Video & Transcript Research : 'Project 25'

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KY
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  • resolution 34<00:25:09.600> a<00:25:09.760> joint<00:25:10.080> resolution<00:25
Summary: The House Standing Committee on Appropriations and Revenue met on February 25 and considered a series of bills and joint resolutions, mostly involving appropriations, capital projects, and local infrastructure funding. The committee first adopted PHS 2 and passed House Bill 152, which creates a Medicaid supplemental payment program for public ground ambulance providers; the sponsor said the substitute ensures no state general fund dollars will be used and that local agencies must identify a funding source for any required match. HB 152 was reported favorably on a 20-0 vote. The committee also passed House Bill 545, the annual claims bill, after members confirmed all executive-branch claims were included; it was reported favorably on a 21-0 vote. House Bill 606, requiring reporting for general obligation bonds, also passed unanimously and was reported favorably. The committee then took up several joint resolutions tied to capital and infrastructure spending. House Joint Resolution 30, concerning water projects, was described as implementing ranked projects under the Waters program administered by KIA and was reported favorably on a 21-0 vote. House Joint Resolution 32, concerning school facilities construction, was amended by PHS 1 and advanced after discussion referencing the Auditor’s report and questions about a Johnson County Schools expenditure; it also passed 21-0. House Joint Resolution 34, relating to contingent appropriations for KCTCS, was amended by PHS 1 and advanced after testimony outlining three projects in Somerset, Jefferson Community and Technical College, and Glasgow; it passed 21-0. House Joint Resolution 46, for local road projects, was described as funding the highest-scoring local road requests from a larger pool of applications and passed 21-0. The committee also advanced House Joint Resolution 53, authorizing release of funds for KSU’s Health Sciences Center project, after KSU officials said the building is needed for nursing and allied health programs and promised a business plan report by November 1, 2025; it passed 21-0. House Joint Resolution 54, authorizing funds related to the State Fair Board, also passed unanimously. Later, the committee considered House Bill 546, which revises the local roads and streets program by adding a DOT-developed scoring system, monthly reporting, a match requirement, and a $500,000 project cap; members asked about the cap and were told larger projects should be handled through other mechanisms. HB 546 was reported favorably on a 21-0 vote. Finally, House Bill 605, a technical corrections and update bill for the local economic relief grant program, was amended by PHS 1 and discussed as expanding eligibility, including to the Delta Regional Authority and certain local-affiliated applicants; the transcript cuts off before the final vote on HB 605.
KY
Transcript Highlights:
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Summary: The subcommittee met with a quorum, approved the minutes, and welcomed new members before taking up Council on Postsecondary Education regulations 13 KAR 2:120 and 13 KAR 2:130. The regulations, as amended by staff and agency amendments, update public university and KCTCS performance funding models to conform to 2024 Senate Bill 191 and the performance funding work group’s recommendations. Changes discussed included replacing the underrepresented minority metric with an underrepresented students metric defined as first-generation students, adding an adult learner metric, increasing the low-income degree premium, adjusting small-school and nonresident credit-hour weights, revising data aging and progression metrics, and adding STEM+H criteria in 13 KAR 2:120. Travis Pal of the Council on Postsecondary Education explained that the changes reflect the work group’s three-year review process and that the work group ultimately voted to define underrepresented students as first-generation students and to apply half-weighting between research and comprehensive universities for the new metric. Michael Frasier of the Kentucky Student Rights Coalition and Eastern Kentucky University student government opposed 13 KAR 2:120, arguing that the regulation improperly applies weights where the statute does not clearly authorize them and that the funding changes disadvantage comprehensive universities and vulnerable students. He asked the committee to find the regulation deficient or, alternatively, recommend legislative clarification and a revised fiscal analysis. Pal responded that weighting has been part of the model since 2017, that CPE was following the statute and work group recommendations, and that the model could be changed by future legislation. Members asked about the timing of the broader performance funding review, and Pal said the full model is reviewed every three years, with the next work group cycle beginning in 2026. No motion to find the regulation deficient was made, and the committee allowed the regulations to proceed to the committee of jurisdiction. The committee then approved a staff amendment to Teachers’ Retirement System regulations 102 KAR 1:195 and 102 KAR 1:340, which require annual reporting of accumulated sick leave, leave policies, and salary schedules to TRS and make technical changes to the final average salary calculation and related definitions.
KY

Kentucky 2026 Regular Session

House Standing Committee on Local Government (3-17-26)

Local Government

Transcript Highlights:
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KY
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Summary: The Capital Planning Advisory Board opened its fourth meeting, confirmed a quorum, approved the prior meeting’s minutes by unanimous voice vote, and then heard information items and agency presentations. The main substantive presentation came from the Council on Postsecondary Education, which outlined its capital planning recommendations for the 2026–28 biennium. CPE staff described the role of Kentucky’s research and education network (Kron), including connectivity to cloud services, Internet2, identity services, and new local AI/inferencing capacity, and argued that the network is now essential to higher education, health care, and extension services. They said the network’s recent upgrades were driven by privacy, security, redundancy, and the need to support modern research and AI workloads at lower cost than commercial providers. CPE also presented its broader higher-education capital request: $700 million for asset preservation and $1.73 billion for new construction, for a total recommendation of about $2.4 billion. Staff said they do not plan to recommend IT projects or equipment in this cycle, despite reviewing 48 IT submissions totaling nearly $1.4 billion and equipment requests totaling $322.6 million. For asset preservation, they said the recommended allocation method would remain based on each institution’s share of Category 1 and 2 square footage, and they noted that the state’s prior facility assessment is now 12 years old, with deferred maintenance still estimated in the $7–9 billion range. For new construction, they said the requests are heavily focused on STEM and health-related facilities that are difficult to retrofit into older buildings. Board members asked about how asset-preservation amounts were determined, including why Northern Kentucky University’s request was much larger than its prior allocation. CPE staff responded that campus size, building age, and institutional prioritization affect the requests, and that schools are asked to submit more projects than are likely to be funded. The board then moved on to an Attorney General capital plan overview, where senior counsel Will Schroeder began describing the office’s technology needs and the office’s prior reliance on a 2020 appropriation to replace legacy systems and improve security.