THE KECK GAME PLAN FOR GROWTH:

Solve Kentucky’s workforce crisis.

• Enact extensive welfare reform that offers sliding-scale benefits to Kentuckians reentering the workforce.
• Invest in soft skills and technical training for inmates reentering the workforce.
• Provide incentives for Kentuckians not pursuing a four-year degree to enroll in community and technical programs.
• Offer childcare incentives to encourage women to reenter the workforce post-COVID.

Fast-forward eliminating the income tax.

We must move away from punitive income taxes to a consumption-based model that is fairer to the taxpayer and will make Kentucky more competitive.

Allow communities to control their own destiny.

Our communities need alternative revenue options and the power to make those decisions.

Reinvest millions of tax incentives into quality-of-life initiatives.

Tourism is Kentucky’s third-largest industry, and yet two counties in Tennessee spend more than our entire state on marketing. We must invest in telling Kentucky’s story and enhancing the incredible amenities it has. It’s time to show the world the immense pride we have in being Kentuckians.

THE KECK GAME PLAN FOR Families:

Provide incentives for paid maternity or paternity leave.

Building pro-family workplaces will go a long way in combatting the workforce crisis. We must ensure working mothers and fathers have the time and resources they need to care for themselves and their families after childbirth. We will work to create tax incentives for businesses that offer paid family leave benefits.

Hold parents accountable for financial obligations.

Personal responsibility plays a critical role in conservative governance, and pro-family policy is no exception. We will fight for more stringent consequences in the judicial system for parents who neglect child support responsibilities.

Ease the tax burden for families with two working parents.

Create a tiered structure that more quickly phases out the income tax as each additional child is added will support two-parent working families.

Eliminate sales tax on important necessities for young families.

In the same way groceries and prescription drugs are exempt from sales tax, so should essential childcare needs like diapers, infant wipes and formula.

Make adoption in Kentucky easier and more affordable.

We will evaluate tax credits to ease the financial burden for families who adopt, and find ways to utilize state resources to provide tools that expedite the adoption process. We will also empower family courts to quickly move foster children toward adoption when it is in the child’s best interest, and look for ways to incentivize Kentucky families to open their doors as foster homes.

THE KECK GAME PLAN FOR Public Safety:

Reduce violent crime.

With violent crime on the rise in the state’s metro cities, we must invest in higher salaries and better equipment to ensure we can retain and recruit law enforcement officers to protect our communities.

Give Kentuckians more hope and opportunity.

By growing our population, celebrating Kentucky’s story, putting more money in Kentuckians’ pockets and bringing more jobs and training to the Commonwealth, we can improve the quality of life of all Kentuckians, helping them feel safe and connected.

Increase investment in school safety initiatives.

Having school resource officers in every Kentucky school is imperative, as is investing in security measures to ensure student safety.

Honor the state’s obligation to the jail system.

The state must fulfill its duty to counties by providing funding and resources to make our jails whole and sustainable. Systemic problems with overcrowding, facilities, staffing and salaries should no longer be delegated to county governments to correct.

Address the mental health provider crisis.

Our state is experiencing a devastating mental health professional shortage. We must create incentives and support educational programs that will recruit providers and drive more interest in the profession, as mental health services are crucial to stopping crime before it starts.

Raise state incentive pay to offset inflation.

A $4,300 annual supplement for Kentucky officers who attend the minimum number of training hours is not enough. We’ll push to raise this amount.

THE KECK GAME PLAN FOR Education:

Invest in public and private programs for pre-K and early literacy.

Research consistently shows investing earlier in a child’s educational journey produces better outcomes and reduces dependency on social programs in the future.

Increase teacher pay, protect pensions and make student teaching a paid internship.

We will make strategic investments in teacher salaries and incentives to attract people to the profession and ensure they remain invested in preparing our young people for the future.

Change the testing culture.

Teachers should be empowered to develop creative solutions for project-based learning instead of being pressured to teach to the standardized test. This will help students identify career pathways sooner and aid Kentucky’s workforce crisis.

Fund more student support personnel positions.

By increasing the number of student support personnel, we equip our schools with trained experts to handle important behavior and mental health issues for our children while freeing our teachers to focus on classroom instruction.

Promote personal responsibility in the classroom.

We need to spend more time teaching workforce and life skills — like technical trades and financial literacy — to ensure students are equipped for adulthood.