A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Senate to get House 2-year budget to fund executive branch, modifying Gov. Beshear’s proposal


After two hours or questions and comments, the Kentucky House passed a two-year budget to fund the executive branch of government on Friday.


House Budget Committee Chairman Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, who presented the budget bill on the House floor, reminded his members, “This is not the end of the process, but one step.”


The measure was highly modified from the proposal sent them by Gov. Andy Beshear at the end of January.


Some of the biggest changes involve education. Beshear had proposed a $2,000 raise for teachers, around a 3.7% increase, which the House changed to a 1% pay hike per year for all school employees, not just teachers.

They also reduced the number of new energy-efficient school buses that could be purchased from the Volkswagen settlement, diverting some of the money to city transit systems.


The House version includes $18.7 million for school facility upgrades and $49 million to hire more school counselors as called for under 2019 SB 1, the School Safety and Resiliency Act signed into law last year.


It also proposes an increase in guaranteed per-pupil base funding, or SEEK, for public schools and earmarks over $63 million the next two years for the state’s performance-based funding pool for Kentucky’s postsecondary institutions, in addition to other spending provisions.


All of the public employee retirement systems would receive the actuarially required contribution, which is more than the state law funding requirement, while every state employee would have a one percent pay hike. 

The proposed budget would also spend around $33 million to hire additional state social workers and retain the social workers now serving the state.
 

After lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Beshear told reporters, “I believe that their version of the budget is fiscally responsible, it is built very similarly to the budget I proposed.”


Concerns were raised during the floor debate about a failure to include new revenue sources such as the sports wagering bill, which passed a House committee in January but has yet seen a vote by the full House.


“While I would like to see more new revenue, there is some new revenue in it,” Beshear said. 

That’s primarily due to a 10-cent per pack cigarette tax hike as well as one on vaping products.


Overall, Beshear said, “It does not make the type of devastating cuts that we have seen in budgets in the last 14 years, and for that, we should all be supportive of at least that piece.”


Some of the objections made by lawmakers during the debate was removing funding for the Kentucky Commission on Women and the Governor’s Office on Minority Empowerment and Beshear joined in those objections.


“This is about a $48 billion budget. To not be able to find $375,000 for the Commission on Women is really unfortunate, and my hope is that it will be included at a later time,” Beshear said.


The measure enjoyed wide bipartisan support and cleared the chamber 86-10. It now heads to the Senate where more changes are likely.


Related Posts

Leave a Comment