Greater Louisville Inc.: House Passes Biennium Budget Bill

Press release from Greater Louisville, Inc.:

2022-01-21

With record speed, lawmakers passed a budget plan out of the House a mere 13 days into the session. House Bill 1 prioritizes spending on education and workforce and includes a pay raise for all state employees – priorities for both caucuses which garnered bi-partisan support and allowed the bill to pass 85-8.

After years of historically lean budgets, the House Majority was in the advantageous position of crafting the state’s biennium spending plan with a record-setting revenue surplus of $1.9 billion and $1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Many of GLI’s priorities received funding, including:

Education:

Workforce:

Other items:

While HB 1’s emphasis on education, workforce and economic development, and pay raises for state government are similar to priorities in Governor Beshear’s proposal released last week, the House plan did not allocate as much funding as the governor’s $2 billion proposal. Chairman Petrie noted that the House budget plan leaves $1.142 billion unallocated and that the General Assembly needs to determine the best way to spend these taxpayer dollars, hinting at the possibility of a tax cut.

As indicated by leadership, the Republican majority fast-tracked the passage of this bill and is likely to shift the focus of the House to tax reform in the coming weeks. Now the bill heads to the Senate for review and, almost certainly, significant changes before lawmakers from both chambers work on the bills in conference committee.

While many of GLI’s budget priorities were included, we are continuing to advocate for the inclusion of additional funding for child care centers and providers to help address underlying causes of our region’s ongoing workforce shortage.

This press release was produced by Greater Louisville, Inc.. The views expressed here are the author’s own.