All Entries in the "Bob Leeper" Category

Some delinquent Kentucky taxpayers get a break

By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com

About 2,000 delinquent Kentucky taxpayers — mostly businesses — will get a break under the revenue bill the General Assembly passed on Friday during its special session.

Tucked into House Bill 2 were two sentences that will erase millions of dollars in penalties, interest and fees owed by the delinquent taxpayers if they had a protest pending at the Revenue Department by Jan. 19 of this year and if they agree to pay the original sum of taxes they owed no later than July 31.

“These are incentives to reach a very targeted, very limited number of individuals who are in the protest resolution stage,” said Jill Midkiff, spokeswoman for Gov. Steve Beshear, who asked for the measure.

The state expects to collect $15.5 million in taxes as a result of the limited amnesty, said Revenue Department spokeswoman Cindy Lanham. Many of the eligible taxpayers have delinquency cases up to five years old, she said.

The department cannot estimate how much money will be forfeit because the penalties, interest and fees can vary widely depending on the circumstances of a delinquency and how long a case has gone on, Lanham said.

Senate panel makes changes to budget bill

By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Senate budget committee made several changes to a proposed two-year spending plan for the state late Thursday before unanimously approving the more than $17 billion budget.

Unlike the budget bill that cleared the state House earlier this week, the Senate proposal includes money to replace some of the state’s most dilapidated school buildings, mandates changes to the state employees’ health insurance plan and nixes funding for a private Christian school in Breathitt County.

The full Senate is expected to take up the budget Friday, which is expected to be the last day of a special legislative session that began Monday. Once the Senate approves its version of House Bill 1, leading lawmakers from both chambers will have to quickly compromise on their differences in order to adjourn late in the day.

Senate Budget Chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, said after Thursday night’s vote that school districts opting to increase property taxes would be given money from the state to build those schools. It’s not clear how much money would be available.

Senate panel approves revenue measure with new tax credits

FRANKFORT — A Senate committee on Thursday passed a bill designed to generate revenue over the next two years despite not knowing how much money the bill would raise for the cash-strapped state.

The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee voted unanimously Thursday to pass House Bill 2, which cleared the House on Wednesday. Through a series of cost-cutting measures — including caps on state tax incentives — the House version of the bill would generate about $88 million over the next two years.

But the Senate attached four different tax credits to the revenue measure, including easing requirements on an environmental tax credit targeted at Toyota. Some of those business tax credits will not take effect for the next several years, including the tax credit for Toyota, Senate leaders said Thursday.

Senate Budget Chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, said he wasn’t sure how much revenue the Senate version of the bill would raise but said it’s unlikely that the tax credits added by the Senate would dramatically decrease the amount of money generated by House Bill 2.

Leaders will discuss law-making session on ‘Kentucky Tonight’

Four state legislative leaders are scheduled to appear on Monday’s edition of “Kentucky Tonight” with host Bill Goodman to discuss the 2010 General Assembly.

They are Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville; House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook; Senate budget chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah; and House budget chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford.

The show will air at 8 p.m. EDT MOnday on KET and at www.ket.org/live.

Senate approves state budget, road plan

By Beth Musgrave, Jack Brammer and Ryan Alessi – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate passed its version of a $17.3 billion, two-year state budget Monday night that cuts deeper than the House’s proposed spending plan and axes nearly $1 billion in school, water and sewer projects.

The Senate approved House Bill 290 on a 35-2 vote, with one lawmaker declining to vote.

House Democratic leaders said the Senate’s decision to drop almost $1 billion worth of construction projects — which the House said would create 25,000 jobs — may mean lawmakers end the 2010 legislative session without approving a budget.

“If it’s a budget buster it’s a budget buster,” said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. “We’re so committed to the Kentucky Jobs for Kentucky Families (plan) and creating 25,000 jobs that we may have to leave here without a budget.”

A conference committee made up of House and Senate leaders will be formed in coming days to hammer out differences between the two chambers’ budgets. If they hope to override any vetoes by Gov. Steve Beshear, lawmakers will need to vote on a compromise by the end of next week.

The Senate cut an extra 1.5 percent from nearly all areas of state government, slicing deeper than the 2 percent cuts the House had proposed for many agencies. The only area that appears to be exempt from those cuts was the Department of Revenue, which has argued that cutting its budget could limit the amount of money it collects for the state.

The Senate also replaced two school days that were cut under the House plan, instead trimming the main funding formula for schools by 1.5 percent in the first year and 1 percent in the second year of the budget.

Stumbo: ‘We may have to leave here without a budget’

Staff/Wire Report

FRANKFORT — The state Senate’s version of the two-year state budget would fund far fewer construction projects, includes cuts across much of state government and preserves two school days that the House wants to drop, a key lawmaker said Monday.

Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Bob Leeper said the Senate’s version of the budget deletes approximately $1 billion in bonded projects that the House had included in its budget, which it passed earlier this month.

That money, which House Democrats said would create 25,000 jobs, was earmarked to replace or renovate 65 schools in Democratic-member districts as well as sewer and water projects in mostly Democratic districts.

House Democratic leaders said the Senate’s decision to drop the projects may mean lawmakers end the 2010 legislative session without approving a budget.

“If it’s a budget buster it’s a budget buster,” said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. “We’re so committed to the Kentucky Jobs for Kentucky Families (plan) and creating 25,000 jobs that we may have to leave here without a budget,” Stumbo said.

Stumbo said the Senate’s proposal may only be a negotiating tactic, but nobody from the Senate has indicated to him what they might want in return.

Senate panel warned that education cuts likely

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Some state senators expressed concern Tuesday about cutting two school days to help balance Kentucky’s budget, but one key lawmaker warned that cuts to education appear inevitable.

The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee began deliberations Tuesday on the House’s $17.5 billion, two-year budget that included a host of cuts, including axing two schools days from the calendar to save about $72 million.

House Bill 290 — the executive branch budget — also includes $2.2 billion in money for school, water, sewer and road projects. However, the House left $240 million unallocated so the Senate can add additional projects.

Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, said during Tuesday’s committee meeting that he had strong reservations about cutting the school year to 175 days. “The only thing that I ask is that this be the last thing that we cut,” Shaughnessy said.

But budget chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, warned committee members that there are few easy decisions left after the House plugged a nearly $1.2 billion hole in the budget with a variety of funds and cost-saving measures. “I will caution members that there are some very difficult decisions to be made,” he said.