House OKs state budget, nixes revenue options

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear got some things he wanted and not as much in some other areas in a $23.4 billion two-year state budget approved Friday with bipartisan support in the state House.

The measure now goes to the Senate for further review.

The GOP-crafted spending plan was approved 86-10.

In a separate move, the Kentucky House has defeated a proposed constitutional change to give local governments more latitude to raise tax revenue.

The House version of the budget modified Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s proposed pay raise for teachers to spread it to other school employees. It boosted school-security funding to hire hundreds of counselors. The plan scaled back Beshear’s proposal to add more social workers but offers salary enhancements to hire and retain more of them.

Overall, the $23.4 billion state spending plan would provide pay raises for state employees and teachers, more than $1 billion to fund teacher pensions, and millions of dollars for school safety.

House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chair Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, called the budget proposal  “a step” in the budget process that would keep the state’s debt ratio at 5.3 percent – the same ratio proposed by Gov. Andy Beshear – while funding government needs statewide.

“It is our job to appropriate the money and be in control of this process. This is not the end of the process, but a step,” Rudy said.

In a statement, Beshear said he was “fairly pleased” with the package but did list some changes he’d like to see before it reaches his desk.

In the budget approved Friday, pay raises in the bill for state employees and teachers would amount to 1 percent increases in each of the next two years, with funding also added for additional personnel in the Office of the Attorney General and other constitutional offices. Local prosecutors, social workers, PVAs, and more would also get a salary increase.

Public pensions would receive support, too, with more than $1.1 billion appropriated to the Teachers’ Retirement System to help fully fund the system actuarially-required pension obligations over the biennium. State Police pensions under the Kentucky Retirement Systems would also get some relief from their unfunded liability under the bill.

According to the House Republican majority, the budget would also beef up spending aimed at improving the health and safety of Kentuckians through a proposed influx of around $33 million to hire additional state social workers and retain the social workers now serving the Commonwealth.

It also includes $18.7 million for school facility upgrades and $49 million to hire more school counselors as called for under 2019 SB 1, the School Safety and Resiliency Act signed into law last year.

It proposes an increase in guaranteed per pupil base funding, or SEEK, for public schools. And it would deliver more than $63 million in the next biennium for the state’s performance-based funding pool to serve clearly-defined needs of Kentucky’s post-secondary institutions, in addition to other spending provisions.

The bill also would cover over $158 million in funds for preschool for low-income and other eligible children, as well as over $97 million for Kentucky’s Family Resource and Youth Services Centers and other funding provisions for learning supports over the biennium.

Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, said although there are a few areas of the bill with which she has concerns, it does good things including funding school safety, support for social workers, increasing worker pay, and providing funding for child services.

75th District State Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington

She also said that she appreciates that the bill doesn’t include drastic budget cuts seen in recent years.

“I’ve been here 11 years now, and all we have done practically, to date, is cut (funding),” said Flood.

While the House defeated a proposed constitutional change to give local governments more latitude to raise tax revenue, the measure could still be revived.

The legislation fell 11 votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage.

Slightly more than one-third of House members – mostly Democrats – didn’t cast votes on the proposal. Their abstentions sparked heated discussions between some Republican and Democratic members.

House Speaker David Osborne says the measure could potentially come up again later in the GOP-led House.

HB 352 passed on a vote of 86-10 and advances to the Senate along with HB 351, which passed on a vote of 57-34. That measure includes technical changes involving the state tax code, and related provisions.