State legislators working to pass budget bill

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Kentucky legislative session has now entered day 30, marking the halfway point of what is an extended session.

This year, one bill has stood above the rest. House Bill 500 deals with setting the state’s budget within that budget. Legislators are trying to find a better way to provide quality health care for over 300 workers who rely on state health care. These include individuals who work for the state government, but also educators, bus drivers, and even the state police.

One local legislator says that the increase in cost is just not sustainable.

“The state’s increased its contribution over the five years by an average of about $356 per policy, and the individual has only had to pay, on the average, about $0.80 more. So you see who’s having to eat the majority of, great majority of that cost. So we just can’t continue at the same pace that we’re going without making some adjustments,” said state representative Kevin Jackson.

The weight on the budget is a massive one as well. But Jackson says that no matter the challenge, the people who rely on the health care are too important to lose.

It was going to cost about $800 million more extra over the next two years for the state to be able to continue to pay what these rates are going up, and so we got a problem. We’re going to have to have calm heads sitting down talking about this and coming to some type of understanding and agreement. We can’t lose the people we have working in these fields right now. They’re so valuable to the future of Kentucky and our kids in the state” Jackson said.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle have shown their disapproval of the so-called ‘bare bones bill’, but have worked hard to find a solution. However, it seems legislators are keen to stay away from the rainy day fund.

“For purposes like this we put in about an extra $2 billion two years ago in the budget for one-time expenses. It was for roads, maybe it was infrastructure, those types of things. So I don’t think they want to start using the rainy day fund for reoccurring expenses, because once you do that, then you’re saddled with that. Going forward, it’s only going to continue to have to come out or you’re going to have to say, no, we can’t do that anymore” Jackson said

Jackson also mentioned that time is a factor, and there is a real possibility that an agreement will not be met before the session ends. If that is the case, a special meeting will have to be called by the governor to vote on any legislation that comes up.