Lawmakers make little progress in legislature’s final days

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers appear to be making little progress on proposals affecting teacher pensions and heroin abuse as the legislature reconvenes for the final two days of the 2015 session.

Republican senators broke off negotiations Monday morning on a Democratic-backed bill that would borrow $3.3 billion to bail out the struggling Kentucky Teachers Retirement System. Sen. Joe Bowen said senators were waiting on a key piece of financial information before offering a counterproposal but declined to elaborate.

House and Senate negotiators continued to debate behind closed doors on a proposal to combat the state’s rising number of heroin overdose deaths. Democratic state Rep. John Tilley said the two sides were struggling to overcome philosophical differences about how long people should be sentenced to prison for drug offenses.

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