Governor Andy Beshear grew up in Fayette, Franklin, and Clark counties and graduated from Henry Clay High School. He is the son of Steve and Jane Beshear, the 61st Governor and first lady.
The Governor's Mansion is pleased to offer this special tour once a month. The tour will be given by a different guest tour guide each month with expertise in the fields of history, fine arts, furniture, and/or architecture. Please contact us for more information and to reserve your spot.
Groups and individuals are requested to contact the Capitol tour desk by calling 502-564-3449 or by emailing capitol.wc@ky.gov to confirm an appointment. Requests may also be made by contacting your member of the State Legislature. Requests should be made as early as possible since a limited number of tours are available. Tours are scheduled on a first come, first served basis. All Governor's Mansion tours are free of charge.
The Governor's Mansion is located on the State Capitol campus directly across from the State Capitol building on Capitol Avenue. Click the following link for directions and a downloadable map.
Parking is available on Capitol Avenue in front of the Governor's Mansion or in the Capitol Annex parking garage. Bus parking may be arranged by contacting the Capitol tour desk.
The Governor's Mansion is ADA equipped with wheelchair access available. Visitors who require the use of the ADA entrance should notify the Capitol tour desk when scheduling the tour. Visitors in wheelchairs or with other mobility disabilities use the specially equipped visitors entrance and are escorted by elevator from the entrance level to the State floor. Wheelchairs are not available for loan at the Governor's Mansion.
Visitors should call the Capitol tour desk at 502-564-3449 to determine if any last minute changes have been made in the tour schedule.
The nearest public restrooms and public telephones are located in the Capitol Building across from the Governor's Mansion. There are no public restrooms or telephones available in the Governor's Mansion during regularly scheduled tours.
Cameras and picture taking are allowed in the Governor's Mansion. However, from time to time various pieces of art are on display that prohibit the use of cameras. Tour guides may ask visitors to refrain from taking pictures at any time.
The Governor's Mansion is monitored by electronic surveillance. Executive Security personnel are also on patrol both inside the Mansion and on the Mansion property at all times. All visitors to the Mansion are subject to search by Executive Security. No one is permitted into restricted areas at any time.
Gov. Beshear is focused on increasing economic opportunity for all Kentucky families, creating good-paying jobs across the Commonwealth, and not just increasing corporate profits. For far too many families, the bills continue to go up while incomes are stagnant.
With every decision he makes, he will build an economy that works for all of us by investing in industries where Kentucky can be an international leader, starting with agriculture technology, and by investing in infrastructure, workforce training, education and more.
Since taking office, Gov. Beshear has kept that promise. In his first 75 days, he announced more than $274 million in planned investments and the addition of 545 full-time jobs in advanced manufacturing, the food and beverage industry and software and IT services. These are not just numbers, they are opportunities for our hard-working families.
Gov. Beshear has announced new jobs in Northern, Eastern, Western and Central Kentucky, with those in Bowling Green offering $31 per hour, health care and a pension, benefits that coincide with his priorities as governor.
Every day, Gov. Beshear fights for economic opportunity for every Kentucky family, one job at a time.
Gov. Beshear has no higher priority than fighting for our students, educators and public schools. From the day he was elected, Gov. Beshear has put education first. He started by announcing that Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, a former public educator and coach, would be Kentucky's Secretary of Education and Workforce Development. In this administration, a teacher is leading teachers.
His first action as governor was to reorganize the state board of education and appoint new members who support public education, including a superintendent of the year, an inductee into the National Teaching Hall of Fame and a former president of the University of Kentucky. The current board is the best qualified in recent memory and each member will prioritize our students and our schools.
In his first month in office, the governor announced the state would waive all testing fees for first-time GED test takers, removing the financial barrier for Kentuckians trying to further their education and better provide for their families. This will help more than 335,000 Kentuckians who lack a GED or a high school diploma take the next step in their education and career, building a brighter future for themselves and their families.
When the governor submitted his "education first" budget proposal, he included a $400 million increase in education spending over the next biennium. That investment would give our teachers a much-deserved $2,000 raise and it allows for a 1% increase in the SEEK formula, increasing per pupil funding at every public school across the Commonwealth. The budget also increases funding for every higher education institution by 1%, eliminates performance-based funding, and designates $200 million in bonds from the Higher Education Resurgence Fund to rebuild aging infrastructure at colleges and universities.
The governor hopes to make every Kentucky family proud by investing in our schools and helping every child in our state grow up to be the best they can be.
Health care is a basic human right and Gov. Beshear believes every Kentucky family deserves to see a doctor and receive treatment when they are sick.
As attorney general and now as governor, Andy Beshear has fought for accessible, affordable health care for all Kentuckians, to protect those with preexisting conditions and to end price gouging and other abuses by pharmaceutical companies.
In his first week in office, Gov. Beshear followed through on his promise to rescind the Medicaid waiver that would have kicked nearly 100,000 Kentuckians off their coverage.
When the state expanded Medicaid, it provided 400,000 more of our fellow Kentuckians access to affordable health care. After the expansion, our neighbors could go see a doctor without fear of bankruptcy. And the expansion ensured that nearly all of Kentucky's children had real access to health care.
Kentucky cannot turn its back on the progress we have made. That is why Gov. Beshear proposed fully funding expanded Medicaid in his budget and included funding to work to sign up every single person that qualifies.
Expanded Medicaid improves the health of thousands of Kentuckians, saves our families from financial ruin and saves lives, particularly in a state where our people have some of the worst health outcomes in the country. Kentucky is in the top 10 in lung cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen a trend where more and more children that qualify for KCHIP coverage are not getting signed up, leaving too many of our children with no health care. Gov. Beshear included $2 million in his proposed budget to enroll every eligible child.
Gov. Beshear is committed to building a Kentucky that is safer for our children and making a major investment so the state no longer leads the nation in child abuse and neglect. In his budget, the governor proposed funding for an additional 350 social workers and support staff to reduce the backlog that burns out our dedicated social workers and allows some of our children to fall through the cracks. The social worker shortage has dire consequences for our children. Gov. Beshear is urging legislators to join him to act now and stop the child abuse and neglect.
Gov. Beshear is doing everything in his power to ensure that Kentuckians with pre-existing conditions do not lose their coverage. Insurers should not be able to deny health care coverage to approximately 1.8 million Kentuckians with preexisting medical conditions like asthma, diabetes, cancer and even pregnancy.
He is fighting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, starting with insulin. The governor is among the bipartisan leaders who are urging the General Assembly to take action to cap insulin costs, which would help fellow Kentuckians who are at risk of losing their lives or permanently damaging their health because they cannot afford their daily supply of insulin. This is unacceptable and dangerous. There are nearly 600,000 Kentuckians suffering from diabetes.
Health care is not a partisan issue – it's a Kentucky issue – and Gov. Beshear will work to find common ground with lawmakers to build a Commonwealth where more of our people have access to affordable, quality health care.
Gov. Beshear believes a pension is a promise. When they committed to careers that benefit Kentucky communities, we promised teachers, first responders and other public employees that they would be able to retire with dignity, and Gov. Beshear has vowed to keep that promise.
As attorney general, Andy Beshear went to the Supreme Court and personally argued for the promised pensions of more than 200,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, EMS, social workers and nearly all city and county employees in Kentucky when the previous administration tried to slash their pension benefits.
Kentucky's public servants go to work every day to keep our communities safe, educate tomorrow's leaders or put themselves in harm's way. The least we can do is protect the promised pension benefits they have paid into during their years of service. That is why Gov. Beshear's proposed budget puts record funding into the state's pension systems – the most money that has ever been put into it. Gov. Beshear proposes putting $670 million more into pensions than was allotted in the last budget, which was passed by the legislature in 2018.
Gov. Beshear entered office with the goal of leading by example and building an administration that does the same. The governor's faith has taught him that leadership is not about doing what's popular; it's about doing what's right. To him, this means leading with dignity and respect and putting the team above oneself. In his eyes, each Kentuckian is part of his team, regardless of political affiliation.
Coming together is how we move forward. Every moment we focus on partisanship or national divisions, we fail to address the most important issue at hand: making life better for Kentucky families. From health care to education to economic opportunities, Gov. Beshear's administration sees opportunities to make major, widespread progress. However, this can only be accomplished if our leaders live by the golden rule that everybody is our neighbor and we are better when we work together.
During his inaugural speech, Gov. Beshear promised to lead with an outstretched hand and to work with those around him to serve the people of the Commonwealth. This is a commitment he sees through daily to help fulfill the promise of a better life for all Kentuckians.
The governor believes the people of the Commonwealth have more in common than what divides us and that by being on one team – Team Kentucky – transformational change occurs. He also believes Kentuckians deserve an open and honest government – one that works for them.
On his first day in office, Gov. Beshear ceremonially opened the doors of the Capitol to every Kentuckian and committed that every day he is governor, the doors will remain open. He said that day, "No one will be locked out. Because everybody counts."
Gov. Beshear has also committed to being transparent about the use of the state airplane, which is used to carry out official state business. To view information regarding use of the state planes by the governor click here.
To further government transparency, Gov. Beshear also released many public records long withheld by the previous administration and settled legal cases the prior administration had with state news organizations over the release of public records.
For example, in December, the governor released the 2017 proposed pension reform analysis. That analysis, commissioned and withheld for years by the former administration, shows those proposed reforms costing the state retirement systems more money and negatively affecting the retirements of educators and public employees, compared to existing, bipartisan reforms made in 2013.
First elected to public office in 2015, Beshear has released his tax returns for every year he has served, beginning in 2017 when he released his 2016 returns. He was the first Kentucky Attorney General to have released his taxes for each year he held that office. As the Commonwealth is focused on defeating COVID-19, Gov. Beshear in June showed his ongoing commitment to transparency by releasing his tax returns for 2019 and once again called on other office holders to do the same. The Governor also released his 2019 Statement of Financial Disclosure.
The School Facilities Construction Commission is forging ahead with the distribution of more than $200 million for the construction of schools and educational facility upgrades.
These projects could generate as many as 1,000 jobs.
Team Kentucky is investing in water or sewer-related projects statewide that will improve the quality of life for Kentuckians while boosting the Commonwealth's infrastructure. Administered by the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, $250 million has been appropriated for water and wastewater grants for the following uses:
There are 713 public drinking water and wastewater utilities in Kentucky. Once projects are selected this fall, all funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024.
It is estimated that delivering clean drinking water to Kentuckians will create at least 3,800 jobs.
The Call for Projects begins June 1, 2021. Public drinking water and wastewater utilities will coordinate with the Water Resource Coordinator representing Kentucky's 15 Area Development Districts (ADDs) and Area Water Management Councils. The ADD Water Service Coordinator will create a new Project Profile or update an existing Project Profile through the Water Resource Information System (WRIS) online portal. They will select “Cleaner Water Program Grant Funds” as the funding source under the budget tab to indicate interest in funding through the grant. Click here to visit the WRIS Portal.
The COVID-19 pandemic accentuated the need for all Kentucky citizens to have access to high-speed, reliable internet access to stay informed and connected to school, work, family, church, health care and other critical services. As more jobs transitioned to telework and classrooms moved to online learning, households across Kentucky became increasingly reliant on technology dependent on enhanced internet capacity to not only download data, but also to upload and share information, particularly when two or more platforms were simultaneously online.
Under House Bill 320 and House Bill 382, a bipartisan agreement signed into law by Gov. Beshear, Kentucky's Broadband Deployment Fund includes $300 million in state funds earmarked to address the connectivity needs of unserved and underserved communities across the Commonwealth. Combined with at least 50 percent required matching federal investments, a minimum of $600 million will support broadband expansion in Kentucky, creating more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. Coupled with the recent broadband speed test, access mapping and the KentuckyWired project, the Commonwealth has the potential to move to the forefront of broadband expansion nationwide.
To meet the most immediate need of those currently unserved populations across the state, the Kentucky Broadband Deployment Fund will prioritize the applications of projects that include areas without current access to broadband or those providing 10 Mbps or less download speeds.
Expanding broadband in Kentucky is estimated to create 10,000 jobs.​