FRANKFORT, Ky. — Several weeks after the House passed its budget, Senate Republicans outlined their spending priorities in their own budget proposal, leaving more than a billion dollars on the table for potential tax cuts.

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Republicans unveiled their spending plan Wednesday

  • The amended version of House Bill 1 cleared a committee and floor vote in the Senate Wednesday

  • The bill leaves more than a billion dollars unspent, potentially to make up for revenue lost with tax cuts Republicans plan to pursue

The Senate passed an amended version of House Bill 1 Wednesday, but Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Taylor Mill) said he expects it to go to a conference committee between both chambers.

“I think this document is perfect,” McDaniel said. “They oughta just pass it and we’ll go home.”

Some major points in the Senate budget:

  • Pay for state employees will rise 10 percent in each of the next two years: $4,500 the first year and then the Personnel Cabinet will study who should receive more targeted raises in year two.
  • $15,000 raises for Kentucky State Police troopers 
  • $4,800 raise for social workers in year one, and a 10 percent raise in year two
  • Fully-funded pensions, plus an addition $250 million for police pensions
  • Non-profit grant pool of $75 million, with each entity receiving up to $75,000
  • $250 million for repairs to the Kentucky State Capitol
  • $250 million to overhaul the Kentucky state park system

“We have worked diligently for ten years to make sure that, first and foremost, we have shored up the Commonwealth’s pension funds,” McDaniel said. “And then secondarily, begin to make sure we have some money in the savings account, and now we’re able to start investing back. It’s a long-term process.”

The Senate budget also includes money for the Senate’s income tax rebate plan, which is worth $500 for single filers and $1,000 for joint filers.  

McDaniel said it also leaves room for the House’s plan to cut the income tax by one percent next year.

“Inflation is just crushing Kentuckians,” he said. “This is their money. They sent it to us. We didn’t expect it to come in. It needs to go back to them.”

In terms of education, the Senate and House agree on raising dollars for the school funding formula, but the Senate version cuts funding for full-day kindergarten.  

It also does not include raises for teachers, something Governor Andy Beshear pushed for.

“At the end of the day, we are governed by the SEEK formula; we are governed by the Kentucky Education Reform Act,” McDaniel said. “And if we flow those funds through the formula and still try to get in the minutiae of how a teacher should receive a raise, we disproportionately affect the districts, and I think this is the fairest way to handle it.”

The measure adds $87 million to the performance-based funding model for colleges and universities.

Senate Democratic Leader Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) said his party only received the budget about an hour before Wednesday morning’s committee vote, which isn’t enough time to analyze it.   

“We haven’t had a chance to read the budget yet, and so this is a document where you just have to look at every page, find out what’s in it, find out what’s missing,” McGarvey said. “We haven’t had an opportunity to do that before voting on it.”

Lawmakers have to finalize a budget by April 14, although the measure will likely pass before the veto period starts at the end of March.

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