MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Business Council of Alabama CEO Helena Duncan said on Thursday that two major legislative initiatives supported and promoted by BCA strongly contributed to Alabama’s top ranking as “America’s Most Improved State for Business” in the annual competitiveness study conducted by the CNBC financial news television network.

“The economic development awards that fill the hallways at the Department of Commerce prove that Alabama has always ranked among the nation’s top states for business, but CNBC has finally seen the light and publicly acknowledged what many of us have known all along,” Duncan said. “Both the ‘Game Plan’ incentive package passed by the Legislature last year and the ‘Working for Alabama’ workforce package approved this year will ensure that Alabama remains among the most business-friendly states for decades to come.”

Alabama surged 22 places in the 2024 survey of “America’s Top States for Business” that CNBC conducts annually, and both incentives packages and workforce development improvements were cited among the factors.

During the 2023 session, the Alabama Legislature approved “The Game Plan,” a comprehensive four-bill package that reformed, modernized, and streamlined the economic incentives offered to companies and businesses seeking to locate or expand in Alabama. The “Game Plan” package was conceived and drafted with input from BCA and passed through the Legislature with its full assistance and support.

The “Working for Alabama” package, which was approved during the 2024 session, similarly reformed the state’s workforce development efforts and launched a new, more advanced era of employee training, employment incentives, and labor force expansion in Alabama.

Duncan was critical of the CNBC survey in 2023 when it ranked Alabama as the 46th most business-friendly state in the U.S. despite the fact that Moody’s ranked Alabama’s economy the fifth best in the nation, Site Selection magazine’s review of state workforce development programs named Alabama’s the best in the south, and the 2.2 percent unemployment rate at that time was the lowest in our history and the sixth lowest of any state in the nation.

“Even our 2024 ranking as the 20th most business-friendly state is far too low, in my opinion, and fails to fully recognize Alabama’s tremendous economic successes, growth, and vibrancy,” Duncan said. “But our 20-spot leap in the survey proves that even CNBC cannot ignore all of great economic progress that continues to take place in cities, towns, and crossroads across our state.”