ATLANTA – A plan to create an academic center focusing on the needs of rural Georgia cleared a milestone Wednesday, but conversations about funding still await lawmakers.

House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the measure, sending it to the Senate. The proposal comes from the House Rural Development Council, which has offered several bills aimed at addressing the woes of rural Georgia. 

“The growth that we’ve seen in this state is amazing,” Rep. Jason Shaw, R-Lakeland, who is the sponsor, told his colleagues. “But it has not touched our rural communities. They are suffering and struggling, and this is a way for us to set up a center to help these communities.”

Shaw’s measure creates the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation, which would be housed within a university that offers a bachelor’s in rural community development – a requirement that appears to favor Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. 

A new leadership position, called the deputy commissioner for rural Georgia, would also be created within the state Department of Economic Development. 

“This could be huge, obviously, to have someone in the leadership within the department that is solely focused on rural Georgia,” Shaw said in a recent interview. 

Shaw said he plans to push quickly for funding for the center. He said a similar center set up in Pennsylvania has cost that state about $1.5 million a year to run.

The center in Georgia, Shaw said, would help connect rural communities with available resources and offer services such as leadership training. It would also serve as a think tank for rural lawmakers, he said. 

“A lot of times we have all these great ideas, but you don’t have the data and everything to support it that’s sometimes needed to really make sure you’re doing the right thing,” Shaw said. 

Shaw’s measure calls for collaboration among the rural center, the state Department of Economic Development and the state Department of Agriculture, which runs the Georgia Grown program. 

“The sky’s the limit,” Shaw said. “It’s not just economic development. It’s everything rural that you could possibly imagine dealing with – infrastructure, education, leadership training.”

Wednesday marked a key deadline for the General Assembly. Bills that did not pass one chamber by then are essentially dead for the legislative session.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.