Presentation: Kentucky’s Budget Outlook
Kentucky lawmakers will begin assembling what Speaker Greg Stumbo recently called a "destructive" two-year state budget when it reconvenes in...
Research
State Must Begin Meeting Responsibility to Teachers’ Retirement or Pay More Later
The state has not been making full required contributions to Kentucky teachers' retirement since 2009, and the impact of not making those payments has a compounding effect—meaning more costs for...
Preliminary Forecast Predicts Weakest Revenue Growth Since Recovery Began
Kentucky currently expects to craft its next two-year budget with the least amount of new General Fund revenue it has had since the recovery began. This bad news comes despite...
Sequestration Cutting Housing Assistance for Thousands of Low-Income Kentuckians
As many as 4,000 fewer low-income Kentucky families will receive rental assistance by the end of 2014 if Congress does not reverse or substantially mitigate the damage done by sequestration...
875,000 Kentuckians to See a Cut in Food Assistance Beginning Today
Beginning today, 875,000 Kentuckians will see their food assistance benefits cut when a temporary boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) expires. All of...
Budget Cuts Further Widen Education Funding Gaps
Cuts to state and federal funding for education are leading to greater reliance on local revenue sources and exacerbating funding inequity between school districts, as described in a Louisville Courier-Journal...
Kentucky Among States with Biggest Coverage Assistance from Health Reform
Kentucky is one of three states in the nation where more than four out of five of the uninsured will be eligible for health coverage assistance under the Affordable Care...
Kentucky Fast Food Workers Struggle with Low Wages While Industry Does Well
Kentucky's 32,000 frontline fast-food workers make such low wages that 46 percent of them qualify for low-income public assistance programs at a cost of $115 million in 2011, according to...
Revenue Forecast for Next Budget Remains Weak
Today the official group charged with forecasting state revenue again approved a very modest General Fund revenue estimate for the upcoming two-year budget. Compared to the draft forecast they chose...
Kentucky Scores Poorly in Report on Women’s Well-Being
Kentucky gets a D+ and ranks behind two-thirds of other states in terms of women’s status, according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress. The detailed report...