By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Members of the Kentucky General Assembly wrapped up their organizational week Friday and will return to Frankfort on February 7 for the remainder of the 30-day regular session.
House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, says he was pleased with the way the first week went.
“The significant legislation we passed was the reduction of state income tax, which has been our goal for some period of time since we passed our tax legislation last year.”
David Osborne
The income tax rate dropped from 5% to 4.5% on January 1 thanks to the 2022 legislation, but the measure that cleared the House this week would drop it a further half-percent to an even four percent, based on the size of the state’s Budget Reserve Trust Fund, which currently stands at roughly $2.7 billion.
Last year’s legislation provides further reductions in the income tax rate down to zero, if benchmarks are reached in the trust fund, which is also referred to as the “Rainy Day Fund.”
Osborne says the session appears to be shaping up the way he thought.
“It’ll be a much more deliberate pace this year. We’ve had an incredibly aggressive agenda over the last few years, and I think it’s incumbent upon us to look at things, to make tweaks where we need, to address unintended consequences.”
He pointed out, “It doesn’t mean there won’t be something that causes a calamity or crisis and need urgent attention. Those things pop up from time to time. But I believe you will see a more traditional pace to this 30-day session, but one where we hope to advance what we did previously that might not have been completed.”
Osborne says there are good reasons he expects to see a slower pace this year.
“This is the first session in four years where we haven’t had to deal with a budget, redistricting, or a pandemic. There’s something to be said for changing the things we need to, but not changing things because we have to.”
While the House and Senate have adjourned until next month, Osborne says that doesn’t mean some of his members won’t be busy. The House Impeachment Committee will be investigating misconduct charges against two Commonwealth’s Attorneys.
One includes allegations against Ronnie Lee Goldy, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Rowan, Bath, Menifee and Montgomery counties, which make up the 21st Judicial Circuit, due to a relationship he had for several years with Misty Helton, a defendant he was prosecuting in Rowan County.
The other involves Richard Boling, the Commonwealth’s attorney for the 3rd Judicial Circuit, consisting of Christian County. He is accused of prosecutorial misconduct involving a criminal case, as well as a letter he wrote in favor of a pardon for an individual, in which Boling allegedly attacked the prosecutorial discretion of his predecessor, and questioned the integrity of the former prosecutor, the circuit judge who presided over the case and the defendant’s attorney.
