- 5/23/2025
On Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) held an administrative updates briefing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Andy and welcome to this week's team Kentucky
00:04update. We're coming a little bit later today than we normally do because I was
00:08attending the Kentucky State Police fallen trooper memorial. We are
00:13thinking about and praying for those families of the 36 fallen troopers,
00:20troopers, officers or highwaymen and women that we've lost in the history of
00:26the Kentucky State Police. Normally, we start talking about the economy today.
00:32We're going to start talking about updates for recovery from the tornadoes
00:37and severe weather that hit us this last weekend and then a brief update on
00:42the april and february flooding so that everyone has the information that they
00:47need.
00:48This week, I requested that eight counties receive fema individual
00:54assistance from the most recent tornadoes that came through this
00:57weekend as well as 22 counties to receive public assistance. The names of
01:03those counties are on the slides. Remember, this is our initial
01:09application to fema, Homeland Security and the president. And the way we've
01:13always done it is to take the counties that we believe we have the most
01:17evidence for that. It should be a really easy and clear decision to get
01:22the yes to get fema on the ground and then to ask for additional counties.
01:27FEMA cannot come in and help individual families until the president signs off
01:33on individual assistance for those eight counties or any further counties
01:39that will apply for.
01:41We are working as hard and as fast as we can to get approval. I spoke with
01:46Homeland Security Secretary Christy gnome on saturday morning. I spoke to
01:51President Donald trump on saturday afternoon. I've spoken to the FEMA
01:57director. We are calling the White House each and every day. Kentucky
02:02senators and congressmen are also supporting the state's request for
02:06federal assistance. They're also contacting the White House. The death
02:12toll from this latest disaster continues to stand at 19. We're
02:17reaching out to help those families with funerals through the storm relief
02:22fund. We still have at least eight people in the hospital. Three are still
02:28in critical condition. One is in serious condition and happy to report
02:32four of those are now in good condition. When we look at sheltering, our
02:37numbers aren't going to include the so many people that are staying with
02:41relatives or have checked themselves into a hotel or found other places to
02:46stay. But we know we've had at least 14 individuals in the Red Cross shelter,
02:5140 in Airbnb. Thank you to Airbnb for donating a number of nights to help our
02:57people just like you did in april. We have 65 households from Praxel, which
03:02is a group that is helping with sheltering. Uh we and then many more
03:07households are with volunteer organizations or self paying. Uh
03:12today's big news and hopeful news is our travel trailer program is now being
03:17activated. We have an agreement with Louisiana for 90 travel trailers that
03:22are going to head this way. We're purchasing more. We're gonna have a
03:25total of at least 100 travel trailers to help out people impacted, especially
03:30in the London and Laurel County area. Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park has
03:36begun receiving these travel trailers. That's where we're sending them. The
03:40first five units are on site and being installed and additional units are on
03:45the way. Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park has really good infrastructure. Uh
03:51in every other natural disaster that we've had to respond to, we've had to
03:55come in and upgrade the infrastructure with the exception of now the second
03:59group that's at a park in eastern Kentucky that we had previously
04:04upgraded it for. But Levi Jackson Park has the water, the power, everything we
04:11need. So we're able to bring these travel trailers in, hook them
04:14immediately up and that's going to mean that this program runs significantly
04:19faster than in the past. Uh emergency debris removal has begun in the
04:24affected areas. Temporary staging locations and debris management sites
04:28are being identified and approved by the local government and by FEMA. Uh
04:34we've got power mostly restored to the entire commonwealth, just 1,201
04:40households or meters without power. That's not abnormal on a regular day.
04:45Given different things that could be going on throughout the commonwealth,
04:48we're down to just 50 water, 50 m without drinking water. Then only 200
04:54households are under a boiled water advisory. Again, these are somewhat
04:58normal numbers for for utility operations in Kentucky on any given
05:02day. The transportation cabinet continues to respond across the state
05:07where more than 200 state highway crews are in the London and Somerset area
05:12alone. They've been working long days since this weekend, clearing roads of
05:17downed trees and debris and making repairs. They're also dealing with the
05:22previous flood damage from across the state. Currently statewide, we have 18
05:28road closures. That's a mix between the two natural disasters. The good news
05:32is U. S. 27 at Somerset reopened Wednesday afternoon and that took a
05:37significant cleanup effort and emergency repairs. Uh however, highway
05:43and power crews do remain at work there and all over the commonwealth,
05:47including the parkers mill road intersection that remains blocked
05:51where they're restoring traffic signals. Remember, it takes a lot to
05:55get our roads back open. Those are Kentucky ins that leave their family in
05:59the morning so that they can make the road safe for you. Slow down when
06:03you're anywhere close to any of our road crews or the county or the city
06:07road crews. As we're going to talk about in a minute, we're doing a lot
06:11better at reducing highway and road fatalities. But there is more that we
06:15can do. If you must travel, please use caution, watch for debris and never
06:20move barricades. Whether that's from a flooding natural disaster, whether that
06:25is from a tornado natural disaster or whether it's from no natural disaster
06:30at all, you can't move the barricades and drive around them. They are there
06:34for your safety. In more good news, we were able to remove some of the
06:39barricades on U. S. 4 31 at Tunnel Hill in Muhlenberg County, which has been
06:44closed since April. Slide repairs were completed this week and the road has
06:48reopened. Crews will keep at it, reducing our closure list. But again,
06:53if you're traveling in areas where you know there have been closures, visit go
06:57k y dot k y dot gov. I was with the Kentucky State Police earlier today,
07:03honoring their work and honoring those that we've lost in service to the
07:07Commonwealth. But I want to thank them and the National Guard. They are
07:11continuing to provide 24 hour security patrols in the storm affected areas to
07:16prevent looting. Only residents and authorized personnel are allowed in the
07:21hardest hit areas. There have been two reports of suspicious persons in the
07:26storm perimeter. Troopers investigated both incidents and made arrests on
07:31non related active warrants. One theft complaint has been received and is
07:36under investigation. K. S. P. Post 11 is aware of a new story about a stolen
07:42storms of K. S. P. Post 11 is aware of a new story about stolen storm supplies.
07:49Upon learning of it, a K. S. P. Detective contacted the victim and told
07:53was told that the only items taken were a few cleaning products left outside
07:57in a tote. The detective offered to investigate, but the individual declined.
08:02Currently, K. S. P. Post 11 has no reports of missing persons, and that's
08:06really good news. But if you think that there is a missing person, you can
08:10contact Post 11 at 606-878-6622. Importantly, the shoulder on I 75 at the
08:2036 mile marker that's right on the other side of one of the devastated
08:24neighborhoods is still closed because motorists were pulling over, um, trying
08:29to look at the devastation, and it was causing backups on the interstate.
08:34Kentucky State parks are sheltering 31 people from this natural disaster.
08:39They're Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. They're in 10 rooms. Thank you to
08:43our parks system. If you would like to help these families, you could make a
08:48monetary donation to the team Kentucky Storm Relief Fund. It remains open, and
08:53it's the fun that's paying for each and every funeral of each of these
08:57federally declared natural disasters. Because the first thing we're gonna do
09:01is grieve together. We don't want any family suffering more any family
09:06waiting on reimbursement from the federal government. This is the very
09:09least that we can do. You can donate at Team K. Y. Storm Relief Fund dot k y
09:17dot gov. So far, the fund, which is really covering the last three
09:21natural disasters, has raised more than $1.3 million from 5735 donors to those
09:30that were part of this most recent natural disaster. Our promise is the
09:34same we've made to each and every family hurt by one of these in the
09:38past. We will rebuild every home and every life. We will keep showing up
09:43over and over. We'll walk this road of recovery together.
09:48All right. I have a few updates on the other severe weather events that we've
09:52experienced for the April. Now, let me start on this. If you were just
09:58impacted this last weekend by the tornadoes, the White House hasn't yet
10:03approved FEMA assistance. So if you go online and apply for assistance from
10:08FEMA, you're gonna get denied. Not because you weren't hurt, not because
10:12you might not be eligible in the future, but because it hasn't been turned on
10:17that that process because the president hasn't yet said yes to individual
10:24assistance. Now they've only had the application a couple of days, so I'm
10:29not I'm not suggesting anything there. Just that if you were impacted by this
10:34tornado event this weekend, if you apply for FEMA assistance, you're going to
10:38get denied. Wait until it opens up. If it opens up again, wait for the
10:45president signing off on it and then apply at that time. In the meantime, do
10:50all the work that would be required for the application. Get as many photos as
10:54you can. Get as specific of details of your loss as you can. If you have
10:59insurance that will cover any of the damage that you got during these
11:03tornadoes, you have to apply for insurance. First, I would go through
11:07that process right now, both to help you out on also to to ensure that when
11:14and if FEMA assistance is available, you've taken the steps you need to for
11:19that application process to go as quickly as possible. Now, if we back up
11:24to April in the April storm, we've received individual assistance. I
11:30don't believe in individual assistance for the April disaster. Your deadline
11:35is June 25th to apply for FEMA aid. So far, we're seeing dollars flowing from
11:43the April event. 1715 individuals are households have been approved for more
11:49than $14.4 million that have been dispersed. And remember, we've still
11:53got all the way until June 25th for those applications for other needs
11:59assistance. That's a different type of assistance for the April storms. We've
12:03seen 1712 households approved for more than $6 million. Yesterday, we also
12:10announced we're expanding eligibility for disaster unemployment assistance to
12:15include individuals in the 24 additional counties who are out of work
12:20as a result of the severe storms. Again, those began April 2nd 2025
12:25affected individuals can visit KCC dot k y dot gov. The deadline is June 23rd.
12:33All right, we've talked about this last weekend storms. We've talked about the
12:38April natural disaster. We also had one in February. So for the February event
12:44this week, we announced that Kentucky's request for a 30 day extension for
12:49disaster unemployment assistance for those affected by the February storms
12:53was approved. We had to ask for that because we got hit by another natural
12:56disaster in the period of time that people would be applying. So the
13:00deadline for the February weather event, if you are impacted, is May the 27 also
13:07for the February event. After Friday, May 23rd, the folks would no longer be
13:13able to apply for for other FEMA assistance as that is the deadline. So
13:18for February, individual assistance has now been approved for 6926
13:24individuals or households and more than $44.1 million has been dispersed. Um,
13:31that will look a little bit different, likely than the tornadoes because
13:34private insurance is less likely to cover flooding events is more likely to
13:39cover tornado events. So you can't compare them directly. So for the
13:44February event, other needs aid has been approved for a little over 6800
13:49households and more than $17.6 million has been dispersed. Please note for the
13:56February event, the D. R. C. The disaster recovery center in Leslie
14:00County will be closing on Friday. Other centers in the region. I think we may
14:04have a slide for the D. R. C. S. Will remain open for regional support and to
14:09handle appeals. You can go into any of these regardless of where you live and
14:15they can help you out. So if you if you're in Jessamine County, but you
14:19work in Franklin County, you can go into the Franklin County D. R. C. To
14:23receive help. As of today, those affected by the April or February
14:27events can go to any of these disaster recovery centers. There are 24
14:34currently in operation, which is just another example of how hard we've been
14:40hit. Folks affected by the April and February disasters can also visit
14:44disaster assistance dot gov to find your county, the established
14:48declaration and any other information that you need. Once again, FEMA is not
14:54authorized to provide help through these channels for victims of this last
15:01weekend tornado until and unless the president signs off on our application
15:06for individual assistance. We also received word late yesterday that the
15:11January ice storm. Remember, that was the ice sandwich. We thought we'd seen
15:16it all. And then we got lots of snow, lots of ice and lots of snow, and it
15:21caused some pretty massive damage. Our federal request for public assistance
15:26has been denied. We believe that we meet all of the statutory thresholds
15:31for it will be appealing that denial. If it ultimately ends in a denial, it
15:36will be tens of millions of dollars of additional expense for the Commonwealth
15:41that otherwise FEMA would be covering.
15:45If you remember, that storm, um, had things like the Lion Count County sewer
15:50tank collapse. Um, it also really hit Union Henderson across Shelby Spencer
15:57and through Johnson County in the east.
16:03All right, from news of recovery, um, and from natural disasters to news of
16:10recovery for our people who have suffered from addiction. Um, just two
16:14weeks ago, we celebrated because it was amazing news, a 30.2% decrease in
16:22overdose deaths last year as compared to the year before. We know we still
16:27have a lot of work to do, but these are so many Kentuckians that are still with
16:33us that in previous years we would have lost. It should be a testament to the
16:37efforts that people have been making for over a decade to fight an epidemic
16:42that used to look insurmountable. But I hope this gives us hope that we can
16:46end it in our lifetime because it arose in our lifetime. We're committed to
16:51making sure that the number of overdose deaths continues to decline, and we're
16:55committed to making sure that every single community has the tools that
16:59they need to provide the very best for their people. That's why we're working
17:04to certify all 120 counties in Kentucky as recovery ready communities. Before
17:09today, we had 21 certified, serving 1.4 million Kentuckians. Today we had
17:15another four counties to that list, ensuring that an additional 71,000
17:19Kentuckians can get the help that they need. I'm proud to announce that Bell,
17:24LaRue, Marion and Washington counties have now been certified as recovery
17:30ready communities. These communities have put in the hard work. They're
17:34making their communities safer and ending generational cycles of crime and
17:39addiction. Bell County has been designated as recovery ready due to
17:43strong community coalitions such as Unite Bell County and quality treatment
17:48providers. The Cumberland River Recovery Hope Opportunity and Resiliency Center
17:52for Women boasts over 100 inpatient treatment beds for women and 52
17:57affordable family living units. These units allow mothers to be reunited with
18:02their Children upon completion of treatment and transition into recovery.
18:06LaRue County is partnering with the Kentucky Chamber to host fair chance
18:10employment events and ensuring access to recovery housing in neighboring
18:15Hardin County. The Lincoln Trail District Health Department operates a
18:18highly effective harm reduction outreach program, and the Hodgenville
18:23Police Department operates one of the longest running police social worker
18:27programs outside of northern Kentucky. Marion and Washington County submitted
18:32a joint application, and they've been certified. They are home to two of the
18:36largest addiction treatment providers, Isaiah House and Addiction Recovery
18:40Cares Crown Recovery Center. Together, these counties combined the resources
18:44to reopen the Lebanon Marion County Career Center to provide residents with
18:49local access to education and employment support services. With us
18:53today is Marion County Judge David Daugherty. Would you please join us to
18:57accept your official certificate and then say a few words?
19:03Congratulations.
19:05Appreciate it.
19:06Right here.
19:10All right. Podium is yours.
19:14All right. Thank you, Governor and your administration for certifying Marion
19:17County as a recovery ready community. I also want to thank the application team
19:22for their hard work. Jessica Pickett and Jennifer Osborne, representing the
19:26Marion County Heartland ASAP Coalition and the Lincoln Trail Health Department,
19:31guided our application and coordinated with various community service
19:35providers that support our recovery ready community designation. I would
19:39like to recognize Brandon Wilson, who is here with us today. Brandon serves as
19:44our community support specialist, a role established to enhance community
19:47support by supplementing existing programs and services with additional
19:52resources. His work covers all three categories of recovery ready community
19:58prevention, treatment and recovery support. This this position is funded
20:03through the opioid settlement provided by the city of Lebanon and the Marion
20:07County Fiscal Court. We understand that securing a good job is essential for
20:12those returning from addiction treatment programs or individuals
20:16reentering society after involvement with justice with the justice system.
20:20This is why we fought hard to keep our career center open in Marion County.
20:24The Lebanon Marion County Career Center serves as one stop shop where people
20:29can connect with resource partners to assist them in their job search, obtain
20:34educational or vocational training and much more. They also help guide
20:39individuals facing addiction issues and seeking the necessary support. The
20:44Lincoln Trail Health Department has been vital in providing services to our
20:48community. Marion County supports public health initiatives, including
20:52the introduction of harm reduction services such as the syringe service
20:57program. Lincoln Trail has also installed and monitored five Narcan
21:01boxes throughout the county with plans to add more this year. For several years,
21:06the Marion County Detention Center has been a leader in addressing the
21:09substance use disorder epidemic. Jailer Barry Brady and his staff offer a
21:15variety of programs for inmates, including SAP and soar. Recently, they
21:20launched the Reach Reentering America Communities with Hope program. This
21:25program aims to help local inmates connect with resource providers, build
21:30relationships and share information before their release. The Marion County
21:34Heartland Coalition and Family Resource Center and Youth Service Centers are
21:39implementing several initiatives to enhance youth prevention programs.
21:44Starting this fall, a program from high school aged youth will be offered at
21:48our new event center in Sportsplex. On scheduled Friday nights, this safe drug
21:53and alcohol free space will provide an environmental environment for teens to
21:58socialize and spend time with friends. We are proud of our progress and this
22:03certification represents an achievement and a commitment to our residents that
22:08we are dedicated to preventing substance misuse, supporting individuals
22:12in recovery and creating a meaningful employment opportunities that help our
22:16families and communities thrive. Thank you all.
22:23Good to see.
22:27Thank you to the judge. And you could hear from his comments. All the
22:30different folks that are working to better protect our people from law
22:35enforcement to those in treatment to those in recovery to second chance
22:39opportunities. Truly a holistic approach that his county is taking and
22:45that the commonwealth is has really been pushing. And because of that,
22:49we've got more people alive with us today than were in the past. So thank
22:54you again, um, judge. And if your county has not yet applied and you're
22:59watching, please do so. You can learn more at R. R. C. K. Y. Dot org. We got
23:05to keep pushing until our number of drug overdose deaths is zero.
23:10Mhm. Next, we have some other good news regarding team Kentucky's mission to
23:15improve safety on our roadways and save lives. As I mentioned, back in January,
23:20we've seen a positive trend in losing fewer and fewer people to fatal highway
23:25crashes. I think we have a graph
23:28earlier this month. We announced that we have the final numbers from 2024. And
23:33the good news is we saw the lowest numbers of lives lost to crashes that
23:38we've seen in 10 years. That means fewer families have had to deal with a
23:43painful loss. While that is a great sign, we know that each person lost on
23:48our roadways is a tragedy because each is a child of God taken far too soon.
23:53In 2024 707 Kentucky INS were lost to crashes on Kentucky highways, and
23:59nearly 2800 injuries were reported. Our focus on safety also appears to
24:06already be working this year. In 2025, we've already seen 47 fewer fatalities
24:13than we did at this time last year, which hopefully means that trend will
24:18continue in our new Kentucky home. We want to ensure all of our families are
24:22safe when they commute to work, school, the grocery store or church, and we
24:26want to get that fatality number to zero. So let's keep doing all the work
24:30we can to prevent tragedies like buckling up, putting the phone down,
24:36driving sober and following the speed limit. All right. And finally, our team
24:41Kentucky all stars have to be all those that responded to this latest weather
24:47event. Um, the stories, whether it's from London police to Laurel County
24:52Sheriff's Office, the Kentucky State Police, the number of people inside
24:57those two neighborhoods as well that ran out into danger to pull their
25:03neighbors, pull people from these homes. Some really incredible, heroic
25:09work done by so many Kentucky INS and being there later that day, you could
25:14see the trauma that they lived through as we rightfully worry about the trauma
25:21of the families that have lost someone. Let's also remember that these brave
25:25first responders have seen things that our minds and our bodies aren't meant
25:29to comprehend. And let's make sure that every resource is there for them. And
25:35let's also make sure that they see our gratitude. So I want to specifically
25:39thank Kentucky Emergency Management, the Kentucky National Guard, the
25:43Kentucky State Police, Fish and Wildlife, the Kentucky Coroner's
25:46Association and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. That's just
25:49from the state end. But you look at each sheriff's office, city police,
25:53all the fire departments that were out the city and county road crews. You
25:58had a whole lot of people that were and still are helping their fellow human
26:03being. I also want to make sure we thank everybody that has come into
26:07Kentucky yet again to help us out. Those that are feeding our people,
26:11those that are providing help, any of the non profits that are that are in
26:15these communities helping our people. You are a team Kentucky all stars. We
26:20truly see God in the response to each and every one of these natural
26:25disasters. And every time I see someone standing at what used to be their home
26:30and they're all saying the same thing. Where do I start?
26:3310 Kentucky ins or 10 folks that have come in to help us in Kentucky show up
26:37and say, why don't you start with us? It's a pretty special thing. I think
26:41about us as Kentuckians, but it also shows the true humanity of people in
26:46general. All right. With that, we will open it up to questions. We have three
26:51journalists in studio and four on the line. We'll start with Karen from W. K.
26:56Y.
27:08Well, the Department of Justice uh canceled or or or step back from a
27:14consent decree that they were going to enter into with the city of Louisville.
27:18What I saw is the city of Louisville then stepped up um and and put a system
27:23in place that has most all of the provisions of the consent decree and
27:28will even have outside groups that that monitor it. I think that that a lot of
27:32credit should go to the city and to the chief of L. M. P. D. Because they are
27:36doing this voluntarily putting these things in place because they want
27:41everybody in the community to be safe and everybody to feel safe. And they
27:45want to make sure that they have a police force that every single
27:48community in that city can believe is serving them. Uh, Austin from Spectrum
27:54News.
27:57Early in this morning, the house has Donald Trump's so called a beautiful
28:03bill. Republicans out the 15% tax cut for working class Kentucky families
28:09doubling the child tax credit. There's a lot of concern with staff benefits
28:12and Medicaid. That's what is your reaction to that bill? Yeah, the so
28:16called big, beautiful bill is going to lead to more Kentucky ins not being
28:22able to see a doctor, not having health care coverage, less revenue to support
28:26our rural hospitals and health systems. And it's gonna leave more of our kids
28:32and seniors going hungry. Now, my faith tells me that we should make sure that
28:37in the very least, everybody has enough to eat. The miracle, the fishes
28:41and the loaves is one of the only miracles in every book of the gospel.
28:44And I'd like to think we ought to be following it. You look at the estimates
28:48from the C. B. O. Which is there to provide Congress with official
28:53estimates. And it's somewhere between 7.5 million Americans. And depending on
28:59how far out you go, 13 million Americans that will lose their health
29:02care coverage. We're a state of 4.4 million people. That is more people
29:07losing their ability to go see a doctor than live in the entire Commonwealth of
29:12Kentucky. It's wrong. It's cruel, and it's going to to put, um, any of the
29:20policies that they want to pass is going to be born, um, by those that
29:25will lose their health care coverage and food assistance.
29:29Uh, Carolina from W. L. E. X.
29:34More about your conversation that you're having with the Homeland Security
29:37Secretary, specifically President Donald Trump. What have you been hearing from
29:42them? The secretary called me the morning. I want to say 89 A. M. After
29:48the tornado could come through, um, said she was hurting for the people of
29:53Kentucky and that they wanted to be there as a resource to help President
29:58Trump called right after I finished the press update after visiting the
30:05communities that had been hit on on the same day, uh, said he cared about the
30:10people of Kentucky, asked how bad it was where we were on the death toll,
30:15asked for some other specifics but said he wanted to send his FEMA 18 here. I
30:20told him, in fact, that the FEMA team that he had on the ground for the other
30:23two natural disasters was operating very well. I hope that's a sign that
30:29that they will sign off on the application for individual and public
30:34assistance because we certainly need their help. And I'll say, I'll say this.
30:39I disagree with this president on a lot of things, but the FEMA operation on
30:44the ground under his administration has been good. In fact, it's been really
30:49good. So my hope is that he will sign off on these applications so we can
30:54move some of these same people who have done a really good job for some of the
30:57natural disasters where the where the deadlines are coming over to this area
31:02because we've seen their performance and they've helped our people. I think
31:06to have credibility in this role, no matter who's president, if they do
31:10something that helps your people, they ought to get credit for it. And if they
31:13do something that harms your people, then you ought to stand up and speak
31:16out about it. But but the conversations have been good, um, and and very
31:21positive. Um,
31:23both conversations were only about the people of Kentucky on how we've been
31:28hurt on how hopefully the federal government could help.
31:31All right, we got Tom from Kentucky today on the line.
31:36Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon to you. Um, in your letter to the
31:41president on the latest, um,
31:44yeah, weather issues. You had mentioned in there that there was like $56
31:49million estimated cost of debris removal. Do you have any other figures
31:54on those other categories, uh, that appear in that letter yet?
32:00Uh, we we don't yet. When we look at the different costs that that will be
32:05facing first, there's all the costs that could be reimbursed, at least in
32:09part of the emergency response. So when this happens, we search every
32:14resource in, especially for the rescue operation. And so when FEMA provides
32:22public assistance, you can reimburse some of those costs because, for
32:25instance, we've got, I think, Harrodsburg Police Department sent
32:29some extra police officers down to Somerset. And so when you get public
32:35assistance, it helps to compensate for some of those extra and additional
32:40costs. Then we'll have the cost of public damage. If you think about, um,
32:48the the vehicles owned by the police, the sheriff's office, E. M. S. Fire.
32:55Any of those that have been damaged the potentially the depending on who owns
32:59it, the helicopter, the rescue helicopter that's out at the airport,
33:03the damage at the airport itself. You know, those are all potentially things
33:08that would qualify. Then we have our travel trailer program and and not just
33:12that, but the dollars to house people in the in the first couple days and
33:17weeks, the dollars it takes to house people at our state parks and then
33:21ultimately that travel trailer program where we provide additional support.
33:25Other things that we do if FEMA comes in is we do case management. We make
33:31sure that we know these families and we see all the different challenges
33:34they're facing and we try to address them. So, you know, this will easily be
33:38100 plus million dollar, if not significantly north of that, which I
33:43think it will be natural disaster. And that comes on the top of all the
33:48others. And that's why again, I hope in the next legislative session, we won't
33:53have these artificial limits put on the on the state that we've been able to
33:58thankfully get public assistance fast enough in some other instances to not
34:03run over the caps that we have on responding to natural disasters. But
34:09this is three that we that well to that we've been approved for this year, this
34:14third one and the January ice storm that we were just denied that we're
34:18going to appeal. So that's four in just that short period of time. And it's not
34:23right that we get hammered this amount, but it's also not right to say there's
34:27a limit on how much we can help Kentucky ins. With that said, President
34:31Stivers did make a very strong statement on Saturday. I believe it
34:36was that he was going to make sure we had all the funding we needed to
34:39recover. I take him at his word. I believe he's genuine. He was down there
34:43wanting to help. I think this is all of us in it together. I'm just hoping for
34:47a different budget outcome next time so we don't have to have these
34:50conversations. All right, Isaiah from W. H. A. S.
34:58Governor had a question following up on the consent decree conversation. I
35:02know you touched on that a little bit. I mean, the D. O. J. Says that it
35:07essentially handcuffs local police departments, micromanages it from the
35:12federal court. I mean, do you agree with the president's decision to pull
35:17out of these cities?
35:20I haven't seen how a D. O. G. D. O. J. Consent decree works firsthand. What I
35:26can say is, um, the president or D. O. J. Has stepped aside, but the city of
35:34Louisville has stepped up. They could have, um, done nothing at this point.
35:40They're under no federal obligation to make changes, yet they are working on
35:46making nearly if not all of the changes that were in that consent decree. I
35:50think that says something about leadership in Louisville leadership
35:55from the mayor. I think it also says something about this police chief
36:00voluntarily taking that on, knowing that they're going to be challenges but
36:04wanting to meet them.
36:06Liam from the Kentucky Lantern.
36:13Hi, Governor. I wanted to ask again about the reconciliation package that
36:18passed earlier today. I know that you've been supporter, a supporter of large
36:24manufacturing projects have landed in the state, such as Blue Oval S. K. The
36:29battery manufacturing plant in, um, in Shelby County and the reconciliation
36:36package, to my knowledge, would eliminate electric vehicle tax credits
36:40and also phase out, um, clean energy manufacturing tax credits, including tax
36:46credits for, um, the manufacturing of batteries. I was wondering if you had
36:53any thoughts on, um, on the phase out of those tax credits, if or how it
36:58could impact industries in Kentucky, including E. V. S. And and regarding,
37:04um, battery manufacturing or clean energy.
37:08Mm hmm. Now, as you know, I think there's some nuance on that, depending
37:11on when the project has started, if it started versus when they haven't. And
37:16how quickly they can start. But, um, pulling back on these clean energy tax
37:21credits is going to slow the pace of reshoring in the United States. It's
37:27gonna slow the pace of manufacturing. And that's ironic, given that the
37:32president has talked about wanting to increase manufacturing. Well, guess
37:36what? The I. R. A. And the other bills that were out there were effectively
37:41doing that. We were announcing advanced manufacturing after advanced
37:45manufacturing project here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, breaking all
37:49types of records. We were seeing the United States make things that we
37:53haven't made in a long time and make them in an environmentally friendly way.
37:58Uh, this idea of cleaner manufacturing isn't being driven by federal policy.
38:04It's being driven by the market, by consumers demanding it and by
38:08downstream customers in the manufacturing process demanding it.
38:12What it will do is it will slow growth in manufacturing and in these high
38:17tech areas in the United States. Keeping them in place would continue
38:22that boom we've seen, whether it's batteries or chips. But you pick. It's
38:27just about any of these. You look at the metals recyclers that we have now so
38:33many of in Kentucky. We have the cleanest recycled steel plant that I
38:37know of in the United States, if not the world in Brandenburg. We have one
38:41of the cleanest copper recyclers in Shelbyville. These are all areas that,
38:47you know, at least future growth could be impacted. And in the end, that's bad
38:53for the American people. As you see, fewer high wage jobs coming. If we roll
38:59those back, the credits worked, they worked. And whether you like a green
39:03job because it's better for the environment or because it provides a
39:07really good living for people. It was working. I was pushing unemployment
39:11down on. It was really helping families. I hope that that part will be removed
39:17by the Senate. If if not for the original reasons that it was passed for
39:22the fact that it's really good for our economy.
39:26And then finally, we have Zara from Bloomberg News.
39:31Hi. Thanks so much for taking my question. You mentioned earlier in the
39:35briefing how the president had made a major disaster declaration for the
39:39April storm approving individual assistance. But I know the state had
39:43also asked for public assistance and hazard mitigation program grant. So
39:48what's the status of those requests for the April event? Do you have a
39:52timeline on when you'll know? And what does it mean from Kentucky's own
39:56response that you don't yet know if this money is coming or not?
40:01And so if we go through, um, February and April, because I think that's
40:06helpful on on really the three. Um, in February, we got individual assistance
40:11and public assistance, but we got denied for hazard mitigation, which is
40:15what I call the buyout program that has worked really effectively after the
40:202022 flooding to move people from the flood zone to where we're building on
40:25higher ground and make sure people don't go through this time after time
40:29after time. I think it's really effective use of one time dollars that
40:33saves FEMA money in the long run, but also helps our people to be safer. So
40:38for February, we have appealed the denial of hazard mitigation because
40:42it's in some of the same areas, and we believe it can really help. In fact, it
40:46could work into our high ground efforts right now that will be building homes
40:49now that they could qualify for that would be safe. You're correct. In April,
40:54we received the individual assistance for the first several set of counties
40:59we've applied for, and we applied for that. First, we have not received a
41:03decision on public assistance. We don't know of any schedule, but we hope that
41:09it's approved and approved soon because otherwise that is a huge amount of
41:14damage that have happened in our state. That will be very hard for the state to
41:19absorb on its own. And then for this latest one, we're going to be applying
41:24for all three on and we'll see when we when we hear we're calling the White
41:29House every day on all of them, and we're hoping for decisions as soon as
41:34we can get them. Uh, in the in the February storm, we got it pretty
41:39quickly. I think it was just under a week in the April storm. The individual
41:43assistance I want to say took two plus weeks. Um, this one we're hoping for an
41:49update soon, and it's a little bit different when you look at all of them,
41:54just depending on how you're viewing it. This latest one is some property
41:59damage across a lot of Kentucky, but just a massive amount of devastation,
42:04especially to two neighborhoods where you can just look at it and know it's
42:09gonna qualify. All right. That is this week's team Kentucky update. Pray for
42:15these families that have been impacted. If you can donate to the team Kentucky
42:19Storm Relief Fund or any other charity out there that you know is helping
42:23people out. These are our fellow Kentuckians. Let's lift them up and
42:26let's march forward together. Thank you.
Recommended
0:22