Kentucky Chamber President honored with 2015 Public Advocate Award

Because of efforts by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to advocate for common sense reforms to the justice system, Chamber President Dave Adkisson was honored at the Kentucky Public Defense Service Awards ceremony Tuesday.

In his opening remarks at the event, Kentucky Public Advocate Ed Monahan discussed wasteful spending in the corrections system that could go toward other important issues in the state. The Kentucky Chamber has been a vocal supporter of working to cut back on these types of corrections costs in order to fully fund education and programs that have proven to benefit the Commonwealth.

Kentucky Chamber supported justice reforms have passed through the General Assembly and because of which, corrections costs have been on the decline. However, there is still more work to be done in the Chamber’s eyes.

Because of his advocacy and steadfast support of reducing incarceration costs through common sense reforms, the Kentucky Public Defense Service recognized Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson with the 2015 Public Advocate Award.

At the awards luncheon in Lexington Tuesday, Kentucky Chamber board member Charles “Buzz” English, an attorney out of Bowling Green, accepted the award on behalf of Adkisson who was in Washington, D.C.

In introducing the award, Monahan noted that the number one item in the Kentucky Chamber’s 2009 “Leaky Bucket” report was corrections. And since the report and the reforms that followed, the Chamber has continued to ask legislators to continue reviewing the Kentucky Penal Code with the goal of creating more alternatives to incarceration for low-level, non-violent crimes and focus on jail time for more serious offenses.

“This is the Chamber calling for this. The Chamber. Take note of that,” Monahan joked with the crowd.

In his remarks, English stated that while the pairing of the Kentucky Chamber and the DPA may seem like an unusual team, both groups are interested in promoting and advocating for changes to break the cycle of incarcerating people who do not need to be in prison and creating savings for the state.

“Until justice serves everyone, it serves no one,” English said.

To read more about the Chamber’s recent justice reinvestment advocacy efforts, click here.