KY House Democrats push back on state budget, unveil plan to boost spending
Kentucky House Democrats unveiled a plan Friday to address concerns that Republicans’ 2026-28 executive branch budget proposal goes too far in reducing spending on education, health insurance and more.
Democratic lawmakers in the House filed seven floor amendments as part of a package of proposals to address the housing crisis, strengthen public education and protect programs, including Medicaid and the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
According to a news release, the seven floor amendments include:
- $279 million to protect the Kentucky Employees’ Health Plan
- $670 million into public education
- $192 million to providing a 13th pension check for retired state employees and retired state troopers
- $623 million to fully fund Medicaid
- $101.5 million fully SNAP, commonly known as food stamps
- $140 million in affordable housing
- $50 million to rural hospitals
The floor amendments were not available for public review Friday afternoon on the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission website.
Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, said the current Republican budget proposal withholds $1 billion in revenues.
“(Republicans are) holding your tax dollars hostage, hoping to use them to reach a trigger for a tax break for their rich friends and donors, lawmakers, offices have been flooded with calls, emails and messages from every corner of the Commonwealth and from both Republican and Democratic voters,” Stevenson said.
Kentucky crafts its biennial budget during even-numbered years, and House Republicans released their first draft in January. The state’s budget must be adopted by April 15, but it has made little progress through the legislature so far.
In its current state, House Bill 500, the Republican proposal, totals $29.8 billion in two-year general fund spending. That’s down from the 2024 budget’s $30.1 billion.
House Appropriations & Revenue Chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, previously said the “major theme” of the budget will be reduced spending.
The GOP budget proposal features several areas where spending growth will go down over time, as opposed to the normal projected year-over-year growth. For example, general fund spending on Medicaid would go down from fiscal 2026-27 to fiscal 2027-28. In HB 500, the executive branch is allocated $2.96 billion from the general fund for the first fiscal year, and then $2.88 billion in the next.
Multiple lawmakers, including Republicans, are voicing concern over the proposal, saying it goes too far with education cuts. State Rep. Patrick Flannery and state Sen. Brandon Smith, both Republicans, have said on social media they would vote “no” on the budget’s current form.
Jason Bailey of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said in a Facebook post HB 500 would cut school transportation funding and freeze the guaranteed base funding level used to determine payments to school districts under the SEEK formula. The Support Education Excellence in Kentucky formula, or SEEK, is a state-provided funding approach for schools based on per-student calculations.
The budget passed during the 2024 legislative session allocated $3.26 billion and $3.37 billion in base funding for school districts. HB 500 proposes $3.46 billion and $3.37 billion in the next two fiscal years, which freezes the per-student spending at $4,586 per fiscal year.
When asked if House Democrats have spoken with Republicans about support for the floor amendments, Minority Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington, said she doesn’t think leadership will let dissenting Republicans support the Democrats’ plan.
“They put out the worst budget that Kentucky has ever seen, and now they don’t know how to clean up their mess,” Burke said.
Other concerns about HB 500 include declining state worker health benefits.
Personnel Cabinet Secretary Mary Elizabeth Bailey sent a letter to all members of the General Assembly outlining her concerns, saying the 5% increase cap on employer health plan contributions per year would lead to decreased benefits for members of the Kentucky Employee Health Plan program.
That could affect more than 310,000 state workers, dependents and retirees. Rep. Erika Hancock, D-Frankfort, said this is the first time Republicans are proposing a budget that “threatens to impose a 5% annual cap on the state’s contribution to the Kentucky employees health plan.”
“The state’s personnel cabinet issued a warning that this could mean premium increases of up to 78% and with reduced coverage, teachers, bus drivers, state troopers and other public servants will pay dramatically more and receive less coverage,” Hancock said. “That’s not right when we have the money to fix this.”
HB 500 has yet to receive a committee hearing, which is the next step in the legislative process. Depending on how the bill changes before it reaches the floor, Burke said, “without giving away our whole strategy, I assure you, we will fight to the very end.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 3:09 PM.
