More Than 300,000 Kentuckians Have Been Charged for Cannabis Over the Past Two Decades
Over the past two decades, as states around the nation have moved to decriminalize and legalize cannabis, more than 300,000...
Report
The Funding Gap Between Kentucky’s Wealthy and Poor School Districts Is Now Worse Than Levels Declared Unconstitutional
The difference in per-pupil funding between the state’s poorest and wealthiest districts now exceeds the level deemed unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court more than three decades ago. In 1990,...
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 a new Bureau of Prisons (BOP) prison and “prison camp”...
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...