One Day Remains . . .

The General Assembly completed Day 59 of 60 for the 2012 Regular Session on Friday night, marking the beginning of the Veto Recess. Legislators will return on April 12 to finalize their work for the 2012 Session and consider any vetoes. The headlines for the last full week of the session include passage of the State Budget and Senate Bill 3, the anti-meth lab legislation.

We asked last week whether the last full week of the 2012 session would end with compromise or political meltdown of the sort that would keep key legislation from passage. The answer, as it turns out, was some compromise and a moderate meltdown that kept some key legislation from passage, at least before the session’s 60th day. The General Assembly did pass the executive branch budget, House Bill 265, on the 59th day of the session. This occurred after an 11th hour agreement between House and Senate conferees in the wee hours of the morning on March 26. Legislative leadership did not, however, make a similar breakthrough on House Bill 267, the state road plan. Conferees will meet over the veto recess to try to come to an agreement on the road plan.

Similarly, the General Assembly, which dealt with several major bills to combat rampant problems of abuse of legal and illegal drugs, passed some of this legislation while failing to reach a consensus on other legislation.

Read more...

At the last Board meeting a new government affairs structure was approved for KAM.  The new structure includes jurisdictional committees with members serving on those committees in which they have an interest.  The jurisdictional committees will be staffed by members of KAM’s GA team.  Each committee’s chair would serve on a Policy Committee that will provide oversight and direction.  As we begin to roll out the initiative, we want to provide a status update and solicit your participation.

Read more...

All of Kentucky’s manufacturing community receives the benefits of KAM’s ongoing advocacy efforts to protect and create a manufacturing-friendly environment in the Commonwealth whether they are currently KAM members or not. KAM strives every day to advocate for the development of public policies that effectively remove the economic uncertainty from the following focus areas and thereby create an environment for business growth and prosperity in the Commonwealth:

• Healthcare reform that increases costs, reduces quality and delays delivery of services;
• Energy policies which drive-up costs, create tax increases and cause the loss of jobs at a time when we need them most;
• Taxes & fees that are unfair, out of balance and counter-productive;
• Unreasonable government regulations which hinder business growth;
• Inefficient government that wastes our precious human and financial resources;
• Ineffective trade policies which reduces business opportunities; and
• Lack of a highly skilled workforce to produce globally competitive products.

KAM - Delivering YOUR Message in Frankfort and Washington D.C.

Repeatedly, when I talk to KAM members all around the state about their KAM membership and what is the most important benefit we provide, Advocacy is at the top of the list. It has become clear to me that our members also have a very good understanding of how their operations are impacted by government. In response to that, KAM has tried to allocate its resources to make advocacy a top priority.

Read more...

The Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is known for being an “aggressive, member-driven” organization that advocates tirelessly for the Commonwealth’s largest industry.  Our members have told us in no uncertain terms they want us to help them lower costs and find more qualified workers. KAM has long been an advocate for and will continue to advocate for these priorities.

Read more...