Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Each year, local chambers of commerce from Anderson and Blount County along with Knoxville, Farragut West Knox, and Oak Ridge collaborate to create a regional legislative agenda focused on job and business growth. After finalizing the agenda, they invite the business community to an annual breakfast, where elected officials discuss the priorities and their plans for implementation.

This year’s breakfast, sponsored by LDA Engineering, was hosted by the Knoxville Chamber on Friday morning at the Knoxville Convention Center. More than 500 people were expected to attend in spite of a rainy morning.

Because the special session of the Tennessee General Assembly did not end until late Thursday afternoon, some of the state legislators were not able to attend. Attendees did hear from Second District Congressman Tim Burchett, Senators Becky Duncan Massey and Richard Briggs, and six members of the House of Representatives.

After opening comments from Dave Miller. Chief Operating Officer of Regional Banking for First Horizon and the Chair of the Knoxville Chamber Board of Directors, the balance of the program was moderated by Harry Boston, Founder of Boston Government Services and Vice Chair of the Knoxville Chamber’s Business Climate Council.

Over the course of nearly 45 minutes, Boston posed questions to the various members of the General Assembly that focused on areas of clear interest to them.

Copies of the Regional Legislative Agenda were placed on at each seat. The six-verticals are:

1. Economic development;
2. Education and workforce development;
3. Childcare;
4. Healthcare;
5. Infrastructure and transportation; and
6. Entrepreneurship and small business.

Highlights include these:

Economic Development

The Chambers suggested a recommendation to the State to double down on efforts that attract talented, skilled workers to the region. Which includes supporting entrepreneurs who play an active role in opening new, unique job opportunities.

They also asked for the public school system in Tennessee to follow an “accountability model” that models quality career and technical education that properly prepares them for the workforce. This line item directly relates to the Knoxville Chamber’s 2030 Protocol, which was released in early 2024.

Supporting Entrepreneurs

One of the biggest struggles for entrepreneurs in East Tennessee is getting in front of investors. Therefore, one of the regional chambers’ core initiatives is to increase the flow of funds by “leveraging available funding sources,” and continuing to advocate for state matching funds for recipients of the national Small Business Innovation (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award programs.

Childcare Comes into Focus

Additionally, the regional chambers addressed the workforce issues related to childcare citing “the lack of childcare is impending our workforce, resulting in a loss of earnings and revenue to the tune of $2.3 billion in Tennessee.”

In order to combat that, the chambers are asking state lawmakers to consider incentivizing workplaces that co-invest in childcare with their employees.

Read more about the Knoxville Chamber.

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