With the Republicans in complete control of all branches of state government, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin painted a rosy picture of Kentucky’s future on Wednesday.
It was Bevin’s first State of the Commonwealth address since Kentucky Republicans took control of the Kentucky House of Representatives this past election.
That might be why so many Democrats decided to skip it. Bevin spoke to many empty seats of Democratic lawmakers in the Kentucky House. Local Reps. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, and Dennis Keene, D-Wilder, didn’t attend and couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday night.
State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, tweeted that she didn’t attend because “she will not endorse the hurtful agenda” of Bevin.
But Democratic leaders played coy.
There wasn’t an organized boycott by the Democrats, said Minority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook.
“Several of our folks went back to different parts of the state and left after we got out of session,” Adkins said. “Many were here though. There’s many that had different events that they went to. I don’t know.”
Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, laughed off the Democrats’ absence.
“Elections have consequences,” Thayer said. “The fact of the matter is, there’s just not that many Democrats left over here.”
Bevin’s hour-long speech, delivered in his typical improvised style without a teleprompter, praised Kentucky’s voters. He started by reading glowing emails he’s received from residents, including a custodian from Campbell Ridge Elementary in Alexandria.
“You asked for change,” Bevin said. “Change has come in this legislative body. It is humbling to us, inspiring to us the way you voters turned this House around.”
‘The pendulum is swinging back to America’
He promised Kentucky would become an engineering and manufacturing leader. This will happen through more business friendly taxes, investment into workforce education and addressing the pension debt, among other initiatives, Bevin said.
“I sing it loudly, and I sing it proudly when I’m with other governors,” Bevin said. “We will be the absolute center for excellence with engineering and manufacturing. That pendulum will be swinging back to America if you haven’t noticed.”
He didn’t mention the recent Amazon announcement in Northern Kentucky, but alluded to recent “major decisions” made by employers as an example.
Amazon announced last week it will invest $1.5 billion to open a cargo plane hub at the airport in Northern Kentucky and create 2,700 jobs. It is the largest single business investment in Northern Kentucky ever
Within hours of the announcement, lawmakers across Kentucky eagerly took credit. Kentucky beat out other potential locations, including Wilmington, where Amazon had a pilot program to test the area out as a potential hub.
The leaders of heavily Republican Northern Kentucky believe Bevin when he says he’ll make Kentucky an engineering and manufacturing hub. Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, praised Bevin’s ability to get the so-called “Right-to-Work” bill passed and the repeal of prevailing wage.
“I think what Gov. Bevin has done, he’s been a real rock star in improving the business climate in Kentucky,” Schickel said.
Tax reform on the horizon
Bevin also pledged for tax reform in a special session. It might involve eliminating or reducing the state’s income tax in favor of a sales tax. Many Republicans use Tennessee as an example of a tax code they admire. Tennessee doesn’t tax wages and relies on a sales tax.
Democrats have long opposed relying on sales taxes, seeing it as taxing the poor and the rich alike with no regard to personal income.
Bevin also pledged to close some of Kentucky’s “300 tax loopholes.”
He then made a pun that elicited a delayed applause and some groans.
“I’m talking about bringing every single sacred cow that people think can’t be touched on a tax front and bringing them out of the barn,” Bevin said. “And some of the sacred cows will be returned to the barn and some of them will be turned into hamburger.”
Charter schools coming
Bevin also promised another long-stalled Republican goal this year- charter schools. Many think a bill to allow charter school in Kentucky will face little opposition in a Republican-controlled legislature.
Indeed many Republican lawmakers in Northern Kentucky applauded Bevin’s pledge to make charter schools legal.
“We need to be concerned about the education of the children, and however that needs to be done,” said Rep. Diane St. Onge, R-Lakeside Park. “Bevin has the boldness to carry something like this forward.”
Heroin mentioned in passing
One thing Bevin didn’t mention until the very end of his hour-long speech was heroin. He mentioned it while listing all the people who won’t find Kentucky welcoming–welfare cheats, sexual predators, deadbeat dads and drug dealers.
“If you’re a drug dealer, especially someone who is not an addict but is creating addicts, you’re not going to want to live in Kentucky,” Bevin said.
But for Northern Kentucky, the region’s heroin scourge will loom large in this session of the General Assembly. In St. Elizabeth hospital’s five emergency rooms in Northern Kentucky, staff used heroin antidote naloxone 1,584 times in 2016. That’s a 35.6 percent jump from the previous year.
In 2011, St. Elizabeth’s personnel used naloxone 252 times.Local Republican lawmakers want to use tougher criminal penalties to address the heroin problem. A bill filed by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, would make dealing any amount of heroin and the opiate fentanyl a class C felony punishable by five to 10 years in prison. Currently the law requires two grams of heroin to make trafficking a class C felony.
This just brings penalties back to what they were six years ago before the legislature reduced penalties to cut prison costs.
Schickel believes the spike in overdoses isn’t a coincidence.
“I’m not against heroin treatment,” Schickel said. “I’m for heroin treatment, but we have literally let people trafficking in heroin. We haven’t held them responsible.”
The session this year will be short. Lawmakers won’t address the budget. That means a reprieve from issues like the Brent Spence Bridge and roads.
Bevin ended his speech encouraging people to get involved.
“We’re going to clean this state up,” Bevin said. “Get out there volunteer and take pride in Kentucky,”
