In the longest legislative session in Georgia history – caused by the long COVID pause from mid-March to mid-June – lawmakers handled a number of thorny and difficult issues, including the passage of a constitutionally-required $26 billion state-funded budget for FY 2021. As we have reported throughout this journey, the budget preparation took much of the oxygen out of the Gold Dome in the waning days of the Session after initially breezing through prior to the world-wide pandemic slamming the brakes on state revenue. When lawmakers left the capitol in March, our state’s financial picture looked bright – caused, in part, by historically low unemployment numbers. Fast forward to June when every family in the state was impacted by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Many individuals were teleworking and schools were shuttered – leaving students to receive virtual instruction. Thousands of individuals lost their jobs, shattering unemployment numbers and increasing the percentage of those without work to more than 30 percent. Countless numbers of Georgians were physically impacted by actually contracting the disease or losing a loved one to the pandemic – and lawmakers and staff were not immune. Nonetheless, resiliency was essential to the state’s recovery efforts. The Governor made a plan to reopen Georgia’s economy, get folks back to work and return students to schools. The completion of the legislative session was proof of the resiliency. One prays these efforts will succeed in the face of the virus’ resurgence.