Kentucky Lawmakers reach agreement on budget

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Kentucky House and Senate leaders say they now have an agreement on how to spend $65 billion over the next two years.

Lawmakers spent the day in private meetings then, at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, the budget committee met behind closed doors. There was an eruption of applause when the deal was reached.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate Leader Robert Stivers came out just before 3 a.m. Thursday to make the announcement.

They did not go into much detail about the budget, saying they wanted to talk to their caucuses first.
The two sides did agree to 4.5 % percent cuts to universities and colleges over the next two years – the main sticking point of the budget battle between the Republican-run Senate and the Democratic-led house.

The budget agreement also includes free community college tuition for Kentucky high school graduates and more than $1 billion in spending on the state’s public pension debt. This is the largest amount ever spent on the state pension.

Both Stumbo and Stivers say this is definitely a bi-partisan budget.

“It is an adequate and effective blend of the priorities contained in both the Governor’s recommendation, the house budget and the senate budget,” said House Speaker Stumbo.

“I would agree with that,”added Senate Leader Stivers. “We have a strong contribution of the pension systems, a healthy budget reserved trust fund and it sets forth the priorities for both chambers and with some input from the executive branch as to the priorities that we see going forward the next two years.”

It will take 30 hours to process and print the budget plan. It must still be approved by the full state legislature Friday, but leaders of both chambers say they expect to have plenty of votes to pass it.

If passed, it will then head to Governor Matt Bevin, who has the final say.

Regarding the budget agreement Governor Bevin released the following statement:

“We thank Senate President Stivers, House Speaker Stumbo and the members of the conference committee for the hard work that was put into this budget agreement. For the first time in decades, we can say that Kentucky is investing in our pension system in a meaningful way. We look forward to reviewing the details of the compromise and its final passage.”