Lawmakers continue budget talks in public

FRANKFORT, Ky. — House and Senate lawmakers resumed public budget negotiations Wednesday, hoping to hammer out final details of an approximately $19 billion two-year state spending plan.

Lawmakers say they’re hoping to finish their negotiations by late Saturday. But they were able to resolve few budgetary differences during their late-night negotiations that were opened to the public for the first time in years.

“We can get it done, but we’re going to have to work very hard between now and Saturday,” said House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green.

Kentucky lawmakers are trying to craft a spending plan to run state government during the next two years, despite a projected revenue shortfall of approximately $900 million.
Gov. Steve Beshear has proposed a spending blueprint that would slash funding by 12 percent for Kentucky’s public universities and various government agencies and programs. The House and Senate have different proposals aimed at offsetting at least some of the governor’s proposed cuts.

In the House, lawmakers have approved a plan that would boost the state’s tax on cigarettes by a quarter per pack and impose the state’s 6 percent sales tax on some services such as armored cars. Senate lawmakers, meanwhile, have opposed raising any new taxes and instead have proposed taking more proceeds from the Kentucky Lottery, among other things.