By Tony McVeigh
Frankfort, KY – It's early in the legislative session for Kentucky House and Senate leaders to already be meeting behind-the-scenes on the budget, but it's happening. Senate President David Williams says, because of the recession, these are unusual times, and this is an unusual session. But he's confident lawmakers will emerge from the session with a two-year budget.
"I think it's incumbent upon us to write a budget, to pass a budget, predicated on the revenue numbers that we have now. And, obviously, if we come back next January and the revenue numbers change, it would be better to add things to that budget, than to require additional cuts, and we hope that's the situation."
House Speaker Greg Stumbo hopes to make some budget outlines public this week. Legislative leaders have already rejected Gov. Steve Beshear's budget plan based on revenue from casino gambling.