Sen. Ed Harbison (D – Columbus) has been appointed by Lt. Governor Casey Cagle to serve as the Chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Creating a Lottery Game to Benefit Veterans.

“The idea of a lottery that will benefit veteran’s issues is not a new idea, but one that has been discussed for several years,” said Sen. Harbison. “The Georgia Lottery has long been used as a means for students to attend Pre-Kindergarten and college, but we see the lottery as something that could also be used to benefit the men and women who have sacrificed their time, talents and energy to protecting and serving our nation. We realized that we need to do as much research as possible to determine the best course of legislative action in order to find a solution that will not affect the current system, but add to the lottery’s capabilities.”

“Georgia’s veterans have selflessly sacrificed to defend our freedom and keep our families safe,” said Lt. Governor. “Chairman Harbison has continued to champion the wellbeing of our veterans, while working to make more opportunities available to ensure their families share in our state’s record economic prosperity. I’m confident the members of this committee will thoroughly evaluate ideas and solutions to improve the quality of life for our veterans.”

The Senate Study Committee on Creating a Lottery Game to Benefit Veterans was created by the passage of Senate Resolution 484 during the 2018 Legislative Session. As stated in the resolution, the committee shall be comprised of five members of the Senate who will look at the possibility of creating one or more games within the Georgia Lottery for the benefit of Georgia’s military veterans. The committee must report its findings on or before December 1, 2018.