Just because the Kentucky General Assembly meets in short session this upcoming spring, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a lame term.
That was the message from outgoing State Senator Whitney Westerfield during Monday afternoon’s Pennyrile Area Development District Legislative Luncheon at Pennyrile Forest State Park — who drew laughs from the crowd, when he noted he was “looking forward to not being there” in January, as he pivots to triplets, his family and his law practice.
Two years ago, Westerfield reminded the governing body that the 2023 session saw a remarkable 594 house bills and 286 senate bills in 26 days.
This go around, he said there would be something that “draws everyone’s attention,” and there will be something moving forward that “people love,” and something moving forward that “people hate.”
As such, he’s asking constituents, as well as his former chamber associates, to consider prayer and wisdom.
Among one of the first orders of business when the gavel hammers: renewed discussions of the state’s income tax. Legislators are observing and measuring benchmarks, hoping to see Kentucky’s long-lived 6% rate fall all the way to zero.
Over the weekend, multiple forecasts have indicated the state’s revenue is expected to potentially decline sooner rather than later — just as key triggers are going to a drop the income tax rate to 3.5%.
Getting to 3%, said State Representative Walker Thomas, might be tricky.
Westerfield further noted that he once preferred to do a one-year immediate switch from 6% to 0%, but that this pathway was far more prudent.
State Representative Jim Gooch, of Crittenden County, affirmed that reducing the state’s income tax “too much, too quickly” could bring about undesired effects.
Effects like increased sales taxes on specific goods and services.
Jason Vincent, executive director for PeADD, noted their office and constituents have several targets in mind for the short session as well, with key support behind several other initiatives including:
— the construction of a School for Veterinary Medicine at Murray State University
— the I-69 Ohio River Crossing
— the continued establishment of I-169 and I-569
— further development on US 641
— maintaining progress on broadband internet
— the growth of the West KY Law Enforcement Training Facility in Madisonville
— the widening of I-24
— the widening of US 79 from Todd to Logan County
— and the essential mission readiness of Fort Campbell and its 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Screaming Eagles
State Senator Jason Howell, meanwhile, confirmed that the Senate’s Standing Committee Agriculture is expected to hear major updates on the proposed vet school December 19.
Alex Caudill and Martha Jane King, both of the governor’s office, noted that Andy Beshear will be spending considerable time in western Kentucky Tuesday, which is the harrowing three-year anniversary of the December 2021 EF-4 tornado that claimed scores of lives.
He will begin with a Graves County home dedication for Mrs. Yan Huang, and later jumping to an AT&T ribbon-cutting at the Moors Resort & Arena in Gilbertsville, before ending his swing in Muhlenberg County for another home dedication, one planned for the Oglesby family in Sacramento.
This is the first Habitat for Humanity home for that community’s tornado survivors.
FULL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
