Which mechanism is allowed for budget bills under the Georgia constitution?

• A. Line item votes
• B. Whole-bill voting only
• C. Committee of the Whole voting
• D. The governor can veto specific line items only

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that budget bills in Georgia can be debated and approved item by item. This line-item voting means legislators can consider each specific appropriation within the budget and decide whether to keep, reduce, or strike individual line items, giving precise control over how money is allocated without passing the entire package as is. This granular approach lets lawmakers tailor spending to needs while maintaining overall budget structure.

Choosing whole-bill voting would skip that level of detail, preventing adjustments to individual appropriations. The Committee of the Whole is simply a procedural way to debate a bill and doesn’t by itself provide the budget with line-by-line modification. And the governor’s power isn’t to veto specific line items; he can veto a budget bill in its entirety, but not individual appropriations. Therefore, line-item votes are the mechanism allowed for budget bills.