Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce holds legislative update at National Corvette Museum

Bowling Green, Ky. – Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce held a legislative update Friday morning at the National Corvette Museum, hosting four members of the Kentucky legislature and discussing key issues around the state and here in South-Central Kentucky.

All four legislators spoke to the increased economic growth in the south-central part of Kentucky and what has driven that economic boom here in Bowling Green.

“I think you’re going to continue to see that investment especially, you know, with businesses wanting to call Bowling Green home,” said Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader Max Wise. “I think if you look at what they’re able to attract, I know their R-2 research status of working on that that they can attract more PhD students, investment for university research. All those things are positive.”

Rep. Michael Meredith, one of the longest serving members of the House, recalls what the state looked like financially beforehand and says that that financial growth has contributed greatly to funds that have proven critical, especially during disasters.

“Budget reserve trust fund, our rainy day fund, has become one of the strongest in the nation per capita, based on our size of our state to other states. We righted that ship faster. We were the fastest one-year change in that before the 2020 pandemic of any state, and we’ve been able now to have surpluses in those funds that we’ve been able to put back in smart investments and infrastructure, and quality of life projects in our communities across the state. But it’s really been a huge turnaround in a pretty short period of time, about ten years,”  Meredith says.

All the state leaders agreed that investing in the youth has to be a priority to keep this momentum going into the next decade.

With that goal in mind, House Bill one will now allow single residents to send the first $1,700 of their taxes to the school or school district of their choice, and those who file jointly will be able to send even more starting in 2028.

“If you’re a family of two, and you’re filing jointly, you can give up to $3,400. Your first $3,400 of federal tax money, instead of sending it to Washington, D.C., and letting them do what they want to. Sometimes we think they squander it away. So instead of sending it to Washington, D.C., you’re going to send it to a local SGO, and you can dictate what school system it goes to, and then they will determine how it can be used,” said Rep. Kevin Jackson.

All of this comes on the back of a national trend of devastating losses for Republicans in the midterms.

While Kentucky saw comparatively few changes, Republican leadership says that the national trend did affect the state, but staying true to their values will help them to continue their goals.

“I don’t think they were taken out of their seats because of the policy that we’re doing in Kentucky. I think it was a national trend. I think it was a lot of things that affected that. But we have to make sure that our members and our voters are energized for the next elections going forward. We still have to stay conservative. We still have to focus on fiscal conservative responsibility. And I think those type of things are going to continue to win out for us,” Wise said.