The GOP-controlled Kentucky Senate unanimously passed its version of the two-year state budget Wednesday providing less money than the House for public schools but substantially more for Medicaid, while cutting a number of state agency budgets. State senators also passed budget bills funding the state’s legislative and judicial branches, along with a bill that would […]
Author Archives: Kentucky Lantern
Posted inElections
4 takeaways from the money race for US Senate in Kentucky
Kentucky’s television airwaves are so loud with ads advocating the election of Andy Barr and Nate Morris to the U.S. Senate because Barr and Morris each have access to nearly all the money they want. Barr has been elected seven times as representative to the U.S. House for Kentucky’s 6th District. He’s well known in […]
Posted inPolitics
Kentucky would require photo ID to file open-records request under bill passed by House
With no questions on the floor, the Kentucky House passed a bill that would allow public agencies to require photo IDs from residents who request public records. House Bill 567 from Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill, gained approval from the House with a vote of 71-19 Friday morning. The 19 votes against the bill included 13 […]
Posted inPolitics
New KY energy planner would be exempt from open records law under advancing bill
A taxpayer-funded commission that the legislature is looking to for advice on energy policy would be exempt from Kentucky’s Open Records Act under a bill that a Senate committee approved Wednesday. Senate Bill 100, sponsored by Sen Robby Mills, R-Henderson, would shield records and correspondence of the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission, or EPIC, which the […]
Posted inNews
Two years later, kinship care families in Kentucky are still waiting for promised relief
A legislative committee has found deficient a proposed regulation for implementing a law to help kinship care families that has been stuck in limbo for two years. The legislature approved and Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in 2024. It would provide financial relief to grandparents and others who are raising children who otherwise would be […]
Posted inNews
‘No such thing as a competitor’s veto’ and other arguments as Kentucky CON debate renews
The debate over certificate of need regulation in Kentucky is back for the 2026 legislative session. House Bill 407 from Rep. Marianne Proctor, R-Union, would limit the ability to request a hearing before the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to certificate of need applicants. Currently, all “affected persons” may request a hearing but they no longer would […]
Posted inElections
KY parties could open primary elections under long-shot bills with bipartisan sponsors
A Republican and a Democrat are behind bills in the Kentucky House that would give the state’s two major political parties a chance to open their primaries to the fastest-growing group of Kentucky voters — independents. While any such change won’t come in time for this year’s May 19 primary when voters will nominate candidates […]
Posted inPolitics
Ky. House OKs plan to spend $801 million but doesn’t specify what for
Seven pieces of legislation — including a vague one-page plan for spending $801 million and the state’s road projects plan — were approved Tuesday by the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee and passed by the House within a few hours. With a Republican supermajority, GOP lawmakers easily had the votes to move the bills out […]
Posted inNews
KY bill to attract foreign doctors advances amid ‘fever pitch’ anti-immigrant rhetoric
Pushing through what the Republican sponsor called a “xenophobic virus,” a bill to allow foreign-born doctors to more easily practice in Kentucky passed the Senate on Thursday. Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, said on the Senate floor that he initially “wasn’t really anxious about running this bill because of all the current rhetoric about immigration” that […]
Posted inPolitics
Beshear criticizes constitutional amendments backed by top GOP lawmakers
Kentucky’s top Republican lawmakers — Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne — have filed bills for two constitutional amendments that Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear isn’t a fan of. Senate Bill 262 from Stivers, of Manchester, proposes amending the Kentucky Constitution to allow summaries of proposed amendments to appear on voters’ ballots instead of the […]