Latest news with #HouseAppropriationsandRevenueCommittee
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
KY House budget chair ‘begins the conversation' on state aid for flood victims
An aerial view of Bacon Creek in Hart County, Feb. 16, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) The chairman of the House budget committee has introduced what he said would 'begin the conversation' on millions of dollars in state aid for Kentuckians reeling from recent statewide floods. Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, said the measure, which does not appropriate any money, would create a new SAFE fund, or State Aid for Emergencies, like Kentucky had after earlier Eastern Kentucky floods and Western Kentucky tornadoes. He introduced it as a committee substitute for House Bill 544 in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Tuesday morning. Hours later, the House passed the bill with a vote of 99-0. In February, floods washed over Kentucky and bitter winter weather followed. In total, 24 people were killed. Shortly thereafter, President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the natural disaster. The legislation would allow millions of dollars in aid to address the effects of the February floods, said Petrie, who is also the committee's chairman. In the last state budget, the General Assembly imposed a spending cap on emergency funding to respond to natural disasters, but Petrie said at least $23 million is left before the state reaches the cap. At the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, the cap will reset to free up an additional $50 million. Petrie also said $48 million could be transferred from the previous SAFE funds to the new one created by the bill. The latest version of the bill was not immediately available online Tuesday morning but added later that morning. Petrie repeatedly said the bill mirrored legislation for the previous SAFE funds. All committee members present voted in favor of the bill. In response to questions from committee members, Petrie said information about damage estimates from the flood is continuing to evolve. If the legislation needs to change before the current legislative session ends, 'we still have sufficient time to' amend it. 'If we were to leave this session and whatever is done at the end of the session has been accomplished — if it is insufficient for this event or any other event, and there is always the mechanism of calling a special session, having an agreement beforehand and coming in and taking care of the issue,' Petrie said. Under Kentucky law, the governor calls special sessions of the legislature. However, at the end of last month, Beshear had said there would likely be no need for a special session in the coming months. His administration was a part of conversations about the legislation with Republican lawmakers. This story was updated Tuesday afternoon.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Another income tax rate cut is headed to the Kentucky governor's desk
The state logo featured inside the Kentucky Senate chamber. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) A bill that would further cut the state's income tax rate is headed to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's desk after final passage Tuesday in the Kentucky Senate. House Bill 1, sponsored by House Appropriations and Revenue Committee chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, would reduce the individual income tax rate from 4% to 3.5% effective Jan. 1, 2026. The change will reduce state revenues by an estimated $718 million annually, according to a fiscal note. The Republican-controlled legislature in 2022 reduced the rate by a half percentage point from 5% and by the same amount again in 2023. Similar to when it passed the Kentucky House of Representatives in January, HB 1 garnered some bipartisan support with a 34-3 vote in the Kentucky Senate. Four Democrats voted for the legislation alongside all Republicans while three Democrats opposed it. Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, touted the actions of the GOP-dominated legislature over the past several years to reduce the income tax rate while making investments throughout the state. He pushed back against past criticisms that the legislature hasn't properly funded the state's educational system. 'The General Assembly is going to do everything in its power, and frequently with success, to lower your taxes,' McDaniel said. 'We fully fund our educational system and then some. To those that criticize this General Assembly, I say you do not know what you're talking about.' Beshear, a Democrat, has said he intends to sign the bill. Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, who voted against the bill, said she appreciated the intent of the legislation to give money back to Kentuckians but worried cutting the income tax rate further would primarily benefit wealthier Kentuckians, echoing other concerns from interest groups. 'I also worry about cutting our revenues at a time of such economic uncertainty. We don't know what tariffs, if any, might be coming. We don't know what federal funds, if any, might be going away,' Chambers Armstrong said, referencing the Trump administration's efforts to impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico and freeze federal funding, a move that's been blocked in court. Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, had withdrawn a floor amendment that would more quickly reduce the state income tax. McDaniel had warned earlier in the session against 'stunts' to reduce the income tax rapidly that could impact the state budget and create consequences at the ballot box. Some Republicans among the GOP supermajorities in the legislature want to more expediently reduce the income tax rate to zero. Williams said after discussing with fellow lawmakers, he received a commitment for the body to consider mechanisms that would allow the legislature to reduce the income tax rate by greater than a half percentage point. The current framework established by Republicans in 2022 allows for only a half percentage point cut every year if certain fiscal triggers are met. 'I am looking forward to this next session that we will be able to strive for a greater than one half percent cut,' Williams said.
