A Kentucky House committee advanced two bills expanding the membership of the state’s longstanding utility regulator and reshaping a relatively new energy planning agency, changing or removing language that had received strong pushback. The two bills, Senate Bill 8 and Senate Bill 100, unanimously approved by the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Thursday morning, […]
Author Archives: Kentucky Lantern
Posted inNews
House passes bill raising sports gambling age in Kentucky to 21
The GOP-controlled Kentucky House voted Thursday to raise the age to gamble on sports to 21 and ban proposition bets, or “prop” bets, on Kentucky college athletes. Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, the primary sponsor of House Bill 904, told a legislative committee earlier this month that the provisions had been worked on for months and […]
Posted inElections
Horse trainer plays ‘outsider’ role in Democratic debate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky
Four Kentucky Democrats — hoping to show their electability in a state that has sent no Democrat to the U.S. Senate this century — disagreed on a few points during a televised debate Tuesday night, while vowing to help steer the country from its current course. Kentuckians in November will elect a successor to Republican […]
Posted inPolitics
Bill blocking Kentuckians from suing pesticide makers splits House GOP but still advances
A bill that critics say would block Kentuckians from suing pesticide companies for failing to warn of their products’ hazards narrowly passed the Republican-controlled House Tuesday over significant Republican opposition. Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, would designate that the warning required under a federal law “shall be deemed a sufficient warning label” and […]
Posted inPolitics
Senate Republicans restore funds to KY public universities in their budget proposal
Senate Republicans reversed House cuts to higher education and slightly increased funding for Kentucky’s public universities and colleges in their version of the state budget proposal, but some lawmakers still have questions about universities’ spending habits. The change is part of budget bills that came out of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue committee Wednesday morning […]
Posted inPolitics
Former KY governor’s child support case spawns bill
Three Republican lawmakers have filed a bill that would bar children from intervening in a parent’s divorce case and limit their ability to obtain child support. House Bill 707 comes amid an acrimonious legal dispute between former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and his estranged son, Jonah Bevin, who alleges his adoptive parents, Matt and Glenna […]
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Kentucky Senate unanimously passes $31 billion state budget, $810 million in one-time spending
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 […]
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 […]
