Making Georgia the best place to do business

By Chris Clark, President & CEO, Georgia Chamber of Commerce It’s no secret that during an election season, polarizing debates and partisan politics can often overshadow the work being done on behalf of all Georgians. As we reflect on the last two years and the issues that have been most important for the business community, I’m proud of the bipartisanship, civility and integrity displayed by our state’s elected leaders to solve problems and deliver solutions that move our state forward. Over the course of the 2023-2024 Legislative Biennium, the Georgia Chamber team and our Government Affairs Council diligently tracked over 850 bills and budget items directly impacting the free enterprise system in our state. Our policy positions and initiatives are carefully crafted to develop new ideas and strategic solutions that drive innovation, ingenuity and real results for our members, communities, partners and the over 3 million represented employees in every county of the state. The general assembly passed several pieces of key legislation improving Georgia’s infrastructure, workforce development and competitiveness. We’re also appreciative of the work accomplished in the legislature to protect the economic incentives and tools that have contributed greatly to our state’s record-breaking growth. Led by the policy initiatives of Governor Kemp, Lt. Governor Burt Jones and Speaker Jon Burns, the general assembly made significant progress in reducing our state's income tax rate, aligning the corporate tax with the personal rate and increasing tax deductions for Georgia's families and homeowners. These policies provide relief for small businesses and hardworking Georgians as inflation and high interest rates continue to impact the national economic landscape. Thanks to the work of our HUB Chamber Council representing our military communities, significant progress was made in improving our occupational licensing procedures with the passage of House Bill 880. Prior to the passage of this legislation, spouses of Georgia’s active-duty service members were burdened by excessive wait times for the transfer of their occupational licenses, often having to wait up to nine months for approval to work following a move from out of state. HB 880 ensures that qualified military spouses can obtain their occupational licenses within 30 days of application after receiving official orders of a permanent change of station. These updates strengthen Georgia’s robust military community and the greater economy by increasing access to employment in some of our highest-demand careers. Georgia experienced a year of unprecedented economic growth in 2023 with over $24 billion in investments and 38,000 jobs created through 426 new or expanded project locations. These accomplishments are a result of strategic policy implementation and our world-class infrastructure network that consists of 125,508 miles of roadway, 3,288 miles of Class I rail, 1,012 miles of Class III rail, two deep-water ports, two inland ports with a third in development, five intermodal rail yards and nine commercial airports. We know that to keep up with the increased demand our freight and logistics system will face, we must make investments to strengthen and secure our critical infrastructure. We commend Gov. Brian Kemp for his historic $1.5 billion down payment on the future of Georgia’s infrastructure and the general assembly for their passage of HB 617 codifying the Georgia Freight 2050 Program. Another important component of maintaining our economic competitiveness is ensuring that Georgians in every corner of the state have access to quality affordable healthcare. In our 2024 Executive Insights Survey, 63% of respondents cited access to healthcare as a top issue impacting our state’s future competitiveness. The general assembly passed legislation to expand the rural hospital tax credit, increasing access to healthcare in some of our state’s most vulnerable communities and fortifying our healthcare infrastructure to withstand our current and future growth by creating a new dental school at Georgia Southern University and a new medical college at the University of Georgia. As Georgia faces significant opportunities to increase workforce participation and preparedness, the general assembly responded by passing legislation to bolster our education-to-workforce pipeline and expand opportunities for employment throughout the state. Legislation was passed to increase participation in some of Georgia’s highest-demand careers through k-12 education programs. We also commend the legislature for their expansion of policies to increase second chance hiring initiatives and literacy. The business community fought hard to increase access to homeownership and affordable housing for Georgia’s workforce but for the second year, this vitally important issue has failed to advance. However, Governor Kemp’s Rural Workforce Housing Initiative to facilitate new housing developments in rural regions did pass and will help ease the burden for many Georgians. Finally, we applaud the Georgia General Assembly for passing meaningful reforms to our civil justice system. Senate Bill 83 and Senate Bill 426 make significant changes to our state's legal environment and take steps to reduce skyrocketing insurance rates for Georgia’s businesses and citizens. We will continue to work alongside Gov. Kemp, Lt. Gov. Jones, Speaker Burns and Insurance Commissioner King to develop a long-term legal reform strategy. 'What’s good for business is good for Georgia’ drives the policy development and advocacy efforts of the Georgia Chamber and our members. We look forward to continuing our work alongside our elected officials to make our state the best place to live, work, pray and play. Click here to learn more about the Georgia Chamber’s legislative priorities from the 2024 session.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the state’s leading business advocacy and research organization, released the results of its annual Executive Insights Survey providing an overview of the state of Georgia’s economic environment and the issues top-of-mind for Georgia’s business leaders. Each year, the Georgia Chamber partners with Deloitte Consulting LLP to reach over 1,000 executives from companies of every size and industry to gather critical data on the challenges and opportunities facing Georgia’s statewide business community. The 2024 survey findings represent the collective outlook of business leaders in every corner of the state, ensuring the data provides an accurate and comprehensive summary of the sentiment of the state’s leading executives. The 2024 Executive Insights Survey focuses on several key areas: Economic Outlook: Georgia’s business leaders remain confident in the state’s economic outlook with 77% of respondents feeling optimistic or very optimistic about the forecast of Georgia’s economy whereas only 41% felt the same about the U.S. economy. Anticipated Growth: The state's executives anticipate continued growth in their companies throughout 2024 with 70% expecting an increase in capital expenditures, 85% expecting an increase in revenue and 70% expecting an increase in full-time employment. Continued Investment: Georgia businesses are expected to continue investment in research and development with 57% of executives reporting anticipated increases in spending on artificial intelligence technologies. Top Challenges: When asked about challenges, 62% of executives noted workforce shortages as their top concern. Many respondents cited enhancing compensation and providing increased flexibility in work arrangements as crucial to recruiting and retaining talent with 21% and 17% respectively. A critical top challenge for retaining a competitive workforce is homeownership and access to workforce housing with 64% of executives noting a lack of housing as a major concern. This necessitates the implementation of comprehensive policy solutions to the housing crisis. Another major concern included lawsuit abuse throughout the state. Among CEOs concerned about Georgia’s lawsuit environment, over half believe the problem will get worse over the next five years. Liability and lawsuit abuse outranked infrastructure, taxation and regulatory environment as business climate issues executives are most concerned about. Lack of access to healthcare and affordable insurance is also a growing concern with 63% of respondents citing healthcare as a top issue impacting Georgia’s economic competitiveness. “Georgia’s economy continues to prosper and experience record-breaking investment despite uncertainty in the national economic environment,” said Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber. “Results from this survey convey our state’s executives’ confidence in the outlook of Georgia’s business climate. We will use these insights to advocate for strategic policies that address the concerns most pressing to our future economic success.” To view the results of the 2024 Executive Insights Survey and learn more about the state of Georgia’s business climate, click here. ###