LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The top legislative priority for the Louisville business community is addressing Kentucky’s funding shortfall for pensions owed to government workers such as teachers, police and firefighters, according to Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.
The pension issue is all the more pressing given the state Supreme Court’s move last week to strike down SB 151, a reform plan passed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled state legislature, said GLI chief operating officer Sarah Davasher-Wisdom.
“We believe (SB 151) stopped the bleeding and it was making some progress … now we are really hopeful we can get something different can get through,” she said.
However, lawmakers went home empty-handed Tuesday less than a day after Gov. Matt Bevin called them to Frankfort for a surprise special legislative session to deal with the state’s pension debts, which are at least $38 billion.
They return to Frankfort for their regularly scheduled legislative session on Jan. 8.
Greater Louisville Inc. unveiled its 2019 legislative agenda during a luncheon at the Brown Hotel on Wednesday.
That agenda includes longtime asks from the business lobby such as legalizing casino gambling to generate tax revenue and changing the way gas tax revenues are distributed throughout the state so that urban areas get a bigger share of road funding.
It also includes a new emphasis on education reforms aimed at Jefferson County Public Schools, including changing state law to give school superintendents the ability to choose principals (instead of school-based decision-making councils); and adding “at large” members to the elected JCPS board to “increase community participation and ensure the concerns of the district as a whole are adequately represented” (the JCPS board has seven members representing distinct geographic areas of Jefferson County).
Earlier this year, the GOP-controlled legislature cut the state’s top personal income tax rate to 5 percent, from 6 percent, and GLI encourages lawmakers to continue to “reduce corporate and personal income tax rates as much as possible” while increasing the state’s 6 percent sales tax.
GLI also calls for an unspecified increase in the state’s cigarette tax. Earlier this year, lawmakers raised it from 60 cents per pack to $1.10.
The chamber’s full legislative agenda is posted here.
