FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., delivered his annual State of the Commonwealth address to members of the General Assembly.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Andy Beshear delivered his fifth State of the Commonwealth address

  • Beshear touted Kentucky's strong economy, growing workforce and touted the defeat of Amendment 2 

  • Senate Majority Leader Max Wise pointed to record amounts of funding to the state's public school funding system, the SEEK formula 

As is tradition, Gov. Beshear spoke to a joint session of Kentucky Senate and House members. During his speech he highlighted economic investment and job creation since taking office including Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing moving into a 1 million-square-foot building where Kentuckians will make the large-scale storage batteries for the power grid and that powered last year’s Super Bowl.

“Every day, we’re welcoming more businesses, more families and more visitors to our new Kentucky home,” Beshear said.

Since taking office, the private sector has invested nearly $35 billion and 59,800 new, full-time jobs.

Beshear also applauded the defeat of Amendment 2 in November. The failed amendment would have allowed the legislature to use public dollars on non-public schools.

“Amendment 2 was rejected in every county and by over 30 points statewide. That’s what you call a mandate; a mandate to prioritize public education,” Beshear said.

Beshear also called for a raise for teachers despite Republican lawmakers allotting a record amount of dollars to the state’s SEEK formula in last session’s budget bills.

“I got nothing but praise back home from our superintendents and school administrators and especially our school board members that say thank you for allowing us to give a raise at the local level and that’s what we want to do. That’s what we did,” said Senate Majority Leader Max Wise, R-Campbellsville.

Wise said many of Kentucky’s strengths are thanks to actions taken by the Republican General Assembly, including the gradual reduction of the state’s income tax.

“I saw the governor give quite a bit of credit to the legislature and I was glad to see that. The budget that we’ve worked on the past few years and I just give so much credit to our House and Senate leadership as well as A and R chairs to get us to this point,” Wise said.

The governor also sharing achievements in expansions of high-speed internet access, highways and health care. He says the state achieved this by “pushing politics aside” and coming together for the common good.

“Let’s let our positive actions speak louder than the nasty words we hear on TV or that we read online,” Beshear said.

This was Gov. Beshear’s fifth State of the Commonwealth address.

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