KY House GOP introduces pared down budget to limit ‘out of control’ spending
Kentucky House Republicans released their version of the executive branch budget on Tuesday, which top legislators say is the first draft in a long budgeting process this legislative session.
House Bill 500 is even more preliminary than previous first drafts filed during two-year budget sessions like this year, and totals $29.8 billion in General Fund spending, compared to the 2024 budget’s $30.1 billion two-year General Fund spending.
The budget, which is constitutionally required to be passed every two years, controls spending for all facets of the executive branch for the next two fiscal years, which begin July 1, 2026.
House Appropriations & Revenue Chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, said that the “major theme” of the budget will be reducing spending.
“We do not have a revenue problem. One day we may. Today, we do not have a revenue problem, but we always have to fight spending that’s out of control, and that’s what a major theme of this budget is going to be,” Petrie said on the House floor.
As was the case in the last budget cycle, a separate bill with one-time spending will be introduced at a later date, Petrie said.
Petrie did not mention in his floor speech Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s biggest push: a pre-kindergarten program that the governor asked for a little over $100 million to fund over two years.
That program was left out of House Bill 500.
The budget features several areas where spending growth will go down over time, as opposed to the normal projected year-over-year growth, though it’s hard to know how long those will hold, given the preliminary nature of the document.
For instance, General Fund spending on Medicaid would go down from Fiscal Year 2026-2027 to Fiscal Year 2027-2028. The executive branch is allocated $2.96 billion in General Fund dollars in the first fiscal year, and $2.88 billion in the next. That’s slightly more than what’s in the current budget, but far less than the $2.79 billion and $3.5 billion proposed in Beshear’s budget.
The total dollar amount for the primary formula that funds K-12 public schooling in Kentucky would go up modestly in the bill. The current budget allocated $3.26 billion and $3.37 billion. House Bill 500 proposes $3.46 billion and $3.37 in the next two fiscal years.
Per student, the funding for the next two fiscal years would remain exactly the same as the current figure: $4,586.
All of this could change, however.
Petrie emphasized that compared to previous years, where deals around exact spending amounts for agencies were hashed out before session and finalized early, the committees under his own will be “more active” during session in determining the final amounts allocated for various initiatives.
“Budget review subcommittees will be much more active,” he said. “They have been already and they will be even more. There will be meetings during the day and at night, formal and informal.”
That includes interfacing with state agencies, which Petrie said want more money than what will ultimately be allocated.
“There’s no amount of revenue that will feed the executive branch and its wants and its desires, but we will find what they need, and that’s how we’ll come up with a good budget,” Petrie said.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 6:33 PM.
