Jan 14
RECAP: Kentucky State of the State
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear delivered his state of the state address a yearly tradition for Governors to lay out what the state has been doing the last year and looking towards the future.
Before getting into the state of the state address he talked about 2 deadly storms that hit the state of Kentucky. The first is in December 2021 killing 81 people and in 2022 a storm in east Kentucky claimed 4 lives.
Governor Beshear also called out and thanked the number of first responders and everyday citizens that came to the rescue that saved many lives in the past year.
Jobs
In the year 2021, Governor Beshear says the state created over 92,000 jobs with the average hourly pay being 26.75. In addition to that the state is creating 1,500 new jobs in healthcare. Governor Beshear also wants to create hundreds of new jobs in the national security sector.
On the education side of employment, he wants to give all public school educators a 5% raise and increase the state pension program by nearly 2%. Governor Beshear explained that the pension increase needs to happen for the first time in 10 years with the record high inflation.
Healthcare
Governor Beshear wants to expand the state’s Medicaid program to offer coverage for dental, vision, and, hearing. Along with that, he wants to expand mental health services and make them wrap-around services for the youth of the state to prevent them from going into a life of crime.
Governor Beshear plans on paying for all these proposals with the state’s high surplus. The Governor ended his speech by thanking the people of Kentucky for working hard and expressing his hopes for the future in 2023.
