Kentucky Governor Delivers State of the Commonwealth Address

Blog post

On January 7, Governor Beshear declared that Kentucky is “back with a vengeance” as he delivered his final State of the Commonwealth Address before a joint session of the Kentucky Legislature. The address touched on a wide range of topics and detailed the governor’s priorities, including legislation to address heroin abuse in the commonwealth (which has already been approved by the Senate), prevent domestic violence among dating couples, enact a statewide indoor smoking ban and permit local governments to enact sales taxes that fund infrastructure improvements.

Relative to education, the governor highlighted Kentucky’s improved student outcomes and discussed several of the policy initiatives that he says helped lead to those outcomes such as adoption of Common Core academic standards, raising the dropout age to 18, easing the transfer of college credits and improving career and technical education programs. The governor also urged the Legislature to quickly implement the recommendations of the dual credit task force.