Republicans touted their legislative plans and their new majority in the state House while the lone Democratic speaker called for bipartisanship at the 22nd annual Kentucky Chamber Day dinner. Here’s a recap of speeches made at the event Thursday evening in Lexington.
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dave Adkisson
Adkisson commended lawmakers for the pro-business legislation they passed in the 2016 General Assembly session. He pointed to bills to allow for public-private partnerships (P3) on infrastructure projects and the expungement of criminal records for non-violent felons who completed their punishments. He also praised Gov. Matt Bevin and legislators for their initial steps to tackle the unfunded liabilities in the state’s public employee and teacher pension systems.
Adkisson said the commonwealth experienced two earthquakes on Election Day: the victory of Republican Donald Trump for president and the Kentucky House of Representatives flipping to GOP control.
“The Kentucky Chamber sees this as a huge opportunity to pass some common-sense legislation that will grow our businesses and create jobs,” Adkisson said.
Two top priorities for the Chamber this session are a right-to-work bill and a repeal of prevailing wage, both of which appear slated for passage in the coming days. Right to work would free employees of the mandate to join or pay fees to a union that operates in their workplace. Under current prevailing wage laws, the state labor cabinet sets wage and benefit rates for trade laborers employed on certain public works construction projects.
“There’s no need for a school board, or a library, or a water district or a city or a county to pay 10- to 16- percent extra on a normal construction project because of an artificially inflated wage,” Adkisson said.
Adkisson said the Chamber also hopes the 2017 General Assembly will pass charter school legislation, bills for tort reform and medical review panels, and a statewide ban on smoking in public places.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey
The lone Democrat to speak at the Chamber dinner this year was Louisville Sen. Morgan McGarvey. He touted the bipartisan successes of the 2016 legislative session, including P3 legislation, a revamping of the state’s marriage license form, and a heroin bill that toughened penalties on drug traffickers and increased treatment options for addicts. He also praised Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) and new House Speaker Jeff Hoover (R-Jamestown) as “sensible leaders” who can serve their conservative constituents and work with state Democrats. McGarvey that spirit of bipartisanship will be important as lawmakers tackle health care, job creation, tax modernization, and pension reform.
“We can’t simply write the right-wing talking points into law in Kentucky and expect to move forward,” McGarvey said. “Working together we can assure that doesn’t happen.”
The Democrat said he favors a tax overhaul that lowers rates and broadens the base, thus making the codes more attractive for business and less regressive on individual taxpayers. As for other revenue measures, McGarvey promoted public votes on expanded gaming and local option sales taxes for infrastructure projects. He urged his fellow lawmakers to avoid divisive issues like transgender bathroom bills and religious freedom initiatives, which he said could hurt the state’s economic development efforts.
The senator called for a statewide smoking ban and he chastised those who claim the commonwealth can’t afford to keep its expanded Medicaid program. He said the question lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should consider is how can the state afford not to maintain the initiative that has provided health care to more than 400,000 Kentuckians.
“If [University of Kentucky basketball coach] John Calipari and [University of Louisville coach] Rick Pitino can record a podcast, Democrats and Republicans can figure out how to make our state healthier in the best way, for the least amount of money,” McGarvey said.
Senate President Robert Stivers
For 20 years, President Stivers said he watched bills that the Senate overwhelmingly passed go to the Democrat-controlled House and die without ever getting a hearing. Now, with GOP majorities dominating both chambers and a Republican in the governor’s office, Stivers says this session will be historic. As an example, he cited how the House started work on and passed right-to-work legislation for the first time.
“With the change of this climate and the change of the dynamics between the respective [chambers] and the respective parties, we are now in a position to create a better climate for this business community,” Stivers said.
But Stivers discounted allegations that Republicans only wanted to serve business interests.
“We’re here to cater to the people of the state of Kentucky by helping you all have a better business environment,” Stivers said, “by looking at tax codes and having reforms, by looking at pensions and having reforms, looking at regulations and having reforms.”
Doing those things will result in more jobs for the state, according to Stivers. He said if 140,000 new jobs were created, the tax base would expand. And with those additional revenues, Stivers said there would be more funding for infrastructure projects as well as K-12 and higher education.
The president concluded his remarks by noting his love for his native state, which he expressed through the lyrics of a song by country music duo Sundy Best: “I was born here in Kentucky, it’s where my soul will rest in peace. I’ve been all around this world, there’s no place I’d rather be.”
House Speaker Jeff Hoover
Since the state House remained in session well into the evening, Speaker Hoover was forced to address the Chamber crowd by telephone. He noted House approval earlier on Thursday of bills about right to work and to repeal prevailing wage laws, which he said was the first time in history that the chamber had passed such legislation.
Hoover said he expects those measures to pass the Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Bevin on Saturday (Jan. 7, 2017). He said both those measures contain emergency clauses that will allow them to take effect immediately.
The Speaker admitted he’s taken some criticism for the speed with which the new Republican majority is moving legislation in the opening days of the 2017 session.
“The new minority in the Kentucky House tried to make it difficult [to pass bills] throughout the day but our members stood tough,” Hoover said. “They made their commitment on how they were going to vote and nobody wavered.”
Hoover also praised House passage of a bill to require women to have an ultrasound prior to an abortion. In all the Speaker said he expects lawmakers to deliver at least six bills to the governor this weekend. He said Republicans are committed to a new way of doing business in Frankfort.
“We want to do things that will change Kentucky for the future,” Hoover said. “We were not going to sit here for one week, like has always happened and do nothing, we wanted to get to work.”
Gov. Matt Bevin
Two years ago, Gov. Bevin said he was a businessman sitting at home with his family and not thinking much about politics. But when he saw the candidates running for governor at that point, he said he realized that the state needed someone who could make the profound changes he thought the commonwealth needed.
His candidacy would be an uphill battle, though. No sitting lawmakers encouraged his gubernatorial bid and no newspapers endorsed him.
“Why do I tell you these things?” Bevin asked the Chamber crowd. “Because when it’s time to do the right thing, you just do it. You don’t wait until you’ve got all the ducks lined up.”
Now 13 months into his first term in office, Bevin said he’s on the verge of fulfilling several of his biggest campaign promises. His top priority was to enact right-to-work legislation, which he’s poised to sign into law this weekend. Tax modernization was his second priority, which he said he’ll tackle soon.
His third priority was to resolve the public pension crisis, which he contends is much larger that people realize. Current estimates put the unfunded liabilities in the retirement programs for state employees and school teachers at about $33 billion. But Bevin said he believes those liabilities total closer to $82 billion. The governor bases that on rates of return that 30-year Treasury Bonds, which he argued provide more realistic earnings estimates. (Bevin is expected to call a special legislative session later this year to address tax and pension reform.)
Bevin said he continues to work on reducing state government regulations and
fighting against what he sees as federal overreach on issues like environmental regulations, transgender bathrooms, and overtime pay.
The governor said his critics have criticized him for changing things that don’t need to be changed. He countered that argument by quoting cowboy philosopher Will Rogers, who said even if you’re on the right path, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. He said Kentucky has done that in recent years and other states have run over and passed the commonwealth.
“You’re not going to see another blue-ribbon panel while I’m governor, you’re not going to see another five-year study,” Bevin said. Now is a time for action. This is what you elected us to do.”
The governor also took the opportunity to thank fellow Republicans Stivers and Hoover for helping him navigate Frankfort. He credited Hoover for doing a “truly masterful job” to pass several important bills in the opening days of the legislative session.
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