Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
FRANKFORT–Seven pieces of legislation—including a vague one-page plan for spending $801 million and the state’s road projects plan—were approved Tuesday by the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee and passed the House within a few hours.
With a Republican supermajority, GOP lawmakers easily had the votes to move the bills out of the chamber. Still, a few Democrats voted against the bills and resolutions and denounced the lack of time they had to review committee changes before casting a vote.
“It’s not available for the public to see. Don’t know what’s in it. Didn’t have time to read it, so I’m a no,” said Rep. Adrielle Camuel, D-Lexington, while the House voted on House Bill 501, which is the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet budget.
Democrats have made similar arguments this legislative session and in years past. Some advocates, such as the League of Women Voters of Kentucky, have also called for legislators to avoid giving floor votes to bills on the day they move out of committee. However, Republicans — who control the House and Senate — have defended their transparency to the public.
Republican House Speaker David Osborne, of Prospect said most of the bills passed Tuesday in the A&R committee and on the floor had been public information for most of the legislative session.
“There were some small tweaks on some of the bills. The alcohol bill got a little bit smaller, some small changes on that, but overall the road plan was exactly as filed,” Osborne told reporters. “So, I think the overwhelming majority of substance was unchanged.”
In order to veto-proof bills from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, both the GOP-controlled House and Senate must pass them by April 1 to ensure they have enough time to override gubernatorial vetoes.
The bills and resolutions that now go to the Senate are:
- HB 9 makes changes to sales taxes on alcoholic and cannabis-infused beverages.
- HB 501, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet budget.
- HB 502 allots money for statewide road projects over the next two years.
- House Joint Resolution 75 sets up the six-year road project plan.
- House Joint Resolution 76 highlights priority county road projects in the six-year road project plan.
- HB 869 sets up the rural building and job creation revolving fund and would require the Kentucky Community and Technical College System to work with the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet to promote jobs created in the state as part of incentive programs.
- HB 900 would direct $800 million over the next two years to one-time spending, but it doesn’t explicitly say how the dollars would be used. It also includes $1 million in spending for the current fiscal year.
On HB 900, Osborne said the House and Senate have “yet to agree on a final amount of money” and have different opinions on what should be in the final bill. He added that about $30 billion in requests have been made for one-time spending.
“Clearly, that’s going to take an exhaustive negotiation to come to an agreement on how we pull a billion out of those requests,” he said. “It’s a process that is larger than can happen just in one chamber. It’s got to be both chambers talking with it.”
The House bill lists several categories in which the $800 million would be spent: water and sewer project pools, economic development investments and smaller one-time local infrastructure projects and investments.
Democratic Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke, of Lexington, disavowed the bill during floor debate, saying it seems to say “that we are going to do whatever with $800 million taxpayer dollars.”
“How can I say, ‘yes,’ to a one page document that allocates $800 million?” she said. “How can anyone say yes to that?”
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