Legislation to preserve the HOPE program will call for a prohibition on using lottery funds for legislative "pork" projects and an end to payments for student fees and books. But it won't include Gov. Sonny Perdue's plan to tie the scholarship to SAT scores.

Senate Higher Education Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Douglasville) and House Higher Education Chairwoman Louise McBee (D-Athens) will host a hearing on the issue Thursday to begin the process of convincing lawmakers that something needs to be done immediately to keep the HOPE scholarship from running short of money.

Hamrick and McBee, co-chairmen of a HOPE study commission, said Monday they will be filing their legislation in both chambers in the next few weeks to get it moving quickly. They said the bills will follow the commission's recommendations. That means they won't include Perdue's proposal to require potential HOPE scholars to obtain a minimum SAT score.

"HOPE is a difficult issue, and the only way to attack the problems are to do it in a bipartisan fashion," Hamrick said. "The SAT will not be part of the legislation because we wanted broad bipartisan support."

Many Democrats, including Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, have voiced opposition to the SAT proposal. They argue it would have a disproportionate effect on minority and rural Georgians. Perdue and Hamrick, both Republicans, like the idea.

While the SAT proposal may be added in the Republican-led Senate, some Democrats in the House likely will try to put an income cap on HOPE recipients. When HOPE was started in 1993, only students in families earning less than $66,000 a year could receive the award.

Money shortage

If changes aren't made, officials have estimated that HOPE and the pre-kindergarten program -- which also is funded through the lottery -- will begin dipping into financial reserves in the 2006-07 budget year. Some recent budget proposals predict that the money could run out next year.

Under HOPE, students with a B average or higher receive full tuition, mandatory fees and money for books to attend a Georgia public college. Technical school students also are eligible, and students at Georgia private colleges can receive a $3,000 annual grant.

The bill Hamrick and McBee will push eliminates fee and book payments to HOPE scholars starting this fall. That would cost students at Georgia's research universities roughly $1,000. The bill also would set a 3.0 grade point average as the requirement for the scholarship. Currently, a third of HOPE scholars entering Georgia's public universities do not have a 3.0 GPA, although they are classified as "B" students.

It also would prohibit the use of lottery money for anything other than HOPE or pre-kindergarten classes. Lawmakers have approved spending $1.8 billion worth of lottery revenue for things other than HOPE and pre-kindergarten in the past decade.

The bill's recommendations would save the state more than $125 million next year. If approved, the changes would save about $1 billion during the next five years.

Also Monday, a Republican House member said she will propose a lottery of sorts to raise money for HOPE. Rep. Jill Chambers of Atlanta said she plans to file legislation giving Georgians the option of checking a box on their state income tax form, giving $10 to HOPE.

Name drawing

Once a year, the state would draw a name from those who participated and that person would be exempt from state income taxes for life.

Taylor will release his proposal this morning at the annual Georgia Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast.

 Staff writer Nancy Badertscher contributed to this article.