By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers convened Tuesday for a 60-day session that’ll be dominated by crafting the next state budget, with Republican supermajorities in both chambers once again shaping Bluegrass State policies even as voters extended an era of divided government by reelecting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
A torrent of bills were introduced on a wide range of issues soon after the House and Senate gaveled in at midday. Legislators will review hundreds of proposals in the coming months. Familiar issues that could grab headlines include abortion and school choice. New issues for Kentucky could include efforts to rein in diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education.
Finalizing the next two-year budget — the state’s overarching policy document — typically doesn’t wrap up until late in the session, which ends in mid-April. But top legislative leaders offered some glimpses of what the spending plan could ultimately include.
“We will continue to be very pragmatic, very fiscally conservative in our budgeting, but also understand that there are places that we can and should invest,” Republican House Speaker David Osborne told reporters.
Beshear offered his budget blueprint in a televised speech last month, calling for massive funding increases for public education topped by a proposed 11% pay raise for teachers and all other public school employees. The governor is also resuming his push for state-funded preschool for every 4-year-old in Kentucky. Similar proposals for universal pre-K made no headway with the General Assembly in prior years, as Republican lawmakers charted their own course on education policies.
Senate President Robert Stivers mentioned child care as an issue for lawmakers to address.
“We may not agree with the governor about universal pre-K,” the Republican said Tuesday, “but I think everybody understands that we need to work on something related to … having access to quality day care.”
One question is whether lawmakers will tap into the state’s vast budget reserves in the next budget. Osborne said some of the reserves could be spent but he didn’t offer amounts or specific uses.
Offering hints of what the budget measure will include, Osborne said it would be “appropriate to assume that there will be significant additional contributions into the pension system.” Stivers pointed to additional infrastructure spending on transportation, water and wastewater projects.
The state’s next two-year budget period starts July 1.
A push to relax Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban could resurface but its prospects appear uncertain. Last year, a bill to add exceptions to the ban for pregnancies caused by rape or incest made no headway in the legislature. Beshear, an abortion-rights supporter, made his support for those exceptions a prominent part of his successful reelection campaign last year. Kentucky’s current abortion law bans the procedure except when carried out to save a pregnant woman’s life or to prevent a disabling injury.
“It’s a very hotly debated issue; people with lots of strong opinions in our caucus,” Osborne said Tuesday.
Another potential high-profile issue could be efforts to put a school-choice constitutional amendment on this year’s fall ballot in Kentucky. The goal would be to remove constitutional hurdles for school choice initiatives. Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer ranked it atop his list of priorities.
“I think it’s one of the most important things left undone by a Republican supermajority,” Thayer said Tuesday.
The push comes after school choice advocates suffered setbacks in courts. A state judge recently struck down a law aimed at setting up a funding method for charter schools. In 2022, Kentucky’s Supreme Court struck down another law to award tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition.
One dynamic that will be watched closely is the relationship between the governor and GOP lawmakers. Beshear’s first term featured annual policy clashes with Republican lawmakers, who overrode numerous gubernatorial vetoes. Beshear has noted that he also signed more than 600 bipartisan bills into law, including signature measures to legalize sports betting and medical marijuana and to expand early voting.
