Gov. Bill Lee on Monday will deliver his first State of the State address, the Tennessee governor's highest-profile speech of the year and a first for the political newcomer who took office in January.

In Lee's speech, which he'll deliver before a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly at the state Capitol, the governor will highlight his priorities for his first year in office and elaborate on his legislative agenda.

"Gov. Lee will propose his conservative budget and vision for how Tennessee can lead the nation with specific proposals for education, health care, public safety and other critical components of our state's livelihood," Lee spokeswoman Laine Arnold said.

Because of a six-week gap between Lee's Jan. 19 inauguration and his first State of the State address, his administration began in recent weeks making announcements about specific budget proposals and priorities.

Lee has already outlined several initiatives

The annual address is typically given in late January or early February — much closer to the start of the legislative session — though the new governor's administration needed time to establish its agenda. Former Gov. Bill Haslam's first State of the State address in 2011 also was held in March.

Among the initiatives Lee has already unveiled are efforts to expand vocational training, reducing recidivism through reentry programs and education, school safety and access to mental health.

Lee is also expected to announce whether he will pursue private school vouchers in the form of education savings accounts. It would be an initiative that is consistent with support Lee has expressed for school choice during the campaign and since taking office. Such a move could come as a pilot program focused on specific regions in the state.

While no early announcements have been made by his administration about the governor's healthcare proposals, Lee, who is opposed to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, has repeatedly said he would work to lower healthcare costs for consumers in effort to make coverage more affordable.

In addition to outlining his roughly $38 billion budget on Monday, Lee will likely use the speech as an opportunity to encourage unity in the state, a talking point used in his election night victory speech when he vowed to be "the governor of every Tennessean."

His speech comes amid mounting protests at the Tennessee state Capitol over the presence of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader.

Lee in recent weeks announced he is open to adding additional historical context beside the bust, going a step beyond his previous stance that the bust should not be altered or removed.

Vocational training a priority

The owner of a 1,200-employee HVAC, electrical and plumbing services company, Lee throughout his campaign for governor and in his first months has stressed the need to increase vocational and workforce development training in the state.

The governor's newly announced Governor's Investment in Vocational Education, or GIVE, initiative is a $25 million program his office says would serve roughly 11,000 students and 25 communities through regional private-public partnerships for apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

It would also allow high school students to take additional dual-enrollment courses in specific fields of study.

If the legislation is approved, the GIVE initiative would be funded through the state lottery.

Criminal justice reform

Criminal justice reform has long been a priority for Lee, who touted his years of involvement with prison ministry Men of Valor while running for governor.

Lee's office last week announced he was seeking $10.5 million to offer college and high school education courses at eight prisons, specifically classes on technology and construction.

Another $1.7 million would bolster the state's recovery court programs, such as drug court, to divert nonviolent offenders from the traditional court system into programs that would reduce recidivism.

It's unclear how much revenue the state would lose through the elimination of a $180 expungement fee, another criminal justice reform measure Lee announced. The fee elimination would allow more low-level offenders to erase their records after serving their sentences.

Mental Health funding

Lee has so far devoted $11.2 million to cover mental health treatment for an additional 7,000 uninsured adults as part of the state's Behavioral Health Safety Net program.

He also has proposed a $3 million investment in housing program for individuals with mental illness. The addition to the Creating Homes Initiative will also provide housing options for adults with substance abuse addictions.

Another $1.1 million has been set aside to increase the Department of Mental Health and Substance abuse's suicide outreach program, the Lee administration has already announced.

School safety funding unveiled

Lee is asking for another $30 million investment in the state's school safety grant fund, which was created last year by former Gov. Bill Haslam. The initiative would place school resources officers in roughly 500 schools statewide — particularly in rural districts — that don't currently have an officer on campus. Haslam had already devoted $10 million toward the effort.

Under the plan, schools that currently have SROs on campus could obtain grants for other school safety measures or for violence prevention programs.

Budget announcements target areas where 'everyone agrees,' Dem says

Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said he supports most of the initiatives Lee has so far announced ahead of his budget proposal, but says he's unsure whether Lee's comprehensive budget plan will amount to significant changes to issues facing Tennessee.

For example, while Yarbro described investments in the state's mental health system as "long overdue," he criticized Lee's failure to support Medicaid expansion, which Yarbro and other expansion proponents argue would significantly increase services offered to the uninsured and largely through federal dollars.

"So far the governor has announced some small initiatives to make strides in areas that everyone agrees should be a priority for the state, but I think we need to see whether he's got a plan to genuinely change the state's strategy or make real, longterm investments that are going to solve problems," Yarbro said.

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Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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State of the State

When: Monday, 6 p.m. CST

Where: Tennessee state Capitol, Nashville

How to watch: Watch live on Tennessean.com or on our mobile app.