Following a vote by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in favor of banning all employer noncompete agreements nationwide on April 23, 2024, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced the organization will file suit against the FTC. A noncompete agreement, where one party promises not to engage in conduct that would increase competition for the other party for a specific period of time, can be used to protect intellectual property, business investments, and trade secrets, among other areas of a business. The ban is set to take effect 120 days after the ruling, requiring employers to not begin new ..read more

At the Inaugural Kentucky Young Professionals Summit on Tuesday, sponsored by Deloitte, the Kentucky Chamber announced Alexandria Abell, Vice President and Commercial Banking Relationship Manager at PNC Bank, as the Chamber’s first-ever Young Professional of the Year. The Kentucky Chamber’s Young Professional of the Year Award was created to recognize leadership, innovation and service in an individual’s career and community. In her role at PNC, Abell provides lending solutions, cash management services, risk management strategies and innovative ideas to serve companies throughout Kentucky. T ..read more

The Kentucky Chamber hosted more than 300 young leaders from across the Commonwealth for the Inaugural Kentucky Young Professionals Summit on Tuesday in Louisville for networking, professional and leadership development, and celebrating the Chamber’s first-ever Young Professional of the Year award recipient. Jacqueline Pitts, senior vice president of communications and marketing for the Kentucky Chamber, shared that the Chamber launched a major plan for our Commonwealth’s future called “Kentucky’s Winning Strategy,” a unifying plan to make Kentucky the best state in the nation to live, work ..read more

The Kentucky Chamber Political Action Committee (PAC) has announced endorsements of several legislative candidates involved in the primary elections on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Candidates selected by the Kentucky Chamber PAC for endorsement have demonstrated their dedication to making Kentucky more competitive, which will lead to job growth, economic development, and a higher quality of life for the citizens of their districts and the Commonwealth. Endorsements are based on the candidate’s understanding of business issues, past voting records, and answers to the Kentucky Chamber PAC’s 2024 legi ..read more

Lawmakers passed a few final bills, took up confirmations and made small changes to the state budget on the last day of the 2024 legislative session Monday. The Senate confirmed the state’s new education commissioner, Dr. Robbie Fletcher, with a 36-1 vote. Fletcher appeared in front of the Senate Education Committee Friday to answer questions from legislators and lay out his vision for the future of education in the Commonwealth. Specially called committee meetings Monday morning saw small clean up changes to the budget in an amended version of Senate Bill 91 and changes to the revenue measur ..read more

The General Assembly convened on Friday for day 59 of the 60-day legislative session. This comes following the veto period over the recent weeks where the Governor issued several vetoes of legislation passed by the House and Senate. On Friday, the lawmakers took action to override many of those decisions. House Bill 1 A compromise version of legislation with $2.7 billion worth of one-time investments was line-item vetoed by the Governor. The bill contains a $450 million investment in infrastructure, funding for many local projects, investments in higher education, money to assist in economic ..read more

The following is an op-ed piece authored by Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Ashli Watts I love politics. I always have. I remember growing up in the 90’s watching presidential debates between Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot, and was a college freshman during the Bush/Gore election and learning all about “hanging chads.” This part of history was so formative for me that I received not only a bachelor’s degree, but a master’s degree, in political science. Being a student of politics, I learned to appreciate civil discourse, differing views of arguments and spirited, passionate debat ..read more

Lawmakers passed a negotiated revenue measure the final night before the start of the veto recess in Kentucky’s 2024 legislative session. The legislation – House Bill 8 – contained several provisions that impact state business taxes. Passing a revenue measure is routine in Kentucky’s legislative sessions, though the past several years have seen major reform packages passed, including landmark legislation to phaseout the state’s individual income tax. The 2024 revenue measure included more modest and mostly technical changes to the state’s tax code. However, there are several measures relevant ..read more

The House and Senate are making major one-time investments in a bill passed late Thursday, the final day before the veto period. House Bill 1 saw spending of $1.8 billion in its original version and then $3.5 billion in the Senate’s version. The legislation has since been in a Free Conference Committee and the compromise with a final spend of $2.7 billion was unveiled and passed Thursday. The compromise maintains a large investment in infrastructure with a total of $450 million going to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to support the State Supported Construction Program and select construc ..read more

UPDATED: The school safety bill passed in 2019 had a goal of adding more school resource officers (SRO) and mental health professionals in schools, requires active shooter training for certain school employees, and requires that districts appoint a school safety coordinator. Kentucky state Senator Max Wise noted the 2019 bill was landmark legislation that many other states have adopted and made law to protect children as well. But Kentucky is still experiencing gaps especially when it comes to ensuring each school does have a school resource officer on campus. Building on the 2019 legisl ..read more