The Kentucky House on Thursday approved a two-year $110 billion budget that funds full-day kindergarten, gives state employees a six-percent pay raise, gives a $15,000 pay raise to state troopers, gives social workers pay raises and funds the hiring of additional social workers.
Keith West has more…
Budget summary from LRC:
FRANKFORT— Two budget-related bills cleared the House floor on Thursday.
House Bill 1, on the executive branch budget, and House Bill 241, on the transportation budget, will now go before the Senate for consideration. The bills appropriate more than $110 billion.
This is the first time since 2018 that the Kentucky General Assembly is working to pass a biennium budget. Economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic led the legislature to pass two single-year budgets in 2020 and 2021.
Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, said he and the other sponsors of HB 1 and HB 241 believe the measures appropriately address Kentucky’s needs and make good use of taxpayer money.
“There is not one penny of taxpayer money that has come into the purview of the General Assembly that the General Assembly has any ownership of,” Petrie said. “We are being lent that money in trust by the taxpayers of Kentucky to render needed services that benefit them.”
The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee approved both bills earlier in the day on Thursday. In committee and on the House floor, Committee Chair Petrie, and Vice Chair Brandon Reed, R-Hodgenville, were joined by the chairs of the House budget review subcommittees in testifying on the proposed executive branch and transportation budgets.
Reed informed the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee that it has taken eight months of working with various agencies, stakeholders and citizens to draft the two proposals.
“This process makes the budget more transparent to the General Assembly and to the citizens of Kentucky,” Reed said.
The proposed executive branch budget is expansive. The proposed appropriations include investments in education, public safety, tourism, infrastructure and more.
Sponsors of the bill were excited to share that HB 1:
· Fully funds full-day Kindergarten for every public school district
· Increases SEEK funding for every student
· Meets the actuarial requirements regarding the Kentucky Retirement System, the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System and the Kentucky State Police Retirement System
· Gives a 6% pay raise to all state employees
· Gives a $15,000 salary increase to all Kentucky State Police officers
· Allocates $350 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds toward clean water projects
· Funds raises for social workers and provides funding for additional social worker positions
· Provides funding for facility repairs and improvements at public colleges and universities
· Ensures funding for Medicaid growth
· Appropriates $14.1 million to expand the senior meals program, and more
HB 1 cleared the House floor by an 85-8 vote.