Bussiness
What are Savannah-area businesses’ legislative priorities? We found out over biscuits
December marks the time Savannah’s business community and state legislators break bread together at their annual legislative breakfast, discussing business-related goals for the upcoming Georgia General Assembly session, which begins on Jan. 13.
Those leaders took to the Westin Savannah Harbor Tuesday for the former Eggs and Issues breakfast, now titled Biscuits and Bills, which featured panels with legislators on workforce development and education, healthcare and public safety, and economic development.
“Those are the three that our members continue to say are most important,” said Savannah Area Chamber President and CEO Bert Brantley. “Those are all pretty broad issues, but those are the issues that our members deal with every day. Where are they going to get workers from? Are they able to keep their employees safe, their businesses safe? Where is their next customer going to come from?”
The Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s legislative priority list highlights an array of goals from transportation and infrastructure to tort reform and capital projects at Savannah State University and Savannah Technical College. The priority item for SSU is a budget request for design of new student wellness spaces.
Top transportation and infrastructure priorities on the chamber’s list include funding for redesign and construction of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport interchange at Interstate 95. The chamber is also supporting a realignment of the Chatham Area Transit Board, an item the delegation’s senior Sen. Ben Watson (R-District 1) signaled support for during a panel.
CAT expanded to Port Wentworth in March, joining Savannah, Garden City and unincorporated Chatham County as service areas. CAT also runs the Savannah Belles Ferrys, which provide transportation to the Savannah Convention Center from downtown Savannah.
The goal of a realignment could expand the board to include representation from all service areas. “I think making sure the CAT board is representative of all those communities that it serves is really important as well,” Brantley said.
Another top discussion item involved tax policy, where the chamber and the delegation’s Republicans voiced support for lowering the state income tax on individuals and businesses. Brantley said lowering those taxes provide businesses with more money in their pockets to pay for employees or inventory.
Moving away from income tax to consumption tax as a primary source of revenue has been a long-term priority for the state, said delegation chairman Rep. Ron Stephens (R-District 164). Neighboring states such as Florida have no personal income tax.
“As we try to become more competitive with other states around us, we’re going to continue to focus on income tax reduction,” Stephens said.
Sen. Derek Mallow (D-District 2) proposed removing the requirement for small businesses to pre-pay a portion of sales taxes based on revenues from the previous year. Those pre-paid taxes are money businesses should be able to maintain and invest in their operations, Mallow said.
Mallow also plans to continue spearheading legislation to legalize sports betting, and his proposal would devote tax revenues from gambling toward childcare. Legalized sports betting will provide an opportunity raise revenue for childcare programs as the state continues not to raise taxes, Mallow said.
“I can’t think of a better way to dedicate revenue than to legalize sports betting in the state of Georgia.”
Local Reps. Edna Jackson (D-District 165) and Anne Allen Westbrook (D-District 163) also served on panels. Westbrook said decreasing maternal mortality was a major healthcare priority, and the General Assembly can build on work done in study committees.
Westbrook also mentioned advancing a gun storage safety law as a potential public safety priority. Separate laws that incentivized safe gun storage passed each chamber last session, but neither passed both chambers, Westbrook said. There are hopes that type of legislation will pass both chambers next year.
“That’s the kind of bipartisan consensus that we’re building,” Westbrook said.
Other members of the regional delegation such as Reps. Bill Hitchens (R-District 161), Jesse Petrea (R-District 166) and Carl Gilliard (D-District 162) were not in attendance due to varying family and health-related issues, Brantley said.
Evan Lasseter is the city of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
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