Georgia lawmaker files bill to reinstate House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, give Speaker audit authority

Representative Horner introduced House Bill 1178 (LC 590374S) and told the committee the measure would "put back into law the House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee," restoring the committee’s statutory status and adding language to allow the Speaker of the House to audit entities that receive or are affected by state funding.

"All it does is put back into law the House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee," Horner said, adding the bill is "word for word, except we added a few things" and that "the thing we added was giving the... Speaker of the House the power to audit anything the state funding touches." Horner told members the measure had passed unanimously in committee.

A committee member asked which department the bill would authorize to perform audits. Horner said the audits could be conducted by an outside agency; the Department of Audits (DOAA) had been discussed but the bill does not require DOAA to perform them, leaving the choice to the Speaker.

Representative Hughley pressed whether the reinstated committee would have the authority of the House to investigate agencies. Horner responded affirmatively, saying the authority would extend to "anything that state funding touches." The measure was presented for consideration but no final floor action on the bill itself was recorded during this meeting.

The bill’s primary change is procedural and jurisdictional: it would restore a named House committee in statute and add explicit audit authority tied to state funding. The committee did not record a final vote on HB 1178 at this session; next steps were not specified during the remarks recorded here.