Greenville Chamber releases 2020 Public Policy Agenda

Teacher pay, state pension reform, and tax reform among key priorities

The Greenville Chamber released its 2020 policy agendas Friday, focused on education and workforce development, lawsuit abuse reform, rural broadband expansion, and increased transit funding.

The agenda, released in concert with the Upstate Chamber Coalition, outlines the priorities of the business community at the local, state and federal levels.

All Upstate Chamber Coalition Chamber members are afforded the opportunity to shape the agenda. More than 1,400 Upstate business leaders took the Chamber’s legislative survey. The survey followed two dozen agenda-setting meetings throughout the summer and fall with business industry groups, other Upstate chambers and business organizations, and the Chamber’s Business Advocacy committees.

“As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the Upstate Chamber Coalition, we are more confident than ever of the power of the collective voice,” said Carlos Phillips, Greenville Chamber President/CEO. “The unified voice with which we speak at the local, state and federal level provides our region a unique and powerful tool for promoting nonpartisan legislation that fuels inclusive, economic growth. We celebrate the many business leaders who have supported the Upstate Chamber Coalition throughout the past 10 years and look forward to continuing that legacy in 2020.” 

While much of the agenda reflects unfinished business from 2019, the first in a two-year cycle, several new items made the list for 2020 with a special emphasis on removing barriers to workforce participation, such as reevaluating professional licensing to remove burdensome processes, exploring solutions to more affordable childcare, increasing access to broadband in rural areas, as well as ensuring availability of affordable housing.

One of the Chamber’s top state priorities continues to be supporting our state’s educators. Understanding the critical importance of a prepared workforce, potential solutions include increasing teacher pay to the national average, exploring pay bands, allowing some districts more flexibility in recruiting top talent, and supporting universities through the Higher Education Opportunity Act.

The Chamber’s top local agenda item for 2020 remains the expansion of Greenlink – the local transit system. With more than 220,000 new residents anticipated in Greenville over the next 20 years, it is imperative that we invest in our crumbling and inefficient infrastructure now. 

“Expanding Greenlink is a critical business recruitment and retention issue,” said Jason Zacher, Senior Vice President of Business Advocacy. “Mass transit is not a social service, it is critical infrastructure and should be treated as such. Greenlink is drastically underfunded compared to our peer communities across the Southeast. In a metro area our size, it is essential that we move residents to work, education, and healthcare.”

At a federal level, the business community is calling for support of international trade deals that open markets for Upstate goods, as well as other measures that make it easier to do business.

 The agenda was unveiled at the Chamber’s Annual Legislative Breakfast, which had more than 200 local business leaders and more than two dozen local and state elected officials in attendance, as well as Congressman William Timmons. This annual event is the Chamber’s flagship legislative event, designed to connect the business community with their elected officials to discuss legislative priorities for the upcoming year.

 To view the full 2020 Public Policy Agenda and Advocacy Guide, visit greenvillechamber.org/advocacy/public-policy-agenda.