Gov. Mike Kehoe has delivered his first State of the State address, outlining his budget agenda and policy priorities.

Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said that Republicans and the Kehoe Administration are going to work together on public safety.

“With the influx of literally millions of people that we don’t know the backgrounds of, this has increased the crime rate, particularly in cities and now as the Trump Administration moves to send these people back to their country of origin, you know, some of those people are going to be heading out into the rural areas to kind of try to escape that,” she said.

One of Kehoe’s priorities will be recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers and prosecutors, potentially with higher pay.

Another priority? Tax relief. Kehoe admits that the upcoming fiscal year budget is going to be tighter, but Sen. O’Laughlin said that tax relief is going to be a big priority for the governor.

“Well, I think we’re going to make a concerted effort to look at what we’re spending money on,” said O’Laughlin. “I personally feel that we do spend money on some services that are basically not really providing that much value to the taxpaying citizen. So, I think we review those things carefully.”

The Republican Kehoe said that the state’s biggest challenge will be to balance the budget while also making sure that essential services are funded as the federal dollars begin to dry up.

Another priority of Gov. Kehoe is childcare. On the campaign trail, he said he wants to help solve the state’s childcare access crisis.

“Anything in the realm of children, whether it be education, daycare, any of those kinds of things, we need to stabilize the conditions that our children are under,” said O’Laughlin. “So, if working parents don’t have good daycare for their children, well, some of them can’t work, then this creates a problem in the working world, we don’t have enough employees.”

Kehoe said that expanding access to childcare and giving private businesses the option to open up childcare as part of their benefits package should be something that all Missourians can agree on.

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