'About to squander it': Kentucky House passes budget bills, Dems decry shortfalls
After an hourslong debate, the Kentucky House of Representatives Thursday passed several key budget bills that will govern how the state spends more than $130 billion despite vociferous opposition from Democrats.
The bills would increase education and school transportation spending over the next two years and pay down some of the unfunded liabilities of Kentucky pension plans. But they fail to provide teacher raises, fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, or increase state retirees' monthly payments, shortfalls that drew the ire of Democratic lawmakers.
Democrats also said Republicans rushed the budget bills through the legislative process and multiple attempts to introduce floor amendments aimed at addressing perceived budget shortfalls failed on mostly party-line votes.
Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, chairman of the Revenue and Appropriations Committee, and other GOP leaders said the budget is fiscally responsible and they are open to changes as the bills move through the process. The bills now move to the state Senate for consideration before being finalized towards the end of the session.
'Democracy dies on this House floor'
A House budget committee voted on the hundreds of pages of complicated budget bills Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was scheduled and announced to the public Wednesday morning, providing little time for lawmakers and constituents to review the documents.
Less than 24 hours later, on Thursday, the bills came up for votes on the House floor.
That rushed timeline drew the criticism of Democratic representatives, who said it shortchanged them — and average Kentuckians as well as interest groups — from fully examining the spending plans.
"One could presume that was intentional to make the (updated bills) hard to share with stakeholders or to search for specific line items," Rep. Rachel Roberts, D-Newport, said Wednesday on the House floor. "All of this limits members' ability to ask questions that could have led to a better process and a better final outcome. Once again, I fear that sanctimony reigns here and democracy dies on this House floor."
That theme was carried through to the floor debate Thursday, where every Democrat who spoke criticized the process.
"We're here doing the most important business of the Commonwealth of Kentucky without playing by our own rules that we created," said Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington. "I can't help but think (on) something this serious, why are we not getting the procedure right?"
In response, Petrie repeatedly emphasized he was open to additional changes in the bills and the measures still must be considered by the state Senate and finalized by a committee made up of members from both chambers. Those steps will provide opportunities for additional changes, Petrie said.
What's in the budget so far?
Education and social services
The main budget bill, HB 6, starts by funding 80% of school districts' transportation costs in fiscal 2025 increasing to 100% the following year. That represents a major change from the original proposal, which would have capped state transportation spending at 90% over the next two years.
Democrats heralded that change but called on the House to use the state's historic $3.7 billion budget surplus to provide raises for teachers and other school employees.
As passed Thursday, the budget bill would increase funding under Kentucky's education formula by 4% in fiscal 2025 and 2% in fiscal 2026. School districts would be encouraged to use some of that money for teacher raises.
Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear, wanted to see an across-the-board 11% raise for teachers and other public school employees. House Democrats said low teacher pay and a lack of raises are causing Kentucky to lose teachers to other professions and neighboring states that pay more.
"We're losing the best and the brightest," said Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort.
Petrie responded by pointing out that increases in funding for transportation and other school services in the current budget proposal would total $474 million over the next two years. That should free up money for local districts to use for employee raises, he said.
"We also try to live fidelity to local control so that the state is not setting the pay scale," Petrie said.
The GOP budget would allocate up to $1.5 million over the next two fiscal years to fund an audit of Jefferson County Public Schools.
The current budget proposal foregoes funding for universal pre-K. Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, criticized the absence of pre-K in the GOP budget bill.
"We have an incredible opportunity this year to solve those needs and we are about to squander it," Raymond said.
The current budget bill includes funding for the Cabinet for Family and Health Services to hire 100 additional social workers during the next two years. It also includes funding to add 2,500 additional Medicaid "waiver" slots to help people with disabilities access services to help them live as independently as possible.
Pensions
There is no funding for a cost-of-living increase or "13th check" for state retirees, who have not seen a pension increase since 2012. That was a key feature of Beshear's proposal.
The absence led Frankfort lawmaker Graham to ask Petrie if he would consider adding that to the budget later in the legislative process.
Petrie said he was open to the idea but was also concerned that providing a one-time "bonus" to retirees would set false expectations that the state would not be able to meet.
"We need to take very, very cautious steps about doing something that we may not be able to fund in the long run," Petrie said.
Rep. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, introduced a floor amendment to add an additional check for retirees to the budget bill. That proposal failed during a procedural vote that fell along mostly party lines.
The budget bills provide almost $1.5 billion in funding to help pay down some of the unfunded liabilities of Kentucky's pension programs for retired teachers, state employees, and police officers.
Affordable housing
The current budget bill does not provide funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a government fund that helps create housing for low-income Kentuckians.
Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington, called that "a glaring oversight" and noted the legislature created and governs the trust fund.
"I think there are other mechanisms," Petrie said in response to a question from Burke about the fund, pointing to other parts of the budget bills that would provide funding for nonprofits who help with housing.
"Pushing that work from a government agency onto nonprofits will undermine the success of that program," Burke said.
This story may update.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 'About to squander it': Kentucky House passes budget bills, Dems decry shortfalls
