http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com Covering Kentucky politics and government Tue, 22 May 2012 21:44:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:03:46 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21618 UPDATED AT 7:20 P.M. By Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — A five-day special legislative session that cost taxpayers more than $300,000 ended late Friday afternoon after Kentucky lawmakers approved a transportation budget and a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse. The contentious session wrapped up quickly after leaders in the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House begrudgingly accepted compromises on both bills, which they had failed to approve in the final hours of the regular legislative session on April 12. The Senate backed off a proposal to restore about $50 million worth of road projects in and near Senate President David Williams’ Southern Kentucky district that Gov. Steve Beshear had vetoed earlier this week. Meanwhile, the House accepted an anti-drug abuse bill that keeps the state’s electronic prescription monitoring system in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services — and out of the hands of law enforcement agencies eager to investigate doctors who over-prescribe addictive medications.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:05:05 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21606 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The $50 million in road projects that Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed in or near the Southern Kentucky district of Senate President David Williams are back — for now. In a surprise move Thursday, the fourth day of a special legislative session, the Senate budget committee added the projects to a bill containing the Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget. The panel adopted by voice vote an amendment offered by committee Chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, that restored the projects. The committee then approved the amended House Bill 2 on a 14-0 vote and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to consider it Friday. If the changes become law, which seems unlikely, they would reverse Beshear’s decision on Wednesday to veto the road projects from the state’s two-year road plan. That bill was approved on April 12, the last day of the regular legislative session. Leeper said he introduced the amendment “as a matter of principle” because it was not fair for the governor to direct his vetoes at one legislator.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/26/house-and-senate-to-resume-negotiations-at-2-p-m/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/26/house-and-senate-to-resume-negotiations-at-2-p-m/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:58:38 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21299 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/26/house-and-senate-to-resume-negotiations-at-2-p-m/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/23/kentucky-senate-approves-two-year-budget-next-negotiations-with-house/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/23/kentucky-senate-approves-two-year-budget-next-negotiations-with-house/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:01:49 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21283 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate approved an $18.5 billion, two-year budget Thursday night that includes little money for capital projects, eliminating $3.5 million each for the Kentucky Horse Park and a downtown Lexington redesign project that includes Rupp Arena. The Senate voted 32-4 to approve House Bill 465. The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee passed the measure an hour before it was sent to the full Senate. Now the House, controlled by Democrats, and the Republican-controlled Senate will appoint a committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said he was told late Thursday that the House would begin negotiations Monday. Williams said he would not speculate why the House wanted to wait until after the weekend. The University of Kentucky plays in the NCAA tournament on Friday in Atlanta. Brian Wilkerson, a spokesman for House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Democrat, said the House was going to work Friday but did not want to go into budget negotiations without knowing what the Senate had changed. The Senate passed the budget after the House had adjourned for the day. "We want an opportunity to look at it first," Wilkerson said.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/23/kentucky-senate-approves-two-year-budget-next-negotiations-with-house/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/20/comment-will-discuss-state-budget-redistricting/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/20/comment-will-discuss-state-budget-redistricting/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:41:26 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20214 Steve Beshear's proposed two-year state budget and the redrawing of state legislative and congressional district boundaries. Joining host Ferrell Wellman will be three journalists -- Greg Stotelmyer, political reporter for WTVQ-TV in Lexington; Joe Gerth, political writer for The Courier-Journal; and Jack Brammer, political writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The show airs live at 8 p.m. ET on KET1. On Monday's edition of "Kentucky Tonight" at 8 p.m. ET on KET and at www.ket.org/live, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss the state budget.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/20/comment-will-discuss-state-budget-redistricting/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/24/senate-budget-plan-includes-cuts/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/24/senate-budget-plan-includes-cuts/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:03:15 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=17394 UPDATED AT 5:49 P.M. By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Thursday that the Senate’s plan to fix the Medicaid budget with $101 million in cuts across state government is unacceptable and probably means the issue will not be resolved in the special legislative session. “It’s obvious the majority of the Senate doesn’t want to solve this problem,” Stumbo said, adding that he expects Gov. Steve Beshear will have to reduce reimbursement rates for health care providers by 35 percent on April 1 to address the Medicaid budget. The full Senate voted 22-15 on Thursday to pass its version of House Bill 1. All of the Senate Democrats voted against the measure. Sen. Carroll Gibson, R-Leitchfield, did not vote. The plan would rely on some savings in the state Medicaid program but would also require cuts of about 0.355 percent in the remaining months of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30th. Most parts of state government would be cut 1.74 percent in the second year of the state’s two-year budget. ]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/24/senate-budget-plan-includes-cuts/feed/ 40 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/23/senate-panel-grills-cabinet-secretary-about-savings/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/23/senate-panel-grills-cabinet-secretary-about-savings/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:04:11 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=17370 By Beth Musgrave bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT -- Members of the Senate budget committee grilled Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller Wednesday on how the state would document planned savings in the $6.5 billion Medicaid program. Miller told the Senate panel that when the cabinet enters into contracts with managed care programs sometime after July 1, the cabinet will be able to tell how much it will pay per Medicaid patient. Under the current system -- which pays fees based on services provided -- the costs are not known. Many managed care programs are paid a set rate per patient, regardless of how many health care services the patient uses. "I am confident that we will be able to generate the savings," Miller said, after repeated questions by many Senate Republicans on how much savings the managed care programs will generate. How the new managed care programs will generate savings is key to a compromise budget passed by the House on Monday. Under House Bill 1, if the state can not demonstrate that it has generated more than $116 million in savings through managed care and other efficiencies by Aug. 15, there will be across-the-board cuts in most areas of state government by Oct. 1. Education would be exempt from most of those cuts.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/23/senate-panel-grills-cabinet-secretary-about-savings/feed/ 65 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/14/senator-kentucky-shouldnt-give-up-on-nuclear-power/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/14/senator-kentucky-shouldnt-give-up-on-nuclear-power/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:37:43 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=17227 By John Cheves -- jcheves@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT -- Although Kentucky is known to experience earthquakes, the explosions and radiation leaks at a nuclear power plant in earthquake-ravaged Japan should not discourage the state from expanding into nuclear power, state Sen. Bob Leeper, a Paducah independent, said Monday. For the past three years, including the just-concluded 2011 legislative session, Leeper has sponsored bills that would repeal the state's moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants in Kentucky. His latest effort passed the Senate 31-5 on Feb. 8 but died for lack of action in the House. "It's way too early to talk about throwing in the towel," Leeper said Monday. "As with any other disaster, you've got to see how everything plays out," Leeper said. "You've got to wait and see what works and what doesn't work. It's too early to determine whether or not this makes the case that we can safely develop nuclear energy."]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/03/14/senator-kentucky-shouldnt-give-up-on-nuclear-power/feed/ 11 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/25/with-clock-ticking-ky-lawmakers-still-debating-many-high-profile-bills/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/25/with-clock-ticking-ky-lawmakers-still-debating-many-high-profile-bills/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:35:54 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=16758 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT —With time running out on this year’s legislative session, Kentucky lawmakers still haven’t reached an agreement on balancing the state’s Medicaid budget. House Speaker Greg Stumbo told reporters on Friday that passing House Bill 305, which balances the Medicaid budget, is the one issue that must be rectified before the legislature adjourns. Monday will be the 23rd day of the 30-day legislative session. “The budget issue is my main concern,” Stumbo said. “We have to fix that problem.” So far, only a handful of proposals have cleared both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House. Still on the drawing board are dozens of high-profile bills that would overhaul the state’s criminal code, increase the dropout age from 16 to 18, require a prescription for common cold medicines used to make meth and change the state’s immigration laws, among other things. ]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/25/with-clock-ticking-ky-lawmakers-still-debating-many-high-profile-bills/feed/ 3 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/09/medicaid-on-track-for-865-million-savings-says-state-official/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/09/medicaid-on-track-for-865-million-savings-says-state-official/#comments Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:34:20 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=16303 By Beth Musgrave - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT -- The state's health program for the poor and disabled is on track to save $86.5 million this year, said Kentucky's top health official. But the state still doesn't know how much of that savings it has achieved so far. Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller told a House budget sub-committee on Wednesday that it was difficult to say exactly how much of the $86.5 million in projected savings that Medicaid cost-saving measures have generated. How much the state has saved is a key sticking point in a budget bill pending before the General Assembly. ]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/02/09/medicaid-on-track-for-865-million-savings-says-state-official/feed/ 8