Beshear’s proposed budget provides money for many, including health departments and their pensions, pay raises and broadband
Gov. Andy Beshear gave his budget speech via video. (Image screenshot from KET)
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By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
The state budget Gov. Andy Beshear’s proposed Thursday would provide additional money to support the work of health departments, and much-needed pension relief for the departments and community mental-health centers.
Beshear outlined the proposal in a speech presented via video during a joint session of the House and Senate, rather than in person, “to set an example of how we fight the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. It was televised on Kentucky Educational Television, which elicited reactions from legislators.
The budget would also provide funding for 76 more social workers and full-time mental-health staff based at schools, and increase slots for helping people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
It is uncertain what portions of the Democratic governor’s state budget will pass, since he faces Republican 3-to-1 super-majorities in each chamber of the General Assembly, but “It’s going to be hard for the majority to say no to a lot of those things,” House Democratic Leader Joni Jenkins said.
The budget is more generous than most close observers expected at first, and Senate President Robert Stivers attributed that to an economy and state coffers fueled by pandemic relief funds from Congress.
Stivers said that means revenue sources will have to be examined. He and House Speaker David Osborne cautioned that Kentuckians should expect a more conservative approach in the final budget.
“I think that you will tend to see us take a very, very conservative approach,” Osborne said. “And we’ll still have a very lean budget going forward.”
Broadband: The proposal also includes $50 million to fund “last mile” broadband coverage, which has become even more important during the pandemic as many Kentuckians have sought health care via telehealth.
“We used to think of broadband in terms of just business,” Beshear said. “But now we know it touches every part of our lives: the education of our kids, how we receive health care. This is the most important infrastructure of the future.”
Beshear said it would be “the first time state dollars have been used to invest in expanding broadband,” which probably raised eyebrows among legislators, who have wrestled for years with the Kentucky Wired project started by the governor’s father, Steve Beshear, and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset.
The state has had to put millions of extra dollars into the project, but not for the “last mile,” the extension of fiber-optic cables to homes and businesses. Kentucky Wired is a high-speed network into which any internet service provider, including local governments and businesses, can tap into.
Big picture: Beshear called the budget “fiscally responsible” and stressed that it does not rely on new taxes, the passage of new revenue measures or spending cuts. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Kentucky has cut more than $2.3 billion in state spending since the Great Recession in 2008-09.
Among the broad major proposals in the budget were a 1 percent pay raise for state employees and a $1,000 pay hike for every school employee. Osborne and Stivers sounded skeptical of giving raises to state and school workers when many in Kentucky are unemployed and still waiting for benefits.
The governor urged lawmakers to work together in support of all Kentucky families, to take the coronavirus seriously and to set politics aside. He did not refer to bills moving quickly through the legislature that will reduce his powers, but to conflicts in general.
“Let me be clear: Every moment in this short session we spend fighting is a loss for our Kentucky families,” he said. “Such fighting will leave us empty-handed and further behind those states that recognize this moment and this opportunity. Our goal should be to act swiftly and with wisdom on behalf of the people of the commonwealth.”
“The additional funding assistance for the escalating public pension costs permits the CMHCs to continue operating as the behavioral health public safety net for all Kentuckians,” he said. “Thank you, Gov. Beshear!”