KY Senate Republicans hint at budget priorities, redistricting ahead of session
With the impending redistricting of Kentucky’s House, Senate and Congressional maps and pivotal decisions on the state’s budget to come, state politicians have a lot on their minds leading up to the two-year budget session of the Kentucky General Assembly.
While Gov. Andy Beshear gets to take the first crack at unveiling a proposed budget for the session that begins on Jan. 4, Republican Senate leadership at a press conference held in Bowling Green on Monday hinted at their priorities heading into session.
Among the potential budget items discussed were raises for state employees, COVID-19 relief measures, a $23 million bailout for Kentucky State University and several million dollars to go toward state tourism efforts.
Appropriation of funds is a task generally relegated to the legislative branch, and with veto-proof supermajorities in the House and Senate, Republicans can override any of Beshear’s vetoes regarding the allocation of state funds if they establish intra-party consensus.
With a budget surplus in the billions looming, a projected intake of just under $1 billion per year from the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, around $1.1 billion in leftover American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and more, legislators have a lot of money to allocate.
There appears to be no shortage of for how to use the money, either.
Budget priorities
Beshear has briefly hinted at his budget priorities thus far, mentioning his desire to bump Kentucky State Police starting salary by $15,000. ‘Hero pay’ for workers affected by COVID-19 has already caused friction between the governor and legislature because of the scope of who gets that money. Republicans have asked for such one-time bonuses to go only to workers in the medical field while Beshear wanted to cast a wider net.
Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, said that Beshear’s refusal to call a special session to go with Republicans’ proposal amounted to using the situation as a “political pawn.”
When asked about raises for various state workers — including state police, state social workers and state government workers — Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Machester, was quick to point out large pension and retirement costs. He brought up the Teachers’ Retirement System of Kentucky (TRS) requesting a $200 million increase in its appropriation.
“Everybody would love to do pay raises, but you have to do things in the context of the whole,” Stivers said.
He did say, though, that the legislature would have to take action on state employee “salary structure.”
“We’re going to have to change our salary structure for state employees... We can’t recruit and retain because the private sector is paying so much more,” Stivers said. “We’re having something of a void right now in intellectual infrastructure within state government because people are leaving or they’re not coming.”
On the potential for tax cuts, or any other other changes to Kentucky’s tax rates, Wilson said that such a conversation would have to start in the house but that “high level” conversations about it have taken place.
“There’s nothing concrete about that (tax reform), but I’m certain that all of us would like to see that — see us move more towards a consumption based tax and less of an income tax,” Wilson said.
Help for Kentucky State?
When asked about the senate’s thoughts on Kentucky State University’s (KSU) $23 million request for a state bailout — the school’s Chief Financial Officer said it would need such an infusion by March to stay afloat — Givens said he was “very attuned” to both recent concerns about KSU’s functioning and the key role it has played in Kentucky’s history and educational landscape.
“There are real concerns in our caucus about continuing to fund an institution that hasn’t taken care of itself,” Givens said. “At the same time, like I said, we acknowledge the vital role that they play… It’s apparent that there has been significant mismanagement of state funds.”
“Whatever resolution we come to will have a significant impact on KSU going forward, and it will not continue in the model that we’ve seen ineffectively operated under for the last few years.”
Stivers added that he was concerned about Kentucky State’s low graduation rate, and wanted to see it become more competitive in that area — latest available data from the Council on Postsecondary Education puts KSU far behind its in-state peers in four and six year graduation rates.
On the mind of Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, was a use for part of the remaining $1.1 billion in ARPA funds: state tourism.
Thayer said he planned to put in a request from the Kentucky Travel Industry Association for $75 million in ARPA funding to go towards Kentucky tourism marketing — those funds would go toward marketing Kentucky on a national and regional level as well as shoring up more localized tourism efforts.
“We’ve always gotten beat to the punch by a lot of our surrounding states, and that’s what’s happening now post-COVID,” Thayer said. “A lot of states are really ramping up their efforts to get people,now that they’re re-engaging the economy and traveling again, to cover their state.”
He added that the state’s deadline to use its ARPA allocation is in 2024.
Stivers said that other priorities for the legislature will become more clear during the Senate’s annual retreat next month.
Redistricting plans
Beshear has said repeatedly that he wants to see a “plan” on redistricting before he would call a special session prior to the General Assembly.
If nothing changes for either branch of government, that means a special session to finalize redistricting could be at an impasse, as Stivers said on Monday that he didn’t intend to go to Beshear “on anything” when asked about the redistricting process. He added that Senate Republicans could be “ready” to work on redistricting in a week’s time — A spokesperson for house Republican leadership said last week that the house was “close” to finishing redrawing its own map — and that he thinks the Governor should already call a special session.
“It’s not his role to set policy. It’s ours,” Stivers said. “Where the districts are is our prerogative. He can either veto it or not, and if he does in the regular session then we’ll override.”
If the Republicans in both chambers are in lockstep on the newly redrawn maps, their veto-proof supermajorities in the house and senate means that Beshear could not block any redistricting proposal.
Stivers said that he believed the state legislature would pass its redrawn maps by Jan. 11. That’s one week into the General Assembly, but four days after the current deadline to file for the 2022 elections.
If redistricting doesn’t get settled prior to the General Assembly, the legislature is likely to push back the filing deadline so that prospective candidates for the statehouse or U.S. Congressional seats know which district they’d be eligible to run in.
Of note, Wilson said that senate districts are expected to total around 118,000 and that house districts will measure about 45,000 each, both figures plus or minus five percent.
That means more than one senator in his own Warren County, one of the fastest growing counties in the state. Per U.S. Census data, Warren County added more than 20,000 residents from 2010 to 2020.
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 12:26 PM.
