"FRANKFORT, KY. - As Kentucky's children return to school after ringing in the New Year, so will Kentucky's business community, as the main focus of their legislative agenda will be on educating Kentucky's future workers.
"Some of our critics said the business community developed a bad case of laryngitis on the issue of education during the last few years, and I think that's true," Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dave Adkisson said. "Business is back. We care about education, it's the future of business, so let's work together and compete. That's our guiding philosophy right now."
Adkisson said a lack of follow through by the business community is to blame for what they perceive to be the recent shortfalls in education. He said after the chamber's active role in higher-ed reform ended successfully in 1997, education fell off business' radar, but for the last year or so it has been back with a bullet.
"Education is a continuing priority of ours," Adkisson said. "Without being able to see the future, I would offer the prediction that it will consistently be the priority of this chamber for years to come, maybe to the tune of 50 percent or more of all that we talk about."
After successfully lobbying for days to be added to the school calendar during the 2006 session of the general assembly, Adkisson and the chamber's Vice President for Public Affairs Mike Ridenour say the legislature is well aware how important it is to build an educated workforce for Kentucky's future.
"There is a very deep awareness among legislators that our economic future and our educational future are inseparable," Adkisson said.
Along the lines of education, this year when the legislators gavel in to start the 30-day odd-year session, Adkisson, Ridenour and others will attempt to coax members to:
Tie teacher pay to student achievement
Add community members, including at least one local business person, to site-based school councils
Allow public universities to bond their own projects instead of relying on the legislature to do so, as is allowed in 43 other states
Help expand the state's workforce and emphasize the high-paying work available with an associate's degree
Beyond education the chamber will also look to:
Allow generic drugs to be given to workers' compensation participants who are currently given only brand names
Make ICARE, the small business health-care initiative passed as a part of the 2006 budget, a permanent part of state statute
Continue the push began during 2006's session to make Kentucky a Right to Work state
Amend the constitution to allow the legislature to pass laws on tort reform instead of forcing any changes in tort caps to be added to the constitution, as has been the battle in recent years with medical malpractice litigation
Take steps toward repealing prevailing wage
Allow a vote on expanded gambling
Expand broadband access into more rural areas of the state as an inability to connect to high-speed Internet inhibits economic expansion into rural areas
While the chamber's wish list is contained in a 15-page document, an association of small businesses in Kentucky, the Small Business Caucus, has a one-page list of seven priorities falling under three categories, worker's compensation, taxes and business development.
Led by the state's NFIB chief Tom Underwood, the caucus is pushing for some similar advances in state law. Both the chamber and the caucus would like to see the state pick up a facet of the LLC tax that was not dealt with during the 2006 special session to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax, the unrelated business income tax.
"The gist of the problem is if you have two LLCs, one makes $100,000 (and) one loses $100,000, under federal law it is a net-zero income tax. Under Kentucky law, you pay net income on the $100,000 and $175 (the minimum tax) for the loss. So where's the incentive to try new things and develop new businesses? We're afraid it's going to be a bit of a wet blanket on entrepreneurship," Underwood said.
While this is something Underwood feels should already be the rule in the commonwealth, he is asking for a four-year implementation of this.
"What we're going for this year is first downs," he said. "We're not going to throw a Hail Mary, we're going to try to get a couple first downs and keep moving the ball down the field for small business."
The caucus would also like to see the implementation of $20 million in economic development tax credits for small businesses to upgrade technology, buy new equipment or add staff.
"We give out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits to big businesses to try to lure them into the state and get them to expand. But we've got 73,000-plus small businesses across the state, and if only 10 percent of them add one employee, it's equivalent to a big manufacturing plant, with a bonus that a small business is local — it isn't leaving," he said.