State News
House Democrats, Beshear look for 'common ground' on budget
FRANKFORT — House Democratic leaders met with Gov. Steve Beshear for about 45 minutes Monday afternoon to see if they can work together on a plan to balance a state budget facing more than a $1.4 billion shortfall for the next two years.
“It went well,” Beshear said after meeting with Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville, Majority Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook, Whip John Will Stacy of West Liberty, Caucus Chair Bob Damron of Nicholasville and House budget chair Rick Rand of Bedford. He said he and lawmakers tried to find “common ground on the budget.”
That hasn’t been easily found thus far – Beshear proposed to include about $780 million from expanded gambling at horse tracks in his budget proposal and lawmakers almost immediately rejected the idea. Stumbo and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, have said that proposal isn’t going anywhere in this session and Beshear Monday conceded, “It’s going to be difficult to pass that legislation,” but went on to say lawmakers may still change their minds on the subject when they see how bleak the budget picture really is.
Stumbo and Beshear agreed the staffs of the two branches will work together to “share information” from state agencies as lawmakers try to craft a budget
Earlier Stumbo said it appears the budget will face a $400 million shortfall in the first year and as much as a $700 million shortfall in the second year when federal stimulus money is scheduled to expire. He said again Monday he has some hopes the federal government may appropriate more stimulus money to help the fiscally challenged states.
Both said the discussions didn’t delve into details about specific funding cuts or which programs or services might be hardest hit. Stumbo said there was no discussion of layoffs in the meeting.
“We really didn’t talk about details,” Beshear said. “We just talked about how serious the situation was and the fact we’re facing a budget shortfall of about a billion and half dollars over the next two years.”
Beshear assured lawmakers his budget director Mary Lassiter and her staff would assist Rand as he begins to work up a budget proposal in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.
Stumbo has said Rand and his committee are looking at “three of four” alternative budget proposals and he expects to share those with the House Democrats on Wednesday at their weekly caucus. He also said House leaders and Rand have been in regular communication with their Senate counterparts on the budget to discus “broad parameters” of the budget.
Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
- State News
-
-
Tea party offers governor candidate
Sounding themes that resonate with followers of the tea party, a Louisville businessman and advocate of charter schools said Thursday he will seek next year’s Republican Party nomination for governor.
-
Conway appears on popular radio show
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway gives the administration of President Barack Obama a grade of B-minus and said he supports “card check” labor legislation and would have voted for the health care reform bill.
-
State still low on child welfare report
More Kentucky children are living in poverty according to the annual KIDS Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, although the state improved in some rankings. Overall, Kentucky ranked 40th out of 50 states in child well-being.
-
Bluefield College winds down summer of camps
-
Conway swipes Paul on ADA
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Attorney General Jack Conway knows an opportunity when he sees one.
-
Financial reform hurts poor people
“At the dark end of the street,
That’s where we’ll always meet.”
— Gram Parsons
One the insights that I got from Gary Rivlin’s “Broke USA” is that people often use payday lenders because they don’t have access to traditional banks. -
Paul’s father-in-law received farm subsidies
The father-in-law of Republican Senate candidate Dr. Rand Paul received relatively small farm subsidy payments for 12 years — including a portion of a USDA payment due his deceased father’s estate in 1995.
-
Paul, Conway clear air with KFB
Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway tried to pin the other with his own previous statements while also trying to clarify some positions they’ve previously taken in a “Measure the Candidates” forum before the Kentucky Farm Bureau on Thursday.
-
Retirement system solvency not so easy to achieve
Two years ago the General Assembly and Gov. Steve Beshear gave themselves a big collective pat on the back for a “pension reform” bill that would put the employee retirement systems on track to solvency by 2024.
-
State parks hit hard by budget crisis
State lawmakers continued to question implementation of plans to furlough state employees and cut costs at state parks even though most of the austerity measures are the result of shrinking state budgets passed by lawmakers.
- More State News Headlines
-
Tea party offers governor candidate
