Georgia Commissioner of Economic Development Pat Wilson
ATLANTA – Georgia exports hit an all-time high last year for the third year in a row, the state Department of Economic Development reported Wednesday.
The state exported $49.7 billion in goods in 2023, eclipsing the previous record of $47 billion set the year before. An estimated 87% of those exports came from small businesses.
“These numbers are further evidence of just how Georgia means opportunity for all,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday. “International trade touches every county in the state, supporting jobs in logistics, manufacturing, agriculture and more.”
Top exports for 2023 included civilian aircraft products, motor vehicles, turbojets and turbines, poultry, and pulp products. Canada, Mexico, China, Germany, and Singapore were the top destinations for Georgia exports.
State Commissioner of Economic Development Pat Wilson credited Georgia’s export successes to his agency’s representatives working in overseas markets.
“By leveraging their unique understanding of the markets where they’re located, they play a significant role in both the lives of our small businesses and in moving the needle to increase our state’s overall exports,” Wilson said.
Georgia’s top bilateral trading partners last year were Mexico, South Korea, Canada, China, and Germany, with notable year-over-year growth in trade between Georgia and South Korea. Markets where Georgia maintains full-time representation accounted for 67% of exports and 71% of bilateral trade in 2023.
Plant Vogtle’s Unit 3 reactor went into commercial operation last summer.
ATLANTA – The second of two additional nuclear reactors being built at Plant Vogtle has safely reached initial criticality, Georgia Power announced Wednesday.
Initial criticality is a key step during startup testing that shows operators have safely started the Unit 4 reactor. Achieving initial criticality is necessary to continue the startup of the unit.
Unit 3 at the plant south of Augusta entered commercial operation last summer. A malfunction within the cooling system in Unit 4 reported earlier this month has put back the in-service date for the second reactor from the first quarter of this year to the second quarter.
The new schedule isn’t expected to affect the total capital cost forecast for the project. However, any slippage in the timetable for completion beyond March 31 would reduce Georgia Power’s return on equity to zero, which would reduce earnings by about $30 million for each month until the work is finished.
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) voted in December to let the Atlanta-based utility pass on to customers almost $7.6 billion of its costs in building the two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, the first built in the United States since the 1980s.
The project was originally expected to cost $14 billion when the PSC approved it in 2009 but has more than doubled due to a series of cost overruns and delays in the construction schedule. The project will increase the average monthly bill to residential customers by $8.95.
Now that Unit 4 has reached criticality, operators will continue raising power to support synchronizing the generator to the electric grid and begin producing electricity. Through multiple steps, power eventually will be raised to 100%.
When both reactors are operating, each will produce enough electricity to power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses.
ATLANTA – A proposed constitutional amendment allowing Georgians to vote on whether to legalize sports betting in the Peach State has cleared a state Senate committee.
The Senate Regulated Industries Committee unanimously passed the bipartisan measure late Tuesday.
The legislation would create a gaming commission overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corp. to regulate sports betting.
Eighty percent of the tax revenue derived from sports betting would go toward Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and prekindergarten programs. Fifteen percent would be dedicated to programs to combat addictive gambling, and 5% would be used to attract and promote sporting events in the state, a provision sought by a coalition of Atlanta pro sports teams.
Some sports betting bills Georgia lawmakers have considered would not require a constitutional amendment. But supporters of Senate Resolution 579 said Tuesday changing the state Constitution would put sports betting on safer legal ground and assure buy-in from Georgia voters.
“You can never go wrong letting the voters have a vote,” Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, told members of the committee.
The legislation drew opposition Tuesday from members of faith-based groups and a former business professor from Illinois now retired to Georgia who has written extensively on the dangers associated with legalized gambling.
John Kindt said the medical community has declared gambling an addiction that is just as dangerous as narcotics.
“This is like legalizing heroin or cocaine,” he said.
Taylor Hawkins, director of advocacy for FrontLine Policy Action, a Christian advocacy group, said dedicating part of the tax revenue from sports betting to addressing problem gambling wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the damage legalized gambling would do to Georgians.
“That is like putting water in a bucket while you’re pouring gas on a fire,” he said.
The full Senate passed an “enabling” bill earlier this month setting the ground rules for sports betting should Georgia voters approve the constitutional amendment. While Senate Bill 386 was supported by 35 of the 56 senators, constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority of the Senate – 38 votes – to pass.
Senate Resolution 579 now heads to the Senate Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday that he will send additional Georgia National Guard troops to help the state of Texas defend its border with Mexico against illegal immigration.
The Republican governor blamed Democratic President Joe Biden for failing to secure the border, forcing Kemp and other GOP governors to come to the aid of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott has erected razor wire along portions of the Texas-Mexico border, insisting the Lone Star State has the right to protect its border, pitting him in a legal dispute with the Biden administration, which insists immigration enforcement is up to the federal government.
“We reinforce the right of states to defend themselves against threats when the administration is unwilling to step up and lead,” Kemp said Tuesday during a news conference at the Georgia Capitol.
Kemp’s announcement followed his trip to the Texas border with a group of Republican governors earlier this month, his fifth since taking office in 2019.
The Republican-controlled Georgia legislature has lent its support to the governor. The state Senate passed a resolution Monday supporting the Texas mission and defending states’ constitutional right to defend themselves, while the Georgia House followed suit on Tuesday. Both votes were along party lines.
Kemp said more than 8.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the U.S. since Biden took office in 2021, including 169 on the terror watchlist during the last fiscal year.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated 91 cases of fentanyl last year, an increase of 51% over the previous year, the governor said.
Democrats have argued the federal government is the proper venue for addressing illegal immigration and have taken Republicans in Congress to task for opposing comprehensive immigration reform legislation after former GOP President Donald Trump spoke out against the bill.
But Kemp said Biden could shut down the U.S. border at any time without waiting for congressional action.
“To me, the buck stops with him,” Kemp said. “He knows what he can do. … He shouldn’t blame this on Congress.”
Kemp said the 15 to 20 Georgia National Guard troopers he plans to send to Texas this spring will include those with engineering and mechanical backgrounds. They will help build a forward command post on the Texas border with Mexico.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones presides over the state Senate.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced at the beginning of the 2024 General Assembly session that he would not push for comprehensive tort reform this year.
But the state Senate passed legislation Tuesday addressing one aspect of tort reform.
Senate Bill 426, which passed 46-2, would limit the ability of plaintiffs in lawsuits against commercial truckers to file suit directly against a trucking company’s insurance carrier. Legislation aimed at such “direct action” lawsuits is a tort reform priority of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate.
Motor vehicle rates in Georgia have been on the rise because current state law allows insurers to be named directly in lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who have been injured in crashes with commercial trucks, Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, the bill’s chief sponsor, said on the Senate floor.
“This hopefully will help regulate, stabilize, and reduce rates,” he said.
Tillery said about three dozen states have passed bills prohibiting direct action lawsuits in cases involving commercial trucks. The Georgia bill limits direct action suits but doesn’t prohibit them altogether, part of an agreement between the insurance industry and the trial lawyers’ lobby, said Tillery, himself a trial lawyer.
“We’re not going whole-hog toward ending direct action,” he said. “This is a very carefully crafted compromise.”
“The passage of this legislation was desperately needed in order to get Georgia’s business community the relief it needs,” Jones added following Tuesday’s vote. “We are making legitimate strides to level the playing field when a case reaches the courtroom.”
The bill, endorsed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, now moves to the state House of Representatives.
