Each week, LINK nky is publishing a profile of one of our local legislators so that Northern Kentuckians can get to know the people representing them at the state level.
Before bills related to horse racing, bourbon, business licensing and more have a chance to become Kentucky law, most have to make it past Senator John Schickel.
Schickel chairs the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee. That makes him the gatekeeper for much of the business licensing and regulatory legislation that comes through the Kentucky Senate. Alcohol, gaming, horse racing, and other regulatory issues must typically pass his committee before they have a shot at final passage.
Schickel — who announced in November that he is retiring from the legislature at the end of his current term in 2024 — told LINK nky that he considers his committee’s role in modernizing Kentucky’s alcohol laws his greatest legislative accomplishment.
“The result has been the tremendously successful Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, which attracts thousands of tourists to Kentucky every year, and the craft brewery industry, which has literally rebuilt our urban core with private sector money,” said the four-term Boone County senator.
Then there is the more recent Northern Kentucky bourbon trail – The B-Line® – which directs bourbon lovers to craft distilleries and bars in the NKY region. Since launching in 2018 the self-guided B-Line tour has added 25 “sipping points” to its list of stops.
It’s a natural progression for an industry that has racked up multiple legislative wins in Frankfort over the past decade. Notable successes include statutory approval of distillery sales by the drink in 2016, followed by the legalization of single (bourbon) barrel sales and satellite tasting rooms under a 2022 law.
Likewise, regulation and enforcement are a natural fit for Schickel. The longtime state lawmaker brings over 40 years of local and federal law enforcement experience to his position as state senator.
The senator’s campaign website says he first ran for his current office in 2008 after years of serving a 2002 presidential appointment to oversee the U.S. Marshall Service in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Schickel made the decision to run for the Kentucky General Assembly after listening to the concerns of citizens throughout the eastern half of the state, according to his website.
Today the senator tells LINK the top issue facing NKY specifically is education. Increasing educational opportunities while protecting funding for Boone County public schools will be one of his top legislative priorities during the 2024 annual session, he said. At the same time he’ll be focused on the state budget and constitutional protections.
Throughout the fall, the senator met with members of the nonpartisan Northern Kentucky Caucus to discuss each member’s session priorities for the region. Schickel is the chair of the caucus. Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, is the caucus Vice-Chair.
“This is a way for the caucus members to get together to discuss what is on our minds and their priorities,” Schickel said in an Oct. 6 press release. The state budget, health care, and education are all expected to land somewhere on those priority lists as the 2024 session begins.
Sen. John Schickel (R-Union) represents Senate District 11 in Boone County. He is the Chair of the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee, Co-Chair of the Interim Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee, and Co-Chair of the Jail and Corrections Reform Task Force. Schickel is also a member of the Senate Banking and Insurance, Natural Resources and Energy, Judiciary, and Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary (liaison). Additionally, he is a member of the Interim Joint Committees on Banking and Insurance, Judiciary, Natural Resources and Energy, and Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary (liaison), the Certificate of Need Task Force, and several legislative caucuses.