Roughly six hours after appearing with President Joe Biden in Covington to celebrate the $1.6 billion in federal funding for the companion Brent Spence Bridge with tolls, Gov. Andy Beshear delivered his State of the Commonwealth address to a joint session of the Kentucky legislature Wednesday night.
“Despite everything we’ve been through, including the pandemic, tornadoes, flooding, ice storms, a polar plunge, temporary, but still tough inflation, and even a war in Europe, The State of the Commonwealth is still strong,” Beshear opened.
Occurring in a gubernatorial election year, and giving his speech in front of three of his Republican challengers — Attorney General Daniel Cameron, State Auditor Mike Harmon, and Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles — Beshear highlighted his economic accomplishments, which in addition to funding for the Brent Spence, includes record low unemployment and jobs.
While Beshear hit on the highlights of his administration heading into the final year of his first term, Republicans questioned whether his policy proposals would work for the upcoming legislative session.
“The Governor tonight rolled out a spending plan with unbridled ambition,” said Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights), chair of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee. “The Governor knows that any spending like he is talking about must be dealt with in a budget year. This plan reeks of political posturing for the race in November.”
While Republicans in both chambers disagreed with the governor’s policies, Northern Kentucky’s lone Democratic legislator, Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport), lauded the governor for leading the Commonwealth through difficult circumstances.
“Governor Beshear has delivered on his vision for Kentucky year after year under some of the most challenging circumstances,” Roberts said. “Under his administration, we continue to see record job growth and, as today’s Brent Spence Bridge announcement showed, record investment in our commonwealth.”
Beshear joined Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in Covington to discuss funding for the bridge that is set to break ground in 2023.
Republican and Democratic legislators worked diligently for years to bring the bridge to NKY, with many politicians from both parties promising the project for years.
“This is a day we thought would never really come,” said Sen. John Schickel (R-Union). “It’s a historic infrastructure accomplishment — not just for Kentucky, but the whole country. It’s right up there with the Hoover Dam and some of the other great projects.”
News of the bridge dominated headlines across Kentucky, but Beshear’s speech hit on work he wants to accomplish in the 30-day legislative session in Frankfort.
The first initiative he wants to tackle is education by giving public school educators a 5% pay raise. He thinks it will address the 11,000 teacher vacancies across the state. He also wants to fully fund universal pre-K — which he also mentioned in his 2022 speech.
Republican legislative leaders quickly called out Beshear for some of his “lofty” aspirations.
Speaking at a press conference after the address, Senate President Robert Stivers disagreed with some of Beshear’s policies.
“From a policy standpoint, to start doing one-offs is a terrible policy standpoint — goals, aspirations are lofty,” Stivers said.
While Republican leadership in both chambers agree on most issues, one policy, pushed by the governor, seems to be splitting hairs — cannabis.
Passed by the House the last two sessions but not taken up in the Senate, Gov. Beshear issued an executive order in November to allow Kentuckians with certain health conditions to use and possess small amounts of medical cannabis purchased in another state starting on Jan. 1, 2023.
In speaking about cannabis, Beshear recognized Chasity Harney, a Kenton County mother diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer in 2019 at 40. He said Harney had received every type of pain medication for chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but few brought relief.
“Chastity found real relief from medicinal cannabis,” Beshear said.
House Speaker David Osborne (R-Prospect) said he and Stivers don’t disagree on it, “but our chambers have disagreed on it,” he said.
On the first day of the session, Stivers said it’s not that he’s opposed to medical marijuana, but it needs to be done in an appropriate way — mainly through additional research.
“I believe, and I think many people believe, there is therapeutic and medicinal value, but for what various diagnoses?” Stivers questioned.