HR 1528: Joint Study Committee on Higher Education Fiscal Stewardship; create

This resolution sets up a temporary Joint Study Committee on Higher Education Fiscal Stewardship, made up of five House members and five Senate members with one cochair from each chamber. The committee's job is to review the University System of Georgia's finances, including the annual audits done by the Department of Audits and Accounts, and to look for financial trends, risk areas, and possible improvements. The committee can meet as often as its cochairs decide, and legislative members get standard daily allowances under Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8) for up to five meeting days unless more are approved. If the committee reaches agreement on findings or recommended legislation, it must file a report before being dissolved. If it cannot agree on a report, the cochairs can instead file copies of meeting minutes. The committee is set to be abolished on December 1, 2026.

• Creates a ten-member Joint Study Committee on Higher Education Fiscal Stewardship with five members each from the House and Senate.
• Directs the committee to study the University System of Georgia's financial conditions, needs, and risk areas using audit reports and related information.
• Allows the committee to recommend legislation or other action based on its findings.
• Sets standard legislative per diem allowances for members, capped at five paid meeting days unless additional days are authorized.
• Requires a report to the General Assembly if the committee approves findings, or meeting minutes if it does not.
• Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2026.

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate appointed to the committee, the University System of Georgia and its Board of Regents, and the Department of Audits and Accounts, which produces the audit reports the committee would review.

The resolution does not change any law or funding on its own, but it sets up a formal process for lawmakers to examine how university system money is managed and to propose changes, which could shape future legislation affecting the state's public colleges and universities.

• Paragraph (1) creates the Joint Study Committee on Higher Education Fiscal Stewardship.
• Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at ten legislators, five appointed by the Speaker and five by the Senate President, each side naming a cochair.
• Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying university system fiscal issues and recommending legislation if needed.
• Paragraph (5) sets member allowances under O.C.G.A. § 28-1-8 and limits paid days to five unless more are authorized, funded through legislative appropriations.
• Paragraph (6) requires a report with any recommendations, approved by majority vote, filed with the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate.
• Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2026.

1. 2026-03-06House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-03House Hopper (House)

• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)Primary sponsor
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)

• higher education funding
• University System of Georgia
• legislative study committee
• state audits