Kentucky lawmakers will spend much of the last full week of the legislative session trying to hatch a compromise on budget bills. So far, lawmakers have looked line by line at differences between the House and Senate budget plans. They're looking for changes one side or the other is willing to accept without debate.
A proposal to create a scholarship fund for far eastern Kentucky college students could be in jeopardy. The Appalachian scholarship fund was intended as a compromise, after a measure to move the University of Pikeville into the state system couldn’t garner enough support. In the House’s version of the budget, lawmakers funded the scholarships with coal severance tax money.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo says his chamber's priorities for the next two-year budget are not that different from the Senate's. Both chambers have passed their own budget bills for each branch of state government. The two sides must now work out a compromise. Stumbo says he doesn’t have many concerns with the Senate's changes and he expects a conference committee to hatch a compromise quickly.
