![]() SB 5, the Senates version, has been the bill to move in the process and it is now in the House Judiciary Committee. Since the early days of the session, the chambers have disagreed on how to provide protection. Reed’s HB 320 providing $250 M for broadband service to unserved or underserved households and businesses and allowing electric distribution cooperatives to capitalize broadband affiliates remains in Senate A&R with two readings.ĬOVID Liability Relief– The business, healthcare, and education communities continue to support COVID specific liability relief. It remains to be seen if the legislature will consider provisions included in HB 561, that sets a fee on electric vehicles, raises the gas tax, modernizes the road-aid formula, and establishes a multimodal fund.īroadband– Rep. While the Transportation Budget, HB 193, has not been released yet, legislative leaders indicated that the additional $50 million will go directly to the state construction account. The budget conference committee specifically addressed this issue publicly by reducing the amount of Road Fund dollars included in the KY State Police budget by roughly $50 million dollars. Infrastructure Funding– Chatter remains high that increased infrastructure funding may be addressed this session. Timing is of critical importance given that the General Assembly must pass a budget by no later than midnight on Tuesday in order to preserve the ability to override any gubernatorial vetoes.Īs the 2021 Session nears its conclusion, there was action on a great many important bills and issues with much work still left to do to bring some to a final conclusion: However with the unveiling of the budget FCCR on Friday without much reference to the federal stimulus dollars, it is possible that legislative leaders are still considering how to incorporate these federal dollars into the budget and we may see a separate bill addressing their use. ![]() This information clearly raised many opportunities for reallocation of budget plans and legislators pushed the administration for its spending recommendations which were expected by Friday. Hicks gave the committee an overview of the $2.4 billion Federal funds that Kentucky’s state government will receive and its potential uses for infrastructure projects, aid to individuals and businesses, and payment on the unemployment trust fund. ![]() In regards to the Federal Stimulus Dollars and the current budget, Tuesday’s briefing by Budget Director John Hicks on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act sent the conferees scrambling on the impact these new federal monies would have on the budget. There is a provision in the FCCR that restricts spending of federal stimulus dollars by the Governor unless appropriated by the General Assembly. – Federal stimulus monies are generally absent from this document, except for a few language provisions that authorize project spending but say it should be paid from federal stimulus dollars in lieu of state dollars. We expect this is in part due to the $3 billion in federal stimulus coming to schools directly. – Additional education funding included in the Governor’s budget for SEEK, teacher raises and learning materials are not included in the FCCR. – It does make a large deposit into the Budget Reserve Trust Fund of $734 million as compared to $100 million in the Governor’s budget. – This appears to be primarily a continuation budget with most funding levels remaining relatively flat. The Free Conference Committee Report to HB 192 is available for viewing HERE. The budget is complete though it has not yet been explained and adopted. After the 16th, the General Assembly will begin its veto recess before returning on the 29th and 30th for the two final days of the session and sine die adjournment. Looking ahead, the General Assembly will be in session on Monday and Tuesday, the 15th and 16th which are designated on the session calendar as concurrence days but can and will be used for the final passage of bills, as well as concurrence. These were the 25thand 26thdays of this 30-day session and legislative activity was in high gear with dozens of bills moving in the respective chambers. Wednesday was a full day of twelve legislative committee meetings, followed by another ten meetings on Thursday before the chambers gaveled into session for the last two ordinary legislative days. There was a significant budget briefing on Tuesday that changed calculations on the budget. Activity began slowly, gaining momentum as the week continued. This past week began with three conference committee days and ended with two legislative days.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |