NEWS

Last week, the Georgia General Assembly met and completed legislative days 13-16 out of 40. On Thursday, the House Appropriation Subcommittee on Economic Development conducted hearings concerning budgetary items relative to economic development. Joe Marinelli with Visit Savannah and Michael Owens, The Tourism Leadership Council were asked to speak to Governor Kemp’s $90M budget request to continue the funding for the Savannah Convention Center expansion project. Joe and Michael presented to the Committee the positive impact the project will have on Savannah and Chatham County, the surrounding communities and the State of Georgia as a whole.

Also last week, the House and Senate agreed to the changes made to HB 80, the FY 2021 Amended Budget and voted to send it to Governor Kemp for final approval. The final agreement did include Gov. Kemp’s $1M for a targeted advertising campaign to promote Georgia tourism. Also included in HB 80 is a one-time $1,000 pay raise for 57,000 state employees making less than $80,000. HB 112, Immunity Extension for COVID Liability, extends the COVID liability protection to July 2022 the liability protection bill passed in 2020 was set to expire July 2021, passed the House and is now in the Senate for consideration.

The legislature will reconvene for legislative day 17 on Tuesday, February 16.