Ahead of the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly, local lawmakers discussed their legislative priorities at Monday’s Pennyrile Area Development District (PeADD) meeting, which was hosted at the Pennyrile Forest State Park Lodge.
From the Kentucky Senate, District 1 Senator Jason Howell, who represents Crittenden, Lyon, and Trigg Counties, and outgoing District 3 Senator Whitney Westerfield, who represented Caldwell, Christian, and Muhlenberg Counties, were in attendance.
From the Kentucky House of Representatives, District 8 Representative Walker Thomas of parts Caldwell, Christian and Trigg Counties; District 4 Representative Wade Williams of Hopkins County; District 6 Representative Chris Freeland of Lyon County; District 5 Representative Mary Beth Imes of part of Trigg County and District 4 Representative Jim Gooch Jr. of Crittenden County were in attendance.
The legislators sat as a panel and were asked about lowering state income tax, helping local governments with jail costs, addressing the need for affordable housing and what their priorities are for this legislative session.
Many lawmakers want to get Kentucky’s income tax rate down to zero. The current rate is 4% and in 2025 legislators are set to vote for the rate to go down to 3.5%. The rate is set to decrease by .5% each year until it gets to zero.
Westerfield says cutting straight to zero would have been fiscally dangerous and the state needs to hit certain revenue marks before decreasing the tax rate. He says he wants the rate to get to zero but through responsible means.
Recently legislators have heard from county jailers and judge executives about the financial struggles surrounding county jails. Last year, Williams served on the Jail Task Force and says they found that the classification process at jails would often take long and in the upcoming session bills may be proposed to speed up that process reducing costs.
Concerning housing, Gooch spotlighted the importance of ensuring that electricity supplies keep up with housing expansions. In the past, Gooch says the federal government mandated fuel switches from coal which is still impacting energy reliability.
When it comes to legislative priorities, Thomas says he is working to change audit regulations for ambulance boards, plans to address road damage done by metal wheels and would like to establish a memorial for military veterans in Trigg County.
Imes says she is focused on economic development and getting the veterinary medicine program at Murray State University approved. A School of Veterinarian Medicine is also coming to the campus and is currently in the design phase.
To conclude the meeting Westerfield was presented with a plaque for serving as a senator for the past 10 years.