Many Republican lawmakers point to the economy and inflation as prime reasons for GOP victories in November's election.

The vice chair of the Senate budget Committee in Frankfort says cushioning the wallets of Kentuckians is top of mind for Republican legislative leadership.

And one way to get there is another slash in the state income tax to three and a half percent.

That and improving the state's workforce participation rate will be top priorities.

We continue our look inside Kentucky politics as Renee Shell talks again with state Senator Amanda Maes Bledsoe, a Lexington Republican who says getting more Kentuckians on the job can start with looking at certifications.

One of the things we can do is remove some of the barriers for certifications.

You know, when you're coming from a different part of the different state and you come in, you've already got a certification.

Do you need to go through hours to do that or can you get to work immediately?

If you're here legally as a as an immigrant and you have already gone through perhaps dental school or medical school abroad and have those certifications maybe practiced in Indiana for a while before you come here, do you really have to go through that process again?

So reciprocity and.

Some a little bit of that and a little bit of kind of acknowledgment of what training has already happened, maybe in different places of our country or being around the world and getting them to work more quickly.

So I think barrier reduction, you think about reentry from those leaving incarceration, how do we help them get more quickly into the workforce?

Those are issues I think we've been talking about and not only in the Workforce Task Force, but in the Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity as well.

Right.

A guy which I know is probably your favorite topic, you are on the national stage when it comes to this issue.

Artificial intelligence.

What have you learned that you think should kind of present some guardrails about where to start the conversation?

Maybe.

Perhaps legislation isn't passed in a short but short session.

But going forward, where do you think the starting point is in Kentucky?

You know, it has been such an honor and privilege to work on.

AI is not a topic that if you asked me even a year and a half ago, would I have really understood?

And I still don't you know, as someone said, we're all emergent experts in this field.

So the first thing I think we need to do is be cautious and be and be proactive.

So I think you'll see a very limited scope of legislation come out this spring, which will include probably a framework for how we as a state government think about who should be using AI, who should be making the decisions about what is appropriate, where it's not.

And putting together some definitions of what we talk about.

What are we really saying?

Because it can have a wide variety of influences and opportunities and tools and it is just a tool.

And so that tool is going to change as we move forward.

This is more about Canada, the philosophical approach to how we think about AI and I think about elections, election security, Deepfake is an important piece of that.

I also think about your own name, image, likeness, you know, how do I know that my myself, not just the movie star or the singer has a right to their own, their own image, body, likeness, and that's all new, a new kind of territory for us.

So we've been working very closely with the attorney general, and so we've got to be thoughtful about it.

We know a lot of this needs to be done at the federal level, especially in the private sector.

You can't possibly have each state look at AI as all it is and do that well.

And so I'll be looking to the federal government, hopefully to see them do some legislation soon.

Senator Mays Bledsoe also expects state lawmakers to discuss ways to improve low performing schools and public assistance benefits.