< Previous76 MAY 2025 SITE SELECTION balance by protecting every Georgian’s constitutional right to civil justice while also bringing Georgia more in line with the legal environments of our neighboring states that we compete with for jobs and investment.” One of those neighbors is Florida, which passed its own set of tort reform measures two years ago. Gov. Ron DeSantis says that, since Florida adopted sweeping tort reform, his state has seen major insurance companies come back into the market and had 11 new property insurers enter the state and start underwriting property protection policies. Not everyone was a fan of Florida and Georgia passing tort reform. Opponents included large injury law firms, consumer advocacy groups and parents’ groups that advocate on behalf of child sex trafficking victims. John Morgan, who runs the nation’s largest injury law firm, was especially vocal in his opposition to the Georgia bill. “They passed tort reform under false premises and empty promises,” he said on the X social media platform a few days after the bill passed. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and small business groups, however, applauded the bill. In a letter to the editor of the Peachtree City Citizen newspaper, small business owner Daniel Mundy said the law’s passage provides needed relief. “At JM Rolloff Containers, a business I co-founded in Peachtree City in 2014 that now serves multiple counties and employs 10 people, we’ve seen the cost of insuring our dump trucks rise from $2,000 a vehicle in 2014 to nearly $20,000 per vehicle in our current policy,” he wrote. “In addition to rate increases, we’ve seen fewer available insurance options and lower profits as a consequence of lawsuit abuse impacting our business.” The U.S. Chamber said the average consumer benefits greatly from tort reform. “In 2022 alone, Georgia’s tort costs reached nearly $20 billion, translating to an average of $5,050 per household,” the chamber noted. “Small businesses, which bear nearly half of these costs, are particularly vulnerable.” Satterfield says insurance rates have been “skyrocketing” in Georgia since 2005, the last time the Peach State attempted to change tort law. “The problem was that it went through several rounds of judicial review by the Georgia Supreme Court, and it got watered down,” he says. “Rates became unaffordable for companies, and they began pulling out of the state, leading many insurers to pull out.” Satterfield says Georgia lawmakers and Gov. Kemp got it right this time. “You will see a stabilization of the market and a decrease in premiums across the board,” says Satterfield. “You will see a decrease in large verdicts — or what are sometimes called nuclear verdicts. As these verdicts decrease and the settlements go down, the market will stabilize, insurers will come back into the market and [they will] lower their rates.” Kemp says another winner will be Georgia’s business climate. “When site selectors are asked, Georgia has consistently been ranked the No. 1 state in the nation to do business, but we have been aware that one area our state underperformed in was providing access to a balanced legal environment,” he noted. “This common-sense tort reform package removes that blemish, increases our competitive edge and solidifies our top state ranking for years to come.” “The main provisions of the bill address negligent security claims and how a jury assesses damages in a personal injury case.” — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp78 MAY 2025 SITE SELECTION I t is an eerily dark morning above Eastman, Georgia, so cloudy that the 6,500- ft. runway at Heart of Georgia Regional Airport remains obscured throughout some nervous, final moments in the back seat of a twin- engine Piper Seminole. “There it is,” murmurs pilot Rey Drumgoole, 25, as he breaks through the darkness just 600 feet above the asphalt. Less than a minute later, Drumgoole sets the Piper down about as soft and sweet as a ripe Georgia peach. “I like flying in challenging weather,” Drumgoole says. “You get to really assess your skills and see how good you actually are.” Drumgoole, from the small Georgia town of Eatonton, is a certified flight instructor at Middle Georgia State University (MGA), having secured the coveted spot after graduating last December with a four-year degree from MGA’s School of Aviation. The sprawling aviation campus is anchored at Heart of Georgia Regional, some 50 miles southeast of Macon. As an instructor, Drumgoole is accumulating cockpit hours toward a planned career of flying for the airlines. Less than half a year since graduation, he’s already being courted by regional carriers associated with United and American Airlines. “Most of our students have jobs lined up even before they graduate,” says Adon Clark, the aviation school’s dean. Clark says that, counting graduates from the school’s aircraft maintenance and air traffic control programs, close to 90% settle and work within a 100-mile radius of Macon. “Our mechanics are high wage earners,” he says. “Obviously, the pilots are, as well. They’re contributing to the tax base of Georgia, the local areas where they live and the entire state, which makes it easy for me to justify the state subsidies we receive. This is not,” says Clark, a no-nonsense former military man, “a feel- good program. It’s a program that puts people in jobs.” An Affordable Alternative MGA’s School of Aviation is one of less than a dozen in the country with FAA-certified programs in maintenance, flight training and traffic control. And the scrappy, expanding program is gaining on its rivals, which include the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University — known as “the Harvard of the Sky” — and the better-known flight schools at the University of North Dakota, Purdue and Auburn. Enrollment, according to Clark, has grown from 320 students 10 years ago to 1,500 today. The school has thus embarked on a $16 million expansion that includes a new maintenance training hangar, new classroom and office space, a fitness gym and dormitory upgrades. Clark says a major draw for prospective pilots — who must pay out of pocket for their training flights — is MGA’s relative affordability, as little as less than $87 per flight hour. “We try to keep them affordable because we have a lot of first-generation students,” he says. “It’s still expensive, don’t get me wrong. But for a four- year degree it’s probably about $120,000, whereas at some other institutions you’re talking $300,000 to $400,000, which is just out of reach for a lot of people.” Like Drumgoole, Jack Armit graduated last December and swiftly joined the ranks of the school’s flight instructors. Combined with Georgia’s AN OPEN DOOR TO THE SKIES MGA’S SCHOOL OF AVIATION TRAINS A NEW GENERATION Certified Flight Instructor Rey Drumgoole Photo by Dalton Barlow SITE SELECTION MAY 2025 79 lottery-funded, merit-based HOPE Scholarship, the modest flight training fees enabled the 22-year-old from Kennesaw to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot. He’s on a career path with Georgia-based Delta. “I don’t have a lot of family money,” he says, “so MGA was a no-brainer. It’s just so much cheaper compared to anywhere else.” Location, Location MGA’s fleet of training aircraft numbers in the mid-50s, about 40 of which, says Clark, are in service at any given time. With training flights taking off beginning at 6:00am and throughout the day, Heart of Georgia Regional has become — as incongruous as it may seem — Georgia’s third-busiest airport, behind only Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International and suburban Atlanta’s DeKalb Peachtree Airport in Chamblee (Site Selection Founder and lifelong pilot Mac Conway’s home base). Clark believes the remote location in Eastman, population 6,000, is to the school’s advantage. “I tell prospective faculty members that the good news is that we’re two-and-a-half hours from anything, like the mountains or the beach. The bad news is, we’re two-and-a- half hours from anything. But if we were trying to do this in Atlanta airspace,” he says, “our students would eat up half their flight time waiting on the ground for clearance. Here, there aren’t a bunch of congested areas that we have to avoid. And if, God forbid, we had an engine failure and had to put a plane down somewhere, there’s plenty of wide-open space to do it.” And being “two hours from anything” serves to limit distractions. “Being in the middle of nowhere,” says Drumgoole, “helps keep you locked in. It’s really helped me because there’s so much time you need to study. Not everyone can do this,” he’s learned. “It’s not easy becoming a pilot.” — Gary Daughters80 MAY 2025 SITE SELECTION Martin: These are once-in-a-generation investments that resulted from major shifts in the mobility and energy industries, which was why the state was so aggressive in recruiting them — it was potentially now or never. Major manufacturers such as Hyundai, Kia and Qcells become the anchors for the much larger, statewide industry landscape. Recruiting entire supply chains doesn’t happen overnight, and there will likely be a steady pipeline or multiple waves of suppliers over the next decade or more. As a result, the state’s business recruitment strategy hasn’t so much changed as it has moved to the next phase: focusing on the supplier network and preparing for continued, sustained growth. Georgia has already landed a number of innovative companies in the e-mobility supply chain, from battery and metal recyclers to hydrogen fuel cell producers, on top of other large-scale manufacturers such as SK Battery America and Archer Aviation. The Technical College System of Georgia experienced 10.6% student growth in 2024. What accounts for the surge of enrollment in the state’s 22 public technical institutions? Martin: Workforce development starts at the K-12 level by introducing students to the industries and job opportunities near them as well as potential next steps after graduating high school. Local career fairs, industry days and guided tours of regional employers give students the chance to directly engage with jobs they may not have known existed, right in their own backyard. Georgia Match, which launched in fall 2023, is one of the largest state-run direct admissions initiatives in the nation. It delivers a customized list of in-state universities and colleges that a rising high school senior is eligible to apply for. The program helps reduce barriers to students pursuing further education, such as stress or lack of awareness of all 22 technical colleges and 26 four-year institutions in Georgia. (continued from p. 71) SITE SELECTION MAY 2025 81 With 22 institutions in every corner of the state, there is a Technical College System of Georgia campus within commuting range for almost any Georgian. That means that no matter where you go in the state, the local workforce has access to continued education and training, and industry has a local partner for workforce development. That goes a long way in the eighth largest U.S. state by population. Atlanta and Savannah are rightly viewed as powerful global gateways. What is Georgia’s evolving role in the global economy? Martin: Georgia is a global gateway for trade, investment and travel, home to the world’s busiest airport, two deepwater ports, an extensive rail network and a robust highway system. More than $198.7 billion in products and tangible goods were imported or exported between Georgia and 222 destinations in 2024. Connectivity is more than Georgia’s access to international markets, it’s also our location in the heart of the Southeast — one of the fastest growing U.S. markets — and our position as a gateway for products and goods moving to the interior of the U.S., too. Georgia is also a cultural hub. From the annual Masters tournament to the 1996 Olympics and upcoming World Cup, Georgia is on the map as a premier destination for sporting events. Blockbuster films proudly display the Georgia peach, and music and cultural artists come to Georgia to perform and grow their career. Given the growth of Georgia’s knowledge economy, is it easy for people to forget the importance of the state’s agricultural sector? Martin: If you ask anyone what they know about Georgia, they’ll probably say peaches, peanuts, pecans, poultry or pines. Agriculture 82 MAY 2025 SITE SELECTION is a foundational part of Georgia’s economy — and still the largest — that contributes tens of billions of dollars to the state’s GDP. Georgia’s food processing and food and beverage industries evolved out of agriculture, along with the manufacturing of farm equipment and other heavy equipment for construction. It also drives innovations in logistics, namely the state’s 180-million-cubic-square-foot cold storage network and expanded reefer capacity at the Port of Savannah. Going back decades, Georgia has been ahead of its southern U.S. neighbors in recognizing crucial “megatrends” such as air travel, civil rights, technology and workforce development. What are the long-term trends of the future that Georgia is gearing up to tackle? Martin: Georgia is focused on keeping our current momentum going. We’re working with our communities to rebuild our site portfolio, enhance our infrastructure and innovate in workforce development to position ourselves for continued, sustained growth in all of our key industries. We’ll accomplish our goals by doing what we’ve always done: taking a collaborative approach and being strong partners to supporting our industries and their growth trajectories. Supporting healthy existing industries and staying connected to key players across the economic development landscape, including site selectors, is a key part of that strategy. We are topping off one decade of excellence with all the keys to success to support another decade or more of excellence to come.” SITE SELECTION MAY 2025 83 A s if to make sure its collection of Site Selection economic development recognitions isn’t missing anything, Texas claims the 2025 Prosperity Cup. This award is about state-level competitiveness in attracting capital investment projects based on a 10-point index of Prosperity Points that reflect facility announcements, capital investment and new jobs tracked Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database and other factors. by MARK AREND & RON STARNER editor@siteselection.com 2025 PROSPERITY CUP Top 10 States 2025 STATE 1 Texas 2 Indiana 3 North Carolina 4 Ohio 5 Illinois 6 Kentucky 7 Alabama 8 Louisiana 9 Georgia 10 Virginia F ollowing are the criteria used to arrive at final scores determining the competitiveness ranking of the states. The first six criteria are based on project data resident in Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database: • Total new and expanded facilities in 2024 • Total new and expanded facilities in 2024 per 1 million population • Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities in 2024 • Total capital investment in new and expanded facilities per 1 million population in 2024 • Total new jobs created in 2024 • Total new jobs created in 2024 per 1 million population • Rank in the corporate real estate executive portion of the 2024 Site Selection Business Climate Ranking (executive Survey) • State tax climate as ranked by the Tax Foundation 2024 • Number of National Career Readiness Certificates per 1,000 residents aged 18-64, according to ACT — Workforce Development Division, administrator of the ACT Certified Work Ready Communities initiative. PROSPERITY POINTS Image by Richard Nenoff84 MAY 2025 SITE SELECTION Texas unseated Georgia to win the 2025 Cup just two months after claiming its 13th consecutive Governor’s Cup for total qualified projects in 2024. In November 2024, Site Selection recognized the Lone Star State as having the Top Business Climate in the U.S. If these were the country’s most prestigious horse races, that’s the Triple Crown Trophy. In March, Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office unveiled a new, five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan that will likely have a leading role in the state’s success by Site Selection standards, and others, going forward. Conway Data Executive Vice President Ron Starner spoke with that office’s executive director, Adriana Cruz, about the new plan and other factors behind Texas’ success. Following are excerpts of that interview. The state’s new five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan is titled “Bigger. Better. Texas.” What does that mean to you? CRUZ: The new “Bigger. Better. Texas” Economic Development Strategic Plan is our blueprint to build a stronger Texas of tomorrow. It means that here in Texas, our future is brimming with promise. And although we have experienced extraordinary economic success in the past decade, we are not becoming complacent. We must capitalize on our success and capture the promise of our future economy to maintain our competitive edge in the years ahead. This strategic plan is something that all our economic development partners across the state can rally around. Economic development is a team sport in Texas, and everyone has a role to play in building our future economy. It will take all of us working together to continue to keep Texas the premier place to visit, live, work and grow a business. SOUTH CENTRAL 2024 2023 1 2 Texas 2 1 Kentucky 3 4 Alabama 4 5 Louisiana 5 7 Mississippi 6 3 Tennessee 7 6 Arkansas 8 8 Oklahoma SOUTH ATLANTIC 2024 2023 1 1 North Carolina 2 2 Georgia 3 4 Virginia 4 3 South Carolina 5 6 Florida 6 7 Delaware 7 8 Maryland 8 5 West Virginia EAST NORTH CENTRAL 2024 2023 1 2 Indiana 2 1 Ohio 3 4 Illinois 4 3 Michigan 5 5 Wisconsin BY REGION Source: Conway Projects DatabaseNext >