First it was Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, then it was the House, and now it’s the Senate’s turn to weigh in on how to spend the state’s money over the next two years.
Senate President Robert Stivers says he wants his chamber to vote on a budget Tuesday or Wednesday.
That would give leaders from the Senate and the House about a week to hammer out a final version of the bill before they’re scheduled to deliver the document to Governor Bevin.
There are few hints about what the Senate budget will look like, but leaders of the Republican-led chamber appear to be on board with the Republican governor’s proposals.
There are major differences between the Democratic-led House’s version of the budget and Bevin’s. But it could have been more stark.
House budget writers left in most of Bevin’s nearly across-the-board spending cuts. But they restored about $215 million in cuts made to the state’s higher education institutions.
Also, House leaders took money Bevin set aside for future pension payments and put it right into the retirement systems.
A final version of the budget must be passed by April 13th.
