House Budget Passed
The Kentucky House of Representatives passed the biennial Executive Branch and Transportation budgets today – HB 1 (State/Executive Branch Budget) and HB 241 (Transportation Budget) – which include an increase in the per diem reimbursement rate for county jails housing state inmates, $50 million over two years for county roads and bridges, $350 million for water and wastewater grants and more positive news for counties.
Click here for more details on the House Budget. Please call your Representative and thank them for passing a county-first budget! As the Senate continues to draft their version, KACo has asked for their support of funding county priorities.
Legislative Redistricting Maps Vetoed by Governor
Early this week, Governor Beshear vetoed HB 2, the House redistricting map, and SB 3, the Congressional redistricting maps. On Thursday, the House and Senate overrode Beshear’s vetoes of these maps by votes largely along party lines: 69-23 in the House, 24-10 in the Senate.
Redistricting Lawsuits Filed
Not long after the vetoes were overridden, the Kentucky Democratic Party filed a lawsuit over the redistricting plan, challenging the new maps. The lawsuit was filed in Franklin Circuit Court on Thursday afternoon. No hearing date has been announced yet.
HB 323 - Filing Deadline and Primary Date
Your KACo team is actively working and engaged with legislators to stop HB 323 from impacting county officials. The bill would change the filing deadline and primary election date in 2022 if legal challenges to legislative redistricting drags on too long. We have contacted the bill sponsor, members of both House and Senate leadership and their staff. We can assure you that the bill will not advance without further input from your KACo team and county elected officials.
You can watch a video clip from Thursday night’s press conference during which House Speaker David Osborne talks about the bill here: https://youtu.be/PNqnWfhxER0
View a Lexington Herald-Leader article describing the bill here: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article257554273.html
Stay informed by following us on Twitter @KACo, Facebook @KACo, and on our website, www.kaco.org.
As always, please email shellie.hampton@kaco.org or gracie.lagadinos@kaco.org with any questions or feedback from legislators. We appreciate everything you do to help move counties forward!
