Democrats praise ‘good budget’ from GOP but quibble over funding, add-ons
Less than 24 hours after House Republicans unveiled their version of the two-year $23.4 billion budget, House Democrats were singing its praises, saying they were grateful it didn’t include major cuts and maintained several aspects of the budget proposed by Gov. Andy Beshear.
House Bill 352, the budget bill, passed 86-10. It’s companion bill, HB 351, which deals with new revenue, passed 57-34.
“This is a good budget,” said Rep. Patti Minter, D-Bowling Green. “Certainly better than we have seen in the past.”
Democrats complimented Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, who wrote the budget, and praised the bill for not containing any “devastating cuts.” Several called it varying levels of “good.”
But as the more than two hour debate rolled on, more and more of the Democrats raised the issues they had with what the Republicans produced, focusing largely on differences between the House’s budget and the Governor’s budget in education and social services.
One of the biggest issues came from a provision that gave $500,000 over two years to the Ordered Liberty Fellowship, a program at the University of Louisville’s law school that was formed this year.
On the University of Louisville’s website, the program’s mission is described as “finding the right arrangement of justice, order, and freedom through the advanced study of five concepts: federalism, separation of powers, originalism, natural rights, and the common good.”
Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, who helped get the money into the bill, said the group was not partisan and that it had nothing to do with the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that has played a role in reshaping the courts.
Democrats didn’t believe him, calling it a “fringe” group and called into question social media posts of people they said were associated with the the Ordered Liberty Fellowship.
The group’s funding in the budget was magnified by the fact that the budget cut Gov. Andy Beshear’s proposed funding to the Kentucky Commission on Women and the Office for Minority Empowerment. Rep. Terri Branham Clark, D-Cattlesburg, said the decision not to fund the commission on women spoke to the priorities of the legislature.
“I’m just distraught and upset that in the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote, that in that same budget we cut funding for the commission on women,” Branham-Clark said.
Several Democrats were concerned that the new budget decreased the amount of Michelle P waiver slots from 500 in Beshear’s budget to 200 slots in the House budget. Michelle P waivers provide assistance for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in order to help them live as independently as possible, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Others took issue with the fact that the bill allowed for fewer social workers to be hired, even though it included pay increases for current social workers and raised the entry salary for new social workers by 10 percent. Beshear originally called for 350 new social workers to be hired and the House budget set the number at 100 over two years.
On education, Democrats were happy that the budget included an increase in funding for higher education, they criticized the fact that the funding would come through a performance funding model.
They also criticized the fact that the bill did not fund the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System’s health plan for people who are under 65 in the second year of the budget.
Rudy said he was told there were enough assets to cover the health plan without the funding in the second year.
Republicans took out Beshear’s $2,000 proposed pay raise for teachers, opting instead for a 1 percent raise to all school employees. In a press conference shortly after the House adjourned, Beshear said he will continue pushing for the $2,000 raise he promised on the campaign trail.
“While we appreciate there is a teacher raise, we have a teacher shortage and a teacher crisis occurring not just in Kentucky but around the country,” Beshear said. “And with other states offering $2,000 raises, we are at a competitive disadvantage if we do not do it.”
Beshear was also critical of the House’s decision not to fund Kentucky Wired, saying the project is 80 percent completed and if the state defaults on its contract it could cost between $400 million and $600 million.
There were a couple of non-budget related items tucked into the bill, including one that would make daylight savings permanent.
Rudy, making light of the fact that daylight savings goes into effect this weekend, said “with a little help from our friends in the federal government, the language in this budget, we won’t have to leap forward anymore.”
“Yes, Mr. Speaker, the permanent daylight saving times bill is in this document,” Rudy said. “And I’m asking you to vote for daylight savings.”
Rudy also reminded the members that this is merely a step in the process of crafting the budget. Now that it has passed the House, the Senate will unveil their own version of the budget. The final budget will ultimately be determined by a negotiation between House and Senate members.
“Make sure that this House stays strong,” House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, said. “Because when this goes down to the other chamber, things are going to change.”
There was less consensus on the revenue side of the budget, HB 351, not because the House removed most of Beshear’s suggested revenue increases — Republicans left only a provision to tax vaping and some tobacco products estimated to bring in $50 million — but because it contained an amendment the House had previously defeated that would allow local governments to avoid posting legally required public notice advertisements in local newspapers by posting them online instead.
Rep. Angie Hatton, D-Whitesburg, said the bill will harm local and community papers that already face declining revenue as the newspaper industry has been upended by the internet and social media.
“We cannot sneak things in on page 180 out of 201 that does serious harm and then trick people into not voting for it,” Hatton said.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 2:53 PM.
