The 2025 Chairman of the Georgia Chamber, Ed Elkins, greets the 2024 Chairman of the Georgia Chamber, Pedro Cherry (right) during the Eggs and Issues Legislative Breakfast on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, inside the Georgia World Congress Center. Photo by Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta VoiceThe annual Eggs and Issues breakfast took place inside the Georgia World Congress Center on Tuesday morning. Along with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Lt. Governor Burt Jones, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, Atlanta Gas Light & Chattanooga Gas President and CEO and Georgia Chamber 2024 Chair Pedro Cherry, and many others took the time to address a standing-room-only crowd. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens was also in attendance and delivered the welcome. Dickens also held a press conference later that morning to address the upcoming security plans for the upcoming Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday, Jan. 20. Kemp thanked Dickens and others for their continued service to the state and continued an often-mentioned point of Georgia once again being thanked the number one place to do business in the United States by Area Development Magazine for the 11th year in a row.Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones speaks at a fireside chat during the Georgia Chamber’s Eggs and Issues Legislative Breakfast on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, inside the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo for Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice“By working together we have accomplished great things in this state,” Kemp said. Kemp mentioned the state’s budget surplus and how that can help accomplish fiscal goals in 2025. His new budget proposal, which he plans to make public in the coming days, will address water services, infrastructure projects, “In this new year we must remain clear-eyed and focused,” Kemp said during his address. The Governor said his plans for the new year included continued focus on education reform, job growth, career development, and balancing the budget. Kemp used Colquitt County and Elliott’s Walk, a neighborhood in Columbus (Ga.) as an example of a county that has benefited greatly from the $42M in infrastructure grants that were awarded during the 2024 fiscal year. Jones, who spoke before the Governor took the stage, listed balancing the budget, education, and childcare costs are issues that he hopes will be addressed. Jones said recruiting employees would be easier if the cost of childcare was lower. “As a business owner myself, I’m always looking for ways to lessen the legislature on business,” Jones said. “We want to be a good environment for everybody.” The post ‘Renewed clear-eyed focus’: Eggs and Issues 2025 sticks to the issues in state appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.