Facts Don’t Support Economic Argument for Proposed Federal Prison in Letcher County
In the wake of last year’s devastating eastern Kentucky floods, the federal government reintroduced a previously defeated proposal to build...
Report
With Mounting Needs and Fear of Recession, State Should Suspend Tax Cuts
After many years of tight state budgets, Kentucky is now experiencing healthy but temporary revenue surpluses that are growing its rainy day fund, the state’s emergency savings account, to an...
The State of Working Kentucky 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn reshaped Kentucky’s economy in ways that are still revealing themselves thirty months after the virus arrived in the commonwealth. Part of the story...
A Decade Without Raises and Weakened Benefits Have Created a State Workforce Crisis. Addressing it Adequately Should Be a Top Priority in the New Budget
Updated on Feb. 2, 2022 Fundamental to providing services like P-12 education, legal defense and child welfare is the state workforce that delivers them. Despite these workers’ critical roles, Kentucky’s...
Our Commonwealth: A Primer on the Kentucky State Budget
Go here for a PDF version of KyPolicy's Primer on the Kentucky State Budget. Every two years, the Kentucky General Assembly passes a budget in the form of four separate...
A Time To Invest: Preview of the 2022–2024 Budget of the Commonwealth
The General Assembly faces a critically important opportunity with the 2022–2024 Budget of the Commonwealth. The state has a historic budget surplus and unspent federal aid that provide the resources...
In Decade Since Major Criminal Justice Reform, the Kentucky General Assembly Has Passed Six Times as Many Laws Increasing Incarceration as Decreasing It
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the passage of 2011’s House Bill (HB) 463, “The Public Safety and Offender Accountability Act.”[efn_note]2011 Ky. Acts, ch. 2, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/11RS/documents/0002.pdf.[/efn_note] HB 463 was...
Child Care in Kentucky Is Crucial and in Dire Need of Public Investment
Kentucky families need high-quality early child care and education to provide a safe learning environment for children at a critical age of development. Child care also makes parents’ and other...
The Golden Key: How State-Local Financial Incentives to Lock Up Kentuckians Are Perpetuating Mass Incarceration
Incarceration is harmful to individuals, families and communities, yet Kentucky incarcerates 40% more people per capita than the United States average, which is more than 5 times larger than other...
Unprecedented Surplus Presents Opportunity to Both Reinvest in Kentucky’s Budget and Build Rainy Day Fund
Thanks to federal pandemic aid that helped keep Kentucky residents and businesses afloat, the state ended 2021 with a substantial revenue surplus, and currently expects another large surplus in the...