which raised sales tax rev­enue along with the cost of goods and ser­vices. Which has allowed the state to cut tax and increase spend­ing. And some­how accu­mu­lat­ed $16.5B in bud­get reserves. Now some coun­ties are up to 8% sales tax, that is a boom for the tax man. 
• The pes­ti­cide fights with roundup. This is pret­ty much south GA farm­ers vs moms, SB144. This is a pro­tec­tion bill for com­pa­nies from law­suits as long as the label includes the seal from the EPA. The bill is detailed. This could lead the way for moth­ers to be one of the largest polit­i­cal issues in the 2026 cam­paign. MAHA pushed RFK Jr into HHS. There are moth­ers that are con­cerned with food, health, and vac­cines for their chil­dren. It was a big deal for the 2024 elec­tion. It could be a big deal for 2026. 
• GA wants to get ahead of pos­si­ble Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion closers. The GA House advanced leg­is­la­tion by repub­li­can state Sen­a­tor Bo Hatch­ett SB154. It is a Christ­mas Tree orna­ment bill. It has moved over to the house. Every­where in the bill into law where it says fed­er­al agency in Geor­gia the bill adds “or its suc­ces­sor.” You want to pay atten­tion to this bill. The AJC will write the upside to every­thing for the ben­e­fit of the demo­c­rat side of the repub­li­can par­ty.