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Kentucky economic development secretary reports KPDI progress and $99 million committed to local projects
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Summary
Secretary Jeff Noel told the House Committee on Development, Public Protection, Tourism and Energy that 155 Kentucky Product Development Initiative (KPDI) projects have been approved and about $99 million in KPDI commitments have been made; he described other cabinet programs and said outreach continues to reach more counties.
Frankfort — Secretary Jeff Noel of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development told the House Committee on Development, Public Protection, Tourism and Energy on March 18 that 155 projects tied to the Kentucky Product Development Initiative (KPDI) have been approved and about $99,000,000 in KPDI funds have been committed across the state.
Noel, appearing with Deputy Secretary Katie Smith and General Counsel Matt Wiggett, said the cabinet is tracking a broad set of programs — from workforce training to entertainment incentives — that it says support job creation and local economic development. "We have 155 projects in total that have been approved, dollars 99,000,000 of those funds have been committed," Noel said during his presentation.
The KPDI program, Noel told the committee, now uses a staggered local-match formula that replaced a straight 50/50 match; the change, he said, is intended to increase participation by smaller communities. He said the cabinet has completed on-site visits for the 2024 round, and recommendations for projects entering due diligence will be made throughout the year. "The due diligence is really the value that we bring before we disperse the funding to make sure everything is lined up and done properly," Noel said.
Why it matters: Noel framed KPDI and other cabinet programs as capacity-building tools that help smaller and rural communities prepare sites and applications that can attract private-sector investment. He said the cabinet is also working to expand the geographic reach of grants and urged local leaders to pursue federal match and related funding.
Key program and metric highlights Noel presented:
- KPDI: 155 projects approved; approximately $99,000,000 of KPDI funds committed. Noel said there were 45 requests for information in 2024 seeking access to $35,000,000 of KPDI funding and that the total amount requested by those 45 projects was about $81,000,000.
- Referrals and site work: the cabinet reported it produced roughly 1,046 site referrals, reached 109 counties with referrals, and tracked about 180 projects that proceeded to site visits.
- Incentivized jobs: Noel said the average wage for incentivized jobs announced since February 2019 was approaching $27 per hour.
- Entertainment incentive program: the cabinet reported 77 transactions last year, about $200,000,000 in total investment and 7,400 people paid through the program.
- Workforce and entrepreneurship programs: 35,000 people trained through Bluegrass AID skills funding; roughly 3,000 students participated in the Advanced Kentucky STEM program; Commonwealth Ventures facilitated about $90,000,000 in federal funding activity last year (12 companies cited as receiving federal funding support); the Kentucky Valor program assisted more than 1,100 transitioning service members.
Noel said the cabinet is working to expand KPDI participation to all 120 counties and has conducted regional "turf" meetings three times a year to coordinate with local economic developers. He said the cabinet has targeted outreach to area development districts and Grameen Ready Kentucky (referred to in the presentation as "Grama Ready Kentucky") to increase awards in counties that have not yet received KPDI grants.
Committee questions focused on geographic distribution and regulatory concerns. Representative Whitten (Louisville) asked why Jefferson County did not appear on the pilot map for 2022–2024 KPDI activity; Noel said that KPDI proposals typically come from communities or local industrial development authorities seeking land improvements and that Jefferson County's local development organizations are still organizing strategy and available land for projects. Representative Lehman asked whether changes proposed to Kentucky's occupational safety and health rules were affecting competitiveness; Noel said the cabinet had not heard that the state's occupational safety and health plan was clearly advantaging or disadvantaging recruitment and that the cabinet connects companies with the relevant regulatory contacts when questions arise.
The committee did not have a quorum, so members did not approve minutes from two prior meetings. The hearing concluded after Noel's presentation and the subsequent questions and comments from members.
Sources: Presentation and remarks by Secretary Jeff Noel, Deputy Secretary Katie Smith and General Counsel Matt Wiggett to the House Committee on Development, Public Protection, Tourism and Energy (transcript excerpt).
