Alabama Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth flexed his Birmingham roots in an address last week to the Birmingham Business Alliance. He overviewed a wealth of legislative accomplishments during the 2024 legislative session and spoke to the opportunities that are being created for the region’s business community and residents.
Ainsworth praised the strides Birmingham and Jefferson County has made in collaborating with statewide economic development and workforce initiatives. He said the opportunity is also the goal in the region: Attract corporate headquarters, boost educational opportunities, enhance infrastructure, create jobs, and drive economic growth across the entire state.
“Birmingham is doing well. You look at it, one of the best cities to live in,” Ainsworth said. “Just thinking about growing up, I remember coming to the NCAA Tournament games here. And the fact we brought those back. You talk to people about what recruits talent – you’ve got to make sure you have things for young people to do. I think obviously the music scene’s getting a lot better, the food scene’s good – there’s things for people to do downtown.”
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“Over $375 million in economic development projects in Jefferson County. One of the things I’m working on right now is downtown – ‘how do we bring corporate headquarters back to Birmingham and white collar jobs?’ I’m working with Greg Barker, working with your leaders here, to have real corporate headquarters here. One of the things that certainly was highlighted during the pandemic was UAB, Southern Research – what a jewel we have here be able to recruit other companies on the research side. Not only that, but even on the aerospace side – there’s a tremendous opportunities there. But just know that we’re going to make sure Birmingham will continue to go out and recruit and be active on getting corporate headquarters here and great white collar jobs for the students of today and tomorrow. That’s important.”
Ainsworth passionately promoted the expansion of school choice in Alabama, which now allows parents to choose from a variety of educational options, including public, private, charter, and homeschooling through the CHOOSE Act, passed earlier this year. Particularly in a region like Central Alabama, Ainsworth spoke to the difference it makes to give parents the freedom to select the best educational path for their children and praised the success of public charter schools in the state, like the Aerospace and Aviation High School in Birmingham.
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On the subject of infrastructure, Ainsworth linked the Northern Beltline project and the expansion of I-65 to the future economic vitality of the region. He noted that the Beltline project is fully federally-funded and that state leaders are exploring opportunities to expedite the completion of the project.
“The other thing is, I-65,” Ainsworth said. “My vision is for I-65 to be six lane from the state line to Mobile. We’ve got to make sure we get that done. I drive it all the time,” adding that’s the issue Alabamians ask him about the most.
“That’s the main artery, it’s so important to Birmingham, so important to our businesses. We’re going to keep pushing and make sure we get I-65 done. I appreciate Governor Ivey’s leadership, she’s already started that. It’s probably going to take about 10 years to get it done. The great thing about that is it’s an 80-20 match from the federal government, so we’ll be able to draw a lot of federal dollars down to get that done,” he said.
Ainsworth also outlined measures to support small businesses through the elimination of the business privilege tax for small businesses, families through a new cap on property tax increases, and Alabama servicemembers through a package of pro-military bills passed earlier this year.
Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270
