Gov. Brian Kemp made an appearance in Augusta Monday afternoon to sign three bills, including one that affects the James Brown Arena.
Kemp, surrounded by First Lady Marty Kemp, Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, members of the General Assembly and Augusta Commissioners, signed House Bill 230, House Bill 128 and Senate Bill 213.
“We’re passing a lot of good policies (in Georgia) making it better for job creators to succeed in our state,” Kemp said. “That’s why the bills I’ll sign in a few moments were designed to do just that, to help us further our reputation as the best place to do business and to deliver on the promise I made to grow opportunity for all people in our state.”
House Bill 230 provides for a qualified consolidated government special purpose local option sales tax and could affect the James Brown Arena.
“That bill allows the Augusta-Richmond County government to put an important question before the people of this community, how to fund and propose renovations to the James Brown Arena here in downtown Augusta,” Kemp said. “That facility, well over four decades old, helps bring major events, tourism and economic development opportunities to the city and the surrounding area. It is a valued asset to this region and it will be the people’s right to decide how best to take care of it.”
House Bill 128 will help make it easier minority m-owned, women-owned and veteran-owned business to get access to state procurement opportunities. Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, as a small business owner, thanked Gov. Kemp for the creating the Georgia First Commission, which helps small businesses and protects jobs.
“So today is just a culmination of his hard work,” Johnson said. “All of a sudden now we have an opportunity to look at women owned business, minority owned businesses, veteran owned businesses, helping to consider and to continue grow our great state.”
The goal for House Bill 128 is pretty straightforward, according to Kemp.
“To cut red tape and support small businesses, and this bill certainly does that,” Kemp said. “It will also help create competition within the procurement process, so state contracts are delivered at the lowest cost and best value to the taxpayers.”
Kemp said Senate Bill 213 allows property owners to replace a current manufactured home with a newly built manufactured home without government restrictions.
“That is especially helpful for those affected by natural disasters like a tornado or hurricane and it protects individual property rights while preventing from homeowners from being priced out of their community,” Kemp said.
Before signing all the bills, Kemp said the day was about keeping Georgia as the number one state for business, while adding the state has earned the distinction for the ninth time. During his time in office, there has been an increase in new jobs in the state.
“Since I’ve took office we’ve seen over 150,000 new jobs that have been announced on projects the state was involved in…totaling over $60 billion in investment has come to our state, along with those jobs,” Kemp said. “I’m happy to report a majority of these jobs and investments have gone to communities outside the metro Atlanta area. These incredible figures don’t even include the organic growth we see in places like metro Atlanta that is happening every day, these are just projects the state was involved in working with the locals. It’s really hard to fathom this, but still today with what we’re facing in the state and country around the world going into 2023, we have more Georgians working than ever in the history of state and there are a least three jobs available for every person who wants to work.”
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com
