Boswell, Johnson discuss interim legislative session
Kentucky lawmakers will return to Frankfort next week for the beginning of the 2025 interim legislative session.
During the session, committees will meet to study policy issues, review implementation of recently passed legislation and begin evaluating proposals for the 2026 regular session.
State Sen. Gary Boswell and State Rep. DJ Johnson both anticipate early budget talks being a big focus.
'With respect to the budget, I will say that I'm concerned that the funds we had available, a lot of it through federal grants and the Inflation Reduction Act — which had nothing to do with inflation reduction — but the effect of that was there were some federal funds available for one-time-only projects,' Johnson said, 'and what we did in the last budget was we absolutely focused on one-time-only funding that we thought would be of benefit, and I don't see those funds necessarily being available in this next budget.
'I think it's going to be a little bit more of an austere budget than this last one was. The conversations are going to be a lot tougher than they were before.'
But Johnson doesn't believe that's going to necessitate a lot of cuts in the budget, thanks to an increase in revenue.
'There is a revenue increase we're seeing through economic development; that is a fact,' he said. 'So I don't necessarily see a bunch of cuts. There are some things that we think philosophically we should take a look at, but I don't think it's going to be because of revenue. I think it's going to be because we want to be as efficient as we possibly can while still taking care of the important things.'
Boswell also noted the increase in revenue, but he believes the state can be much wiser in how it spends money.
'I think we're doing a great job of bringing in revenue; I think we're growing our revenue base, but we're also spending a lot of money,' Boswell said. 'I'm on Appropriations and Revenue, and we have a lot of good causes that need to be funded, but at the same time, I've pointed out some areas that I think we could save money.'
Boswell believes it's a must that the state take action to relieve itself of property it owns that is not being utilized, including property on Highway 54, as well as ending leases for office space no longer needed.
'I have brought that up on several occasions, that we've got to sell all of this old property,' Boswell said. 'We'll do a couple of things. One, we'll get the revenue, and we should put that back in the general fund. Secondly, we'll create more tax revenue because we're not getting any revenue, and it's a terrible eyesore.
'I've talked to the chairman of Appropriations and Revenue, and if they don't do something quicker, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get a bill passed, that we need to consider getting rid of all property that we don't really need. It's somewhat like a hoarder, and in this case, it's the taxpayer's money.'
Boswell also noted smaller expenditures he's seen since taking office that he feels wasted money and add up, such as offices being unnecessarily repainted and legislators receiving a new embroidered leather carry bag every two years.
He also plans to continue fighting for personal property rights.
Johnson wants a significant focus to be put on families and better protecting children, and he expects it will be a high priority for the Republican caucus.
'We did a lot of that last time,' Johnson said. 'We did some things as far as penalties for child pornography and that sort of thing, and there were a couple of things that I personally wanted to get through that I'll probably look at — for example stiffer penalties for child pornography. I think we need to have it where they serve 80 to 85% of their sentence, as opposed to something lesser than that. I didn't get it through last time, it was just too tight of a schedule with the short session, so I'll be taking a look at that again.
'I'm also looking at some things for child care that I was trying to do last time. It was just hard to have a conversation about something as important as child care in that short session. Those are priorities for me.'
While Frankfort has appeared deeply divided by party in recent years, Johnson said what is often overlooked is how much legislation is passed with bipartisan support.
'For the really emotional issues, there's probably not going to be a lot of negotiation,' he said. 'But I will say this, if you go do a statistical check, probably 89% to 91%, somewhere in that percentage of the bills have some kind of bipartisan support, and we overlook that. The hot topics are going to make the news, the highlights, because it gets pretty boring if we look at the 100 votes we had where it was 90-4 or 94-4. Those are boring.
'But they're what makes government work, and those votes are what improves Kentucky, and there are a lot of them. We just don't talk about them.'
• Boswell has been named a 2025 Kentucky Family Champion by The Family Foundation of Kentucky for 'his strong and principled support for pro-family policies' during the 2025 regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Boswell was graded on his voting record, sponsorship of key legislation and leadership on issues such as protecting life, religious freedom, parental rights and human dignity.
'It means a lot; I went up there to represent conservative values, so I have,' said Boswell, who views the recognition as confirmation he's representing the views of his constituents. 'I do pay a lot of attention to it, because I think most of the people who voted for me, supported me, expect me to score a high score.'
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