Lawmakers react to first day of 2024 Legislative Session

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) —  The first day of the 2024 Legislative Session happening on Tuesday.
The Kentucky General Assembly  beginning its 60-day legislative session at the state capitol in Frankfort.

“We will continue to be very very pragmatic and very physically conservative in our budgeting, but also understand that there are places that we can and should invest,” said Speaker of the House, David Osborne when asked about the budget during a briefing on Tuesday.

Lawmakers discussing economic development, job growth and shattering state revenue records.

House Speaker Osborne says one of the biggest topics moving forward will be the state budget.

“We were able to build the budget much more quickly than usual. There were some some last minute changes at personnel that we weren’t made above of until a couple of days ago, that have caused us to have to change the numbers which affects it. It has a domino effect whenever you change personnel numbers because it affects pension contributions, it’s a domino effect. So it takes a while to, to, to clean all that up,” he adds.

Osborne says the budget could be unveiled as soon as next week.
Right now, he says it’s early to say if the House GOP Proposal will include any rainy day funds use.

“We will end this this fiscal year with $4.5 plus billion in the budget reserve and that’s more than we need,” added Osborne.

The house speaker also addressed the topic of school choice.

“I think that there is considerable, considerable interest in, in our caucus to, to do that,” also says Osborne.

Speaker Osborne also spoke on what the first house bills could entail.

“My suspicion is that you will see House Bill one be a, a budget or infrastructure bill. something like that. Some of the other priorities that that we’ve been contemplating would be the Kentucky Safe Act. The look at the crime bill that Jared Bauman has, has worked on,” said Osborne.

Meantime, Senator Whitney Westerfield also speaking out on what he’d like to accomplish this session, “my hope is that I, I can enact some version of the two most important bills to me. One is a Consumer Privacy Bill, Kentucky is now lagging behind about a dozen or closely closer to 20 states that have approached or, or tried to pass or have passed some version of the Consumer Privacy Bill.”

Westerfield also adding that it is important for pregnant mothers to have access to what they need.

“The other one’s a bill aimed at mothers and children both in the womb and out to help lower the, the occurrence of abortion by investing in moms and babies to make sure moms have the resources they need. So they choose life, make education easier, housing, easier, transportation easier, do what government can do to make having a baby the easiest thing for them to do,” added Westerfield.

Governor Andy Beshear will deliver his State of the Commonwealth Address on Wednesday.