Senate President Robert Stivers Presented with Kentucky Chamber MVP Award

Last Friday, Senate President Robert Stivers was presented the Chamber MVP Award by Kentucky Chamber Director of Political Affairs Travis Burton and Forcht Group Chairman and CEO Terry Forcht. President Stivers was among a select group of legislators who “went to bat” for Kentucky business during the 2020 Kentucky General Assembly.

Recipients of the 2020 Kentucky Chamber MVP Award showed strong leadership for the business community by sponsoring or carrying Kentucky Chamber priority legislation, showing leadership on passage of critical legislation to improve Kentucky, or by taking hard votes in defense of business.

In addition to displaying strong leadership in Frankfort, Senate President Robert Stivers played a key role in advancing the recovery through employment legislation that will support employers that hire and retain workers who are in addiction recovery. He was also crucial in developing and passing the COVID-19 response bill that made many changes to help businesses responding to the pandemic, including providing liability protections for health care workers and personal protective equipment manufacturers.

In addition to monitoring the progress of bills that create a better business climate and advance the Commonwealth, the Chamber tracks how each legislator votes on these bills. The Chamber’s MVP award recipients displayed more than just a business-friendly voting record, but also went out of their way, and at times across party lines, to support or oppose an issue critical to the business climate in Kentucky.

“I’m excited to be here in Corbin to bring Senate President Robert Stivers the MVP Award from the Kentucky Chamber,” Burton said at the presentation. “This has been a year unlike any other, and that presented a lot of new challenges for our state.”

“When the pandemic was beginning to unfold, and we were starting to realize how serious of a situation we had on our hands, it was Senate President Robert Stivers that stepped up and reached out to business leaders across the state on what we needed to do to help us all get through this. His leadership resulted in the passage of legislation that prepared the state to deal with COVID-19.”

When asked about being honored with this award, Senate President Stivers said, “This has been an interesting year. When we had this pandemic breakout, we didn’t initially know what the extent would be. Businesses were asked to step up and help fight it, though, so we needed to make sure that there were ample tools available to protect these businesses.”

Mr. Forcht was happy to be able to assist with the award presentation, voicing his continued support for Stivers’ efforts, and echoing sentiments about doing what is necessary to help the business community through these trying times.