Democrats reject Bevin’s cuts for colleges

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – The Latest on the Kentucky House of Representatives’ attempts to pass a budget (all times local):

7 p.m.

House Democrats have rejected close to half of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s $650 million in proposed spending cuts, including all the cuts to public colleges and universities.

The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee approved a two-year state spending plan Tuesday afternoon. Most Republicans voted “pass,” meaning they declined to vote for or against. Rep. Jim Stewart of Flat Lick was the only Republican to vote for it.

The Democrats’ proposal funds the required contributions for the state’s public pension systems without borrowing money and creates less debt than Bevin’s proposal.

The plan also eliminates budget cuts to all constitutional offices and the executive branch ethics commission. It would leave the state with $283 million in reserves.

The House is scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday and send it to the Senate.

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10:30 a.m.

House Republicans have proposed a two-year spending plan that restores some of the budget cuts proposed by Gov. Matt Bevin.

Bevin, a Republican elected in November, wants to cut government spending by $650 million and use the money to begin paying down the state’s multi-billion public pension debt. A plan filed by Republican state Rep. Steven Rudy restores some of those cuts to tutoring programs for at-risk children, gives volunteer fire departments more money to buy equipment and gives more money to counties from coal severance taxes.

The Republicans’ plan does not change Bevin’s budget cuts to state colleges and universities, although it let the colleges make changes in their budgets to help offset the cuts. Republicans also rejected Bevin’s move to eliminate the prevailing wage, but approved his plan to borrow $100 million for workforce development programs.

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4:30 a.m.

Kentucky Democrats and Republicans are scheduled to release a pair of dueling budget plans, but Democrats most likely will have the votes to win.

House Republicans have called a news conference at 9 a.m. to release their budget plan. House Democrats will release their plan Tuesday afternoon during a meeting of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has proposed spending cuts of $650 million over the next two years to begin to pay down the state’s multi-billion dollar pension debt. But House Democrats will most likely reject some of those cuts, especially for higher education.

Democrats will have a 53-47 majority in the state House of Representatives after winning three of four special elections last week. The new members are scheduled to be sworn in on Tuesday.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.