Time’s running short for lawmakers

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March 19, 2008

By RONNIE ELLIS The Glasgow Daily Times Wed Mar 19, 2008, 02:12 PM CDT

FRANKFORT — There are only 12 days left in this year’s General Assembly session. So what’s the score after 48 days?

Three bills and one resolution have been signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear while two other bills and one resolution are awaiting his signature. A $19 billion budget, which includes a 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax and extension of the sales tax to some luxury services, has passed the House. But all signs indicate the Senate has a different view of the budget and is likely to change it significantly.

Republican House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, of Jamestown, thinks there’s a chance the session will end without a budget.

“I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see how we’ll pass a budget,” Hoover said. “I still say we’ll leave here without a budget.”

The House is determined to avoid painful cuts during an economic downturn and is willing to raise taxes to avoid them. The Senate takes a dimmer view of tax increases.

“I don’t think there’s any sentiment to raise taxes with the majority (Republican) party in the Senate,” said Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, D-Drift. He said Democratic senators must wait to see what is offered in committee and on the floor. He isn’t sure if the Democratic caucus will support tax increases.

Adding to the differences between the two chambers, Beshear isn’t in complete agreement with his fellow Democrats in the House. He wants to increase the cigarette tax by 70 cents and he is at odds with Democrats over how to calculate – and appropriate – savings from the anticipated retirement of 3,000 to 5,000 state employees.

Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, still hopes the Senate will adopt some of the House tax increases and avoid cuts to education and social services.

“If we’re able to get that through and get a budget passed that reduces the cuts, I’d feel better about the session than I do right now,” he said. Like many lawmakers, he isn’t thrilled with the legislative pace so far.

Bell doesn’t even want to hear the session could end without a budget.

“I have heard some people say that,” Bell said. “But if we fail to pass a budget, then we’ve failed in our first obligation to the people of Kentucky. I’d be very disappointed.”

Three years ago, the state Supreme Court ruled the governor cannot spend money on anything but undefined “emergency services” without legislative appropriations. Beshear said last week it’s clear that ruling means “the government would have to shut down. We would not be able to come up with some spending plan to keep the state parks open and do all the kinds of things the government does right now and the kinds of things people expect. It would be a disaster for the commonwealth.”

The Senate plans to pass its version of the budget on Monday or Tuesday of next week. If the two chambers can’t agree, a free conference committee will try to hammer out a compromise. Beshear would then have to decide whether to accept that budget or veto it.

The budget isn’t the only piece of major legislation awaiting action: pension reform, ethics reform, a bill to allow first-time, non-violent offenders to enter substance-abuse treatment rather than jail and Bell’s cyber-stalking bill are among proposals either in committee or awaits a vote by one chamber after passing the other.

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Time’s running short for lawmakers

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