Past week in General Assembly included long, heated arguments

The 13th week of the 2016 General Assembly has included long days and heated discussion over the state’s budget. Senate leadership worked diligently to reach a compromise with Representative Stumbo and the Democratic House Leadership to ensure the state has a budget for the next biennium.

The Senate’s honest attempts to bridge the differences between our two chambers have been met with obstinate refusal. Having rebuffed a more than fair compromise offer,

Representative Stumbo and his leadership team revealed that rather than work as responsible stewards of our state, they would prefer to play election year politics with our state’s financial future. Kentuckians are demanding bold leadership to move our state forward, not divisiveness and petty politics.

Our main concern and budget priority is funding our pension liability. We have over $36 billion in unfunded liabilities and we cannot afford to keep delaying our obligations to the pension funds. As one of my colleagues said, “Refusing to address the pension crisis is equivalent to mortgaging our children’s future.” That is why after taking the concerns of our legislative counter parts into consideration, the Senate offered a reasonable compromise that both chambers of the legislature should be able to unite behind.

The proposed Senate budget compromise would restore full funding to the state’s Judicial Branch, keeping vital family and drug courts open. Meeting our colleges half way on the issue, $250 million, or half of what our chamber initially proposed, is allocated to the Permanent Pension Fund.

While restoring funding to important programs, the Senate budget contributes $1.282 billion to the public pension systems, the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, and the Kentucky Employees’ Retirement System. This will show creditors and retirees that we are serious about funding our liabilities. Additionally $250 million is allocated into the Budget Reserve Trust Fund.

Cuts to higher education, one of the most contentious issues of this session, is addressed with no current year university cuts. Budget cuts for higher education would be reduced by half from our initial proposal of 9 percent to just 4.5 percent for each of the following two years. In this bill, full funding is allocated to K-12 education.

Despite these numerous attempts to compromise and unite our two chambers, House Democrats walked out, demanding handing out “free” community college and the inclusion of a long list of pork barrel spending projects to boost their chances at re-election. This is not the way Kentucky is going to fix our $38 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. It is time for the House Democratic Leadership to step up to the plate and agree to pass a fair, fiscally responsible budget.

While budget negotiations were ongoing, the Senate took action on a number of additional bills last week, including:

· House Bill 570 relates to Kentucky State Police employees and updates statutes to reflect current and correct information.

· House Bill 40 would allow someone convicted of certain felonies to petition a judge to vacate the conviction and expunge the record. The individual seeking expungement would have to wait five years after completing the sentence and pay a fee. Under the bill, those convicted of sex offenses would not be included.

· House Bill 263, as amended, would require more transparency in the public pension system.

· House Bill 305 contains the 2016-18 Biennial Highway Construction Plan. The bill spells out the spending of more than $600 million on transportation infrastructure needs in the Commonwealth over the next three years, a total bolstered by federal matching grants and local government chipping in. HB 305 now returns to the House for consideration of the changes.

· House Bill 150 would allow a worker who leaves a job to keep their unemployment benefits if they leave to follow their military spouse to another military base. The bill stipulates the move must be of at least 100 miles. The House bill also removes the requirement for reciprocal law if the new residence is in a different state. A conference committee has been appointed to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

· House Bill 111 would require the state to waive snow days that school districts are unable to make up. School districts impacted by snow or other school calendar altering events are required to work with the state to meet all 1,062 required annual instructional hour, if at all possible, by June 5. If the district attempts to meet all required hours and cannot, the state would be obligated under HB 111 to waive any hours that remain.

The General Assembly will not be in session during the veto period, which concludes on April 11. During that time Senate and House leadership will continue budget negotiations in hopes of voting on a budget on April 12, the last day of the 2016 Regular Session.

If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please feel free to call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or e-mail me at Max.Wise@LRC.ky.gov . You can also review the legislature’s work online at www.lrc.ky.gov .

Senator Max Wise (R-Campbellsville) represents the 16th District which encompasses Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Russell, Taylor, and Wayne counties. Senator Wise serves as Chair of the Senate Enrollment Committee; Vice Chair of Education Committee; and a member of Appropriations and Revenue Committee; Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee; Health and Welfare Committee; and Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection Committee. He also serves as chair of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation and member of Budget Review Subcommittee on Education, NR, and EP.