This story originally appeared in the April 26, 2024 edition of LINK Reader. To be the first to receive articles like this, subscribe here.
Good jobs and schools, vibrant communities, and decent roads are on the wish list of most communities in the United States, and Northern Kentucky is no exception.
Over the past few months, as Kentucky's 2024 legislative session opens in Frankfort, local governments and organizations have been working with state legislators to make sure education, workforce and economic development, and transportation funding are part of the picture. , realized projects and policies that benefited NKY.
On April 15, the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly put the final touch on that picture, ending a session that approved more than $1 billion in road projects and more than $350 million in additional direct funding to NKY. .
No one ever gets everything they want. A bill to limit the closure of aging coal-fired power plants (Senate Bill 349) passed over a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear and opposition from both Duke Energy and the NKY Chamber of Commerce. Public school teachers did not receive raises, even though lawmakers encouraged local school boards to pass them on from increased state school base funding over the next two years.
Democratic Rep. Rachel Roberts of Newport announced House Bill 5, the Safer Kentucky Act, this session's major crime bill, which would add new crimes and harsher penalties to state law at an “incalculable” cost. “I put it at the top of my list of disappointments,'' he said. ” She further slammed the proposal, saying it is an example of why some say the General Assembly is “a place where sanctity and willful ignorance grow.”
There were also many rays of hope.
After the state Legislature passed the $128 billion two-year state budget (HB 6) on March 28 and sent it to the governor, NKY Chamber Vice President of Public Affairs Tami Wilson said the NKY Chamber “ We are pleased with this historic level of funding.” On page 280 of the bill, there is “funding for early childhood education and post-secondary achievement support.”
LINK nky starts with education for the 2024 legislative session, which ended on April 15th.
education
Republican majorities in the Senate and House appear willing to support the state budget that lawmakers sent to the governor in late March. Eight House Republicans voted against the bill: Stephen Doan of Erlanger, Savannah Maddox of Dry Ridge, Marianne Proctor of Union, and Steve Rawlings of Burlington. (including a member of Congress) and only one non-NKY member.
Upon final passage in the House on March 28, Rep. Jason Petrie (R-Elkton), chairman of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, called HB6 a “powerful spending plan.”
“Increasing K-12 per student funding by 3% in the first year and 6% in the second year, and fully covering school transportation costs in the second year, for school districts with limited funding capacity. This budget meets our needs and builds on that foundation by strengthening Tier 1 parity. Ta. (Tier 1 is a public school funding mechanism used to equalize funding between poor and wealthy school districts.)
The budget includes a 9% increase in base funding for K-12 education, more than $250 million for need-based, work-ready scholarships, and an increase to the Higher Education Achievement Fund, a competitive funding source for state universities. Includes $25.4 million above current levels. And university.
Recurring topics such as early childhood education, teacher hiring, and school choice also came up in the state Legislature.
Kindergarten preparation:
Promoting universal preschool for all 4-year-olds did not become law this Congress, but other early childhood proposals did. One of these is the Adaptive Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Project. This is her two-year program established under HB 695 that will target approximately 400 preschoolers and their families to develop age-appropriate reading and optional math and science skills. . The governor signed the bill on April 4th.
Securing and recruiting teachers:
No state funds have been earmarked for the preschool pilot project. It relies on federal funding. The budget includes $29.4 million, split nearly 50-50 between student teacher scholarships and the Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness Pilot Program. Rep. Kim Banta (R-Fort Mitchell) is the sponsor of his HB 377, which created the program. The bill was signed into law on April 9th.
Research cooperation with universities:
Funding for research collaborations between all eight state universities is behind SB 1, which was signed into law on April 4. The law would create an endowed research fund that would provide seed money to joint projects, or consortia, agreed to by universities and selected by the State Council. About post-secondary education. catch? In the next budget cycle, the endowment budget will not include any funds. Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) told LINK nky this month that this was for a purpose. The aim, he said, is to set aside the first year or two to design the framework for the fund.
However, funding may not be far away. The Senate majority leader said universities can expect lawmakers to consider funding the endowment during the 2026 budget session. These potential expenditures, as well as increased interest in grants and donations received, are expected to generate seed funding for the consortium in the future.
School selection:
The debate over whether public funds should be used for private education will begin in the Kentucky General Assembly and go to voters across the state, based on a constitutional amendment passed by lawmakers in the last legislative session. Lawmakers who support the idea of ”school choice” (allowing state funds to be used for K-12 education outside the traditional public school system) have argued that two school choice laws in a row have been passed in recent Kentucky courts. HB 2, which was found to be unconstitutional, welcomed the proposed constitutional amendment. Judgment.
Both the ballot question and the proposed new constitutional language are expected to appear on the November 5 ballot. NKY Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood) and Rep. Kimberly Poor Moser (R-Taylor Mill) were both co-sponsors of the bill. House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) was the only NKY lawmaker to vote against the bill. Rep. Kim Banta (R-Fort Mitchell) abstained.
Economic development
Education is tied to economic development, another NKY priority. Hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for regional construction and road infrastructure projects are included in his $128 billion two-year budget for the region, including his $159 million for NKU Contains more than that. Additionally, the supplemental budget, funded by the state's record budget reserves of more than $3.7 billion, includes more than $193 million for NKY.
State lawmakers are using reserve funds for one-time projects, including $125 million for a new federal biomedical excellence center on the former IRS property and $10 million for the Covington Central Riverfront. Because the funds were appropriated, these expenditures are not included in the expenditures in the proposed budget. . This means it is not expected to affect the General Assembly's goal of lowering the state income tax (currently 4%) by an additional 0.5 percentage points in future tax years.
Funding and policies to stem Kentucky's growing child care crisis also made the economic development list.
Childcare support:
As federal child care assistance has gone from a multi-million dollar stream to a pittance, child care assistance has become a priority for Kentucky workers, employers and child care providers. A 2022 statewide study, “Fragile Ecosystems IV,” found that without stabilization benefits from federal pandemic grants, more than 50% of Kentucky child care centers would have closed permanently. There was found.
HB 6 includes $2 million in matching contributions to the state employee child care assistance program over the next two years. It would also increase funding for the state's child care assistance program by $49 million.
State legislatures are also enacting new child care policies like HB 561. It was signed into law on April 5 and will encourage local governments to be more sensitive to childcare. The “Certified Child Care Community” designation will be available to communities that work to remove zoning and other regulatory barriers that limit child care services.
airport:
Once again, the growth of commercial airports caught the attention of the Kentucky Legislature. In January, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport announced that its annual economic impact has increased by $6 billion over the past 10 years, to $9.3 billion for NKY. To build on this, lawmakers approved $20 million in one-time funding for the airport's growing commercial travel and air cargo hub.
controversy in frankfort
A controversial bill also surfaced during the session. Two of his bills were to crack down on DEI. DEI, by definition, is a diversity, equity, and inclusion program at state universities that focuses on building community among students from diverse backgrounds. The bill emerged at a time when the NKY Chamber of Commerce expressed support for a “diverse, inclusive and skilled workforce” in a policy statement before the start of the session.
Defeat of anti-DEI laws:
Opposition to both bills (SB 6 and HB 9) stemmed locally from NKU students who are members of historically marginalized LGBTQ groups and from NKY Faculty Senate President John Farrar, who told LINK nky earlier this year that the bill could: “Significantly restricts academic freedom.”
The beginning of the end for this bill came when SB 6 was removed and replaced with provisions that some felt were the stricter proposals in HB 9. This changes SB 6 from an anti-DEI bill that prohibits the teaching of defined “discriminatory concepts.” Considering race and gender, limiting the role of DEI offices and completely banning DEI at public universities under HB 9. The amendment bill also provides protections for protected classes (religion, race, sex, color or national origin).
Anti-DEI laws have not completely disappeared in Kentucky. After an attempt to pass the bill in the Senate on April 15 failed, the Kentucky Lantern reported that Senate Minority Leader Damon Thayer expected the issue to resurface.
crime:
Perhaps no bill was more controversial during the 2024 session than the Safe Kentucky Act (HB 5), which passed without the governor's signature in April. Democrats dubbed the bill “Kentucky's Law,” which would crack down on penalties for homeless encampments, theft and violent crimes. Some say Kentucky needs it.
Supporters of the bill say it would improve public safety, especially in high-crime areas of Kentucky like Jefferson County, which HB 5 Republican sponsor Rep. Jared Bauman calls home. ing. They cite gang crimes such as carjacking and vandalism. Others cite data showing violent crime is on the decline in Kentucky, as Louisville Public Media reported last month.
Several Democratic lawmakers have cited HB 5's “immense” fiscal impact as cause for concern. The bill could ultimately cost the state $1 billion, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Beshear vetoed the bill on April 9, saying in his veto message, “Despite House Bill 5's significant fiscal impact on the Department of Corrections (state prisons) and county governments, the General Assembly did not provide a fiscal impact analysis for this bill.”
“House Bill 5 has some good points,” the governor said, including requiring the destruction of firearms used in murders, criminalizing carjacking, and reducing violence against parolees. I mentioned the program. “The General Assembly could and should have included these provisions in a standalone bill, and it would likely have passed with unanimous support.”
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This is just a snapshot of notable bills that succeeded (or failed) last session. Some bills never fully got off the ground, such as an attempt to create rape and incest exemptions in Kentucky's near-total abortion ban. Other health care bills were submitted to the governor in the 11th hour of the legislative session, including a “monnibus” proposal that would expand access to health insurance to pregnant and postpartum women (among other provisions).