Attracting New Businesses and Sustaining Established Georgia Businesses
Friends,
Georgia has just been named the number one state to do business for the eighth consecutive year! We continue to welcome new businesses and jobs all across the state. The House Republican Caucus is committed to prioritizing business-friendly policies that allow Georgians to start and grow their businesses and attract new businesses to our state! Sustaining this growth means working with regions that have been less successful in attracting businesses to determine how to support their economic development efforts.
New Investments and Jobs
During Fiscal Year 2020, we saw over $7 billion in investments and the creation of over 24,000 jobs in our state. Over 14,000 jobs and $6 billion of these investments went to areas outside of metro Atlanta. This growth would not be possible without the business-friendly environment of our state and our commitment to ensuring economic opportunity touches all areas of our state.
Expanding Broadband Access
To expand economic options for all Georgians, in the budget for Fiscal Year 2022, we included almost $40 million for the OneGeorgia Authority to establish a Rural Innovation Fund. The Rural Innovation Fund will assist rural Georgia communities in developing targeted solutions that impact economic, medical, technological, or infrastructure challenges within their region. Additionally, over the past two budget cycles, we have allocated $30 million to establish a broadband infrastructure grant program to assist rural communities in meeting their broadband needs. Broadband access is a critical component in any community’s economic health, and we will continue to look for avenues to expand that access to all Georgians.
In the Fiscal Year 2022 budget, we funded a grant administrator for the broadband infrastructure grant program and two new project managers in the Global Commerce Program of the Department of Economic Development. These project managers will work with international businesses seeking to relocate to Georgia. We have recently seen a surge of businesses looking to Georgia as a potential location, and having trained staff available to answer their questions and show them all that Georgia offers is vital to our state attracting new businesses and new jobs.
Supporting the Port of Savannah
Another important factor in our state’s economic growth is close to home - the Port of Savannah. Ports worldwide are seeing delays as they attempt to keep up with increased demand, and the Port of Savannah is no exception. The Georgia Freight and Logistics Commission, created in 2019, has identified multiple areas of opportunity to move goods efficiently across our state. The Commission has recommended upgrading certain rail lines and expanding options for public-private partnerships. The recommendations of the Commission will ensure that our state’s infrastructure keeps up with the growth of the Port, which will benefit all Georgians.
As always, if you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to call (404.656.5052), email (Jon.Burns@house.ga.gov), or engage on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JonBurnsGA). If you would like to receive email updates, please visit my website to sign up for my newsletter or email me.