Governor keeps welcoming more businesses to our New Kentucky Home 

FRANKFORT, KY - On Dec. 19, 2024, Gov. Andy Beshear is wrapping up 2024 by celebrating the fourth best year in state history for economic investment with 170 private sector new-location and expansion announcements that total more than $6.9 billion in new investments bringing 9,425 new full-time jobs.

Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has overseen the largest private sector dollar investment secured during the tenure of any governor in the state’s history, at $35 billion, and the total is more than $14 billion greater than the next highest total. He has announced more than 1,150 private sector new-location and expansion projects since the start of his administration and more than 59,800 full-time jobs. Since 2022, the average incentivized hourly wage has topped $26 in three consecutive years for the first time. The Governor has now secured three of the top four years for private sector investment in the commonwealth’s history. 

“We are not looking at the same Kentucky anymore – we’re welcoming new businesses, visitors and families to our New Kentucky Home. Our economy is booming, and our people are living good lives,” Gov. Beshear said. “Next year we’re going to keep focusing on the issues that matter to Kentucky families, like having a good job, safe and reliable infrastructure – like roads and bridges – access to a high-quality education and health care and feeling safe in their communities. We can keep doing good things for our people by setting politics aside, working together and using common sense to find common ground.”

In 2024, Gov. Beshear announced these economic growth achievements:  

• The third-largest jobs announcement of his administration with Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing coming to Shelby County. This company will build an innovative, state-of-the-art industrial battery production facility. This project is creating 1,572 skilled, high-tech jobs and helping Kentucky lead into the industrial electrification space.?This is also the largest project in Shelby County history.
   
• The largest dollar investment of the entire year with Toyota investing another $922 million to build an advanced paint facility at its plant in Georgetown. 
   
• The opening of the largest economic development project in West Louisville in over 20 years. Stellar Snacks, a maker of gourmet pretzel snacks, has made a $137 million investment bringing 350 full-time jobs to West Louisville. In total, the Governor has celebrated 1,000 new jobs in West Louisville in the past seven months. 
   
• The largest jobs announcement in more than two decades in Christian County with Kitchen Food Co. creating 925 full-time jobs with a $69 million investment. 
   
• The opening of a center that will train Kentuckians for new jobs at the BlueOval SK Battery Park, which is creating 5,000 new jobs. The park in Glendale contains the two largest battery plants in the world. 
   
• Kentucky continues to be the EV battery production capital of the United States with $11.7 billion invested and 10,280 full-time jobs announced in EV battery-related economic development projects.  
   
• Announced New Kentucky Home, a strategic initiative to further drive economic investment, attract and retain talent and increase tourism across the commonwealth. 
   
• Approved approximately $75 million in state support to prepare sites for new businesses and job growth. To date these sites have generated over $400 million in total investments.  
   
• Kentucky broke its all-time record for exports, with more than $40 billion in products shipped. 
   
• Site Selection magazine released its 2023 Governor’s Cup rankings, placing Kentucky third nationally in economic projects per capita and first in the South Central region. Kentucky has placed in the top 3 nationally and atop the South Central region in the per capita rankings each year of the administration. 
   
• Announced 2023 marked a new record year for Kentucky tourism, with $13.8 billion generated in economic impact and 95,222 jobs, as tourism remains a key piece of the commonwealth’s booming economy.  
   
• For the second year in a row, Kentucky recorded its best year for growth of its signature bourbon and spirits industry in 2023, with $9 billion in annual impact. More than 23,100 people are employed in the industry, and it boasts an annual payroll of $2.2 billion. 

The most recent positive news occurred last Thursday when the Governor announced nearly $1.2 billion in new investments and more than 1,100 new jobs across the commonwealth. 

This year, Gov. Beshear also secured these milestones:  

• Announced that overdose deaths decreased for the second year in a row, with 2023 marking a nearly 10% decrease compared with the previous year.
   
• Recorded the three lowest recidivism rates in over a decade. The 2023 Crime in Kentucky report published by the Kentucky State Police indicates crime rates have remained stable with a decline in homicide, burglary, robbery, sex offenses and kidnapping. For the last three years, homicide rates have declined.
   
• Launched a new website to provide Kentuckians overcoming addiction or leaving incarceration with resources that can help them find a job, get an education and support their continued recovery.  
   
• Announced that Kentucky leads the nation in the number of residential drug and alcohol treatment beds per capita. 
   
• Announced a historic expansion of law enforcement basic training in Western Kentucky with a new training facility opening in Madisonville.  
   
• Signed an executive order establishing the Governor’s Council of Second Chance Employers, comprised of 15 business and community leaders. 
   
• Only Kentucky Governor to secure upgrades from all three credit rating agencies, which strengthens pensions and helps save taxpayers money when it comes to financing roads, bridges and schools. 
   
• Worked with the General Assembly to secure over $400 million to support water and sewer upgrades, workforce initiatives, housing and public safety and road improvements across at least 74 counties.  
   
• Awarded $300 million in state funding to 18 internet service providers to connect 80,229 homes and businesses to high-speed internet in 65 counties. The largest internet investment announced this year was a $20.4 million project to connect 3,574 homes and business in Henderson and Daviess counites.  
   
• Secured more than $2 billion in federal, state and private funding to connect every home and business in Kentucky to affordable, reliable high-speed internet.  
   
• Announced a $73 million federal loan to propel Kentucky as a national leader in small scale hydroelectric plants using abandoned lock and dam structures on the Kentucky River. 
   
• Secured a $116.3 million grant to speed the completion of the Mountain Parkway Expansion. The funding unlocked a $150 million allocation the Governor and lawmakers approved to build the Magoffin-Floyd segment. Each segment of the parkway is currently completed, under construction or under development.  
   
• Awarded more than $1 billion in transportation construction contracts for the fourth year in a row for 500-plus road and bridge improvement projects, bringing the total of such investments to over $5 billion during the administration.  
   
• Approved nearly $126 million in transportation grants during his administration that have benefited all of Kentucky’s 120 counties.  
   
• Kentucky will receive nearly $70 million in federal funding to add up to 50 new fast-charging stations for electric vehicles along parkways and interstates.  
   
• Signed a bill into law, which among other things, took the important step of moving up the timeline for medical cannabis business licensing from Jan. 1, 2025, to July 2024. Last week, the Governor concluded the process for the medical cannabis business licenses lottery. Team Kentucky remains focused on building this emerging industry the right way. 
   
• Cut the ribbon on the new Norton Healthcare West Louisville Hospital – the first in this community in more than 150 years.  
   
• Cut the ribbon on the UofL Health South Hospital in Bullitt County. The $78 million investment helped fill the gap for quality health care of Kentucky’s 10^th most populous county. The Governor also joined in the final beam placement of UofL’s west tower. The $186 million expansion will bring over 300 news jobs and increase health care access for Louisville and the surrounding region. 
   
• More than 21,500 Kentuckians have now earned their GED after the Governor waived the GED testing fee in 2020.  
   
• Welcomed Dolly Parton to the Bluegrass State to celebrate Kentucky’s statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which now provides all Kentucky children access to one free book per month from birth to age 5. Thanks to local program partners, more than 6 million free books have been delivered to preschool-age children in every ZIP code in Kentucky. Currently, 48% of eligible Kentucky children are signed up. To sign up, visit ImaginationLibrary.com. 

This year the Governor has also continued supporting the recovery and rebuilding efforts in Western Kentucky following the devastating tornadoes in 2021 and in Eastern Kentucky after the severe flooding in 2022.

Progress has been made on the seven high-ground communities that will bring hundreds of new homes to Eastern Kentucky. Infrastructure and roadwork continue at the sites, and new homeowners are moving into homes at two of the high-ground locations. In the two years since the floods, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has also approved about $84 million to acquire hundreds of properties in flood-prone areas in Breathitt, Floyd, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties.

In the west, the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund raised over?$52 million?to pay for funeral expenses, aid survivors and build up to 300 homes in the area. The first homes were complete just six months after the storms, and nonprofit builders have continued building since then.  
 
Thanks to support for the relief fund, over 220 new homes have been built or had significant repairs completed in eight counties. In October, the Governor helped break ground on a new city hall and police station in the city of Mayfield. On Sept. 23, the city of Mayfield broke ground on a new fire station. The projects are supported by West Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies funds. Gov. Beshear marked the three-year anniversary of the tornadoes by remembering the lives lost and by handing over keys to homes built by nonprofit partners, the Hope Initiative and Habitat for Humanity. 

In June, Gov. Beshear, along with the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), announced more than $223 million to build 953 affordable rental units in communities impacted by the 2021 tornadoes. This is the largest housing announcement in the history of Kentucky’s Department for Local Government (DLG) as well as in the history of KHC. The funding will support 11 projects across Christian, Graves, Hopkins and Warren counties. Funding comes from KHC as well as the Disaster Recovery program, administered by the DLG. 

This year, Gov. Beshear also joined the commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, Dr. Steven Stack, state and local officials, and several Kentucky families to mark the fourth anniversary since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in the state, with the Governor declaring it “A Day of Compassion” in the commonwealth.  

The Governor also declared Juneteenth – a day that commemorates African Americans’ many contributions and long struggle for freedom, justice and equality – as a state Executive Branch holiday to give thanks in the commonwealth. The same day, he also signed an executive order that expands protections in state hiring and employment by prohibiting discrimination based on “traits historically associated with race, including but not limited to natural hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locs and twists.”

The Governor remains thankful to all of Kentucky’s first responders and servicemembers who continue to serve the commonwealth and country. This year more than 700 Kentucky National Guard soldiers returned home from oversees missions.  

Over the past year, the Governor has continued to host his regular Team Kentucky Update news conferences to provide crucial information to the media and Kentuckians.  

In his second-term “Forward, Together” inaugural address, delivered Dec. 12, 2023, on the steps of the state Capitol, the Governor pledged to keep working to create a better life and more opportunity for current and future generations of Kentuckians. He committed to push division aside and work with others to make Kentucky both an economic and moral leader in the United States.