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...
Research
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...
What the Legislature Can Do to Improve the Return Home for Kentuckians Leaving Incarceration
Despite the harms to people, families and communities, Kentucky incarcerates 40% more people than the U.S. average. In addition, existing state and federal policies strip people reentering society of certain...
Further Shift Away from Income Taxes Would Worsen Inequities, Harm State’s Economy
As the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly approaches, some interested in more tax cuts for the wealthy are again pushing to shift Kentucky’s tax system away from income taxes and toward...
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...
New Federal Infrastructure Law Moves Kentucky Forward
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which the President has now signed into law, includes much-needed new investments in modernizing Kentucky's physical infrastructure. The law funds a broad array...
School Funding Task Force Recommendations Include Steps Toward Adequacy and Equity
In 2021, the Kentucky General Assembly created a School Funding Task Force to meet in the interim to review funding for K-12 education in Kentucky and other states and identify...
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...