The 2016 General Assembly was highly productive for the business community and the Kentucky Chamber is pleased to recognize eight legislators who displayed conspicuous actions which helped ensured this success. In addition to championing Kentucky Chamber priorities, all were supportive of the Chamber’s top legislative priority: public-private partnerships, which was signed into law by the Governor last month.
“With so many important business issues in play during a legislative session, we feel it is important to highlight the efforts of those legislators who went out of their way to help ensure a positive business climate,” said Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson. “These eight legislators fought for a better business climate which will help move Kentucky forward.”
Below are the legislators selected for this year’s MVP awards and highlights of how they went to bat for the business community this session:
- Senate President Robert Stivers crafted the language to protect the business community which ensured passage of felony expungement in the Senate.
- Senator Joe Bowen was a true champion for transparency and reform in the pension system and sponsored Senate Bill 2, which would have shown light on the troubled state pension systems.
- Senator Whitney Westerfield was instrumental in securing passage of felony expungement in the Senate, where it had never before received a vote.
- Senator Max Wise sponsored and championed the Chamber’s top priority-public private partnerships.
- Senator Dennis Parrett crossed party lines several times to vote for important business issues like repealing the prevailing wage and workers’ compensation reform.
- Representative Leslie Combs sponsored and championed the Chamber’s top priority-public-private partnerships. Rep. Combs has championed this legislation for many years.
- Representative Darryl Owens sponsored and championed the felony expungement bill that will help with Kentucky’s workforce shortage.
- Representative Adam Koenig was unwavering in his support of Kentucky Chamber priorities and lent a strong voice to key bills such as Public Private Partnerships and LIFT (Local Option Sales Tax).
In addition to monitoring the progress of bills that directly relate to the strength of the Commonwealth’s business community, the Chamber tracks how each legislator votes on these bills. The Chamber’s MVP award recipients displayed more than just a business-friendly voting record, but also went out of their way, and at times across party lines, to support or oppose an issue critical to the business climate in Kentucky. To see how these and other legislators voted on business issues during the 2016 Kentucky General Assembly view the Chamber’s Results for Business publication here.