kentucky budget

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert is cutting 170 staff positions — and adding 108 — in the court system to operate within the boundaries of the budget passed by the General Assembly.

The Kentucky General Assembly’s GOP supermajority waited until the final day before the veto period to pass a two-year state budget and a bill spending $1.7 billion on specific projects.

Kentuckians charged with low-level crimes often brought on by substance abuse or mental illness can avoid incarceration by participating in specialty courts. But the next two-year state budget being crafted in the General Assembly threatens to eliminate that option.

The Kentucky Senate added more spending to the budget than the House version, but now GOP legislative leaders in each chamber will hammer out their differences.

The two-year budget bill of the Republican supermajority outlining the spending of $31 billion in state tax revenue cleared the Kentucky House and now heads to the Senate.

Kentucky House Republicans released a two-year state budget bill Tuesday, which is expected to evolve over the session. The current version would spend dramatically less than what Gov. Andy Beshear proposed for education and Medicaid.

After years of federal stimulus and surpluses, the Kentucky General Assembly will have to pass a state budget in a tighter fiscal environment in the 2026 session.

After a nonpartisan forecasting group predicted a smaller shortfall, Gov. Andy Beshear said he is implementing reductions across state government — but some constitutional officers are declining to do the same.

The committee of economists that forecasts Kentucky government revenues anticipates a $156 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year and only modest revenue growth through the middle of 2028. Gov. Andy Beshear says he'll announce a plan Thursday to reduce the state budget.

Kentucky tax revenues fell $7.5 million short of what was needed in the past fiscal year to trigger cutting the income tax to 3% in 2027.