Kentucky lawmakers convene January 7 for the start of the 2020 legislative session in Frankfort.
The 60-day session will be dominated by the drafting of a new, two-year state budget. State Rep. Wilson Stone of Allen County, a member of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, says one of the biggest challenges will be finding the money to give $2,000 across-the-board pay raises to public school teachers, which is something Gov. Andy Beshear promised while campaigning for office.
"I suspect we’ll be able to find it in lots of small places, but I’ll be interested to see if we cut any major lines in the budget in order to add that money to public education," Wilson said.
Beshear estimates the cost of those pay raises at $84 million a year.
This will be the last legislative session for Rep. Stone, who represents Allen and Simpson counties, as well as a portion of Warren County. After serving since 2009, the Scottsville Democrat will retire at the end of his term on December 31, 2020.
Stone reflected on his tenure, and looked ahead to his last General Assembly in an interview with WKU Public Radio.
