Transportation Funding  
Our region is facing an enormous shortfall in available transportation dollars. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) estimates 2 million more people will move to this region by 2030. Some predict we have as much as a $7 billion shortfall in funding over the coming years. The state gas tax, which does not grow with inflation, is not keeping pace with the number of vehicles on the roads. Our region has been ranked as having the fourth worst traffic in the country and the fourth lowest in per capita spending, making a new revenue source inevitable. The Cobb Chamber stands with the Regional Business Coalition and several other metro chambers in support of legislation that provides for new funding sources, including regional solutions. Funding solutions should be passed this year and not delayed until a future election cycle while the Georgia Department of Transportation initiates its reforms.    

Expansion and Construction of New Water Reservoirs
Water storage is a critical component of mitigating the effects of future droughts. The Cobb Chamber supports aggressive plans to streamline the permitting process for the expansion and construction of new reservoirs and to provide funding to local governments to increase the availability of more drinking water. See Resolution passed by the Cobb Chamber Board of Directors.

Trauma Care Funding
The Cobb Chamber supports the funding of a statewide trauma care hospital network and state oversight to ensure Grady Hospital remains solvent.

Inventory Tax Exemption
The Cobb Chamber of Commerce supports giving local governments discretion on whether to lift the ad valorem tax on business inventory of goods remaining at the end of the year. Georgia’s neighboring states do not charge this tax.

Tourism Development
The Cobb Chamber of Commerce supports legislation providing for sales tax rebates for the construction of tourism developments that retain and grow tourism in Georgia.

Sales Tax Exemption on Energy Used in Manufacturing
High energy costs continue to be a large part of operating expenses for many companies who use natural gas, fuel oil and electricity to manufacture its goods. As national energy prices climb, the state receives a windfall in sales taxes collected from assessments on energy bills.  The Cobb Chamber supports reducing the state sales tax on energy costs for manufacturers, who are at a competitive disadvantage compared with other states. Georgia’s neighboring states are among thirty-nine other states that exempt manufacturers from this tax.

Economic Development Incentives 
Cobb County competes for projects and jobs with similarly situated regions across the country. Several business organizations are supporting expansions to Georgia’s BEST Act (Business and Expansion Support Act), such as tax credits for businesses that headquarter here, incentives for creating certain industry clusters and providing funding for the region’s “deal closing fund.”

Small Business Health Care Insurance Incentives
The General Assembly may consider legislation that will provide incentives for small business to offer healthcare insurance to its employees. The Cobb Chamber supports efforts to bring such incentives to the marketplace.

Certificate of Need for Health Care Services
Hospitals are essential to the economic development, welfare and stability of our state, are the largest employer in many Georgia communities, and are an integral part of the delivery of quality healthcare to Georgians.   The Cobb Chamber stands with nonprofit hospital systems in support of streamlining the procedural recommendations on which the Certificate of Need (CON) Commission reached unanimous agreement and in preserving the primary aspects of the CON program.

Equitable Funding for Cobb Technical Colleges
The technical colleges serving Cobb County, Chattahoochee and North Metro, operate with a state funding level well below the state average per student.   In Fiscal Year 2006, for example, Cobb’s technical colleges operated between 64 and 74 cents on the dollar compared to the state average.  The Cobb Legislative Delegation can close this disparity by working with the Department of Technical and Adult Education to allocate a larger share of any new funds to colleges at the bottom of the current state allocation distribution.