defined to mean all state governmental entities, regardless of their nomenclature. “State” means the State of Georgia and any of its offices, agencies, authorities, departments, commissions, boards, divisions, instrumentalities, and institutions, but does not include counties, municipalities, school districts, other units of local government, hospital authorities, or housing and other local authorities. By its express terms, the act clarifies that the “State” includes state authorities and instrumentalities, but not local governmental entities, for purposes of waiving sovereign immunity. Our earlier cases distinguishing between instrumentalities of the state and state agencies are not dispositive since both instrumentalities and agencies are included in the act’s definit 2d 246) (1947) (<HOLDING>). 5 OCGA § 1-3-1 (a) (1990). 6 Webster’s Third
holding that state sovereign immunity bars state constitutional claims recognizing that constitutional prohibition against retroactive laws is not violated without destruction or impairment of vested right holding that state appropriation to ports authority violated constitutional prohibition against state debt and other constitutional provisions recognizing defendants state and federal constitutional rights to testify holding that in the absence of an adequate state remedy one whose constitutional rights are violated has a direct claim against the state under the state constitution