Gov. Nathan Deal laid out his vision for 2014, along with his budget priorities Thursday morning in his State of the State address.
Among his priorities are public safety, education, health care and boating safety laws, including changing boating blood alcohol laws. Deal called for Georgia to move forward with confidence, not letting it be divided by race, geography and ideology.
The governor said his fiscal year 2014 budget calls for more money to go to different places in the state budget, including accountability courts, pre-kindergarten funding and deepening the Port of Savannah. He said he wants to make Georgia the No. 1 place for businesses, reduce unemployment and increase high school graduation rates.
He spoke at the end of his speech about ethics, saying residents and citizens need to be able to trust their governments. However, he also warned the General Assembly members that there "will always be those in the media and elsewhere who thrive on sowing the seeds of doubt and distrust and who will never recant their sinister innuendos and malicious accusations even when they are vanquished by truth," the governor said.