Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson discussed the state’s budget on KET’s Kentucky Tonight on Monday.
On the program, Adkisson appeared beside State Sen. Christian McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, chair of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee; State Rep. Tommy Thompson, D-Owensboro, member of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee; and Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy and spoke about the different priorities in Governor Bevin’s budget proposal.
Adkisson said that the Governor could have been conservative with this budget but instead took bold steps in his first proposal to get the state on track, especially Kentucky’s pension systems. Adkisson added, “It’s a game changer.”
Adkisson believes the pension crisis needs to be solved to stabilize Kentucky’s financial house, one of the Chamber’s top priorities.
“Governor Bevin builds his budget around the pension problem, and so in that sense, I think it’s the most fiscally responsible and conservative budget we’ve seen in over a decade,” Adkisson said.
Bill Goodman asked Adkisson about the Chamber’s release of A Citizens Guide to Kentucky’s Pension Crisis, which can be found here. The Chamber launched an education campaign around the state’s pension crisis Monday afternoon seeking to outline the dire nature of the problem and highlighting the fact that the crisis impacts all Kentuckians.
During the budget discussion on KET, Adkisson also pointed to Kentucky’s workforce as a main area of focus for the Chamber and said the budget will help fund programs aimed at advancing the workforce. Adkisson expressed the importance of a strong education system from the business community’s perspective.
On the issue of education, Adkisson recently penned a letter to legislative leaders asking that the General Assembly “minimize the negative impact on postsecondary education as you deliberate and enact a budget for the 2016-2018 biennium.”
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