Governor Perdue Wants to Tap Lottery Funds

With every department affected by Georgia’s budget crunch, Governor Perdue is searching for all sorts of ways to fund the state’s needs.
For the first time since the lottery’s inception the cost of lottery-funded programs will surpass the revenue the games produce. As a result, HOPE scholarship will have to access its reserves to operate this year.
Governor Perdue is proposing to use $34M of the reserve funds to fill the budget gas. This could affect the amount of benefits HOPE recipients can count on.