After a bill from the House of Representatives was put forth as the draft budget for the next two years, Gov. Andy Beshear shared what he believes to be the bill’s shortcomings and limitations when it comes to teacher raises, natural disaster responses and much more at Thursday’s Team Kentucky Update.
House Bill 6 addresses a majority of the budget matters and HB 1 was put forth as a one-time expenditure of $1.7 billion from the state reserves.
Beshear says the current draft budget has severe limitations and red tape to the executive branch’s operations.
Along with the limitations, Beshear says there are funding cuts to public schools and public safety as well as a cut to state personnel.
Further concerning natural disaster responses, Beshear says one of the limitations affects the government’s swift response ability to natural disasters and the bill could require responses to have to be approved through a special session of the General Assembly.
Beshear says for the first time ever there are strict limitations on necessary government expenses which he says were used to respond to natural disasters such as the flooding in Eastern Kentucky in 2022 and the wildfires in 2023. Under HB 6, Beshear says there is $50 million allotted to disaster response.
In regards to education, HB 6 does not include funding toward teacher pay raises or universal preschool like Beshear’s Better Kentucky Plan included. Beshear says there is a proposed reduction to the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funding as well as a reduction to the Department of Education’s general fund.
Overall, Beshear says the bill hinders growth as well as micromanages the executive branch. The Kentucky General Assembly has until April to establish and approve a two-year budget.