Georgia House speaker to propose renaming Savannah port for Isakson

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston announced that he plans to propose legislation that would rename the Port of Savannah after retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.

“Senator Isakson dedicated his career to building up this state and expanding opportunity for all. He also was instrumental in ensuring federal funding for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, which will keep the port — and the jobs it supports — growing,” Ralston said Friday in a statement. “It is only fitting then that one of this state’s most important economic engines, our Port of Savannah, should bear Senator Isakson’s name.”

Isakson retired last year after 43 years of public service — the Republican was first elected to the Georgia House in 1976 before rising in office to the U.S. Senate in 2004 — citing a need to focus on his health. In 2015, Isakson revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.