Thursday, March 30, 2000
Legislators stalemate over budget
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — The Kentucky General Assembly recessed Wednesday night without a budget and with a fierce partisan battle raging over how to spend the state's money over the next two years.
Legislators spent a long day on committee meetings, floor votes and bickering among themselves as they scurried to put what finishing touches they could on the 2000 legislative session.
The portion of the session when legislation could be passed was scheduled to end Wednesday, with lawmakers planning to return to Frankfort on April 10 to deal with any bills vetoed by Gov. Paul Patton.
But with the House and Senate still unable to agree on a budget, a group of lawmakers stayed in Frankfort and will meet today and, if necessary, through the weekend and possibly into next week to try and reconcile differences the two chambers have over the state budget.
During more than three hours of a conference committee on the budget Wednesday, leaders of the Democratic-con trolled House and the Senate, where Republicans hold the majority, made little progress on their differences in the budget. Conference committees are empaneled to reach compromises on bills.
“I don't know when we're going to get a budget,” House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, a member of the budget conference committee, said Wednesday.
“But I do think we're leaving here tonight without a budget. That seems pretty clear,” he said.
Some lawmakers are optimistic the conference committee will reach a compromise and then have the rest of the legislature vote on the budget when they return to Frankfort in April to consider vetoes.
Under the state's constitution, the legislature has to pass a budget by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. If the legislature can't pass a budget during the veto days, then Gov. Paul Patton could call a special session in May or June for the General Assembly to enact a budget.
The sticking point over the budget continues to come down to taxes and spending.
Democrats in the House passed a budget that included a tax increase on phone service, subscription television service such as cable and satellite TV, and beepers and pagers. The telecommunications tax would raise about $178 million in new money over the next two years that Mr. Patton has proposed spending on projects and programs around the state.
Under the House budget, Northern Kentucky would receive about $9 million for parks, community centers, a restoration of the L&N Bridge, a museum at Big Bone Lick State Park in Boone County and various street repairs in several Kenton County suburbs.
But the Senate rejected the House budget because the GOP majority has pledged not to raise any taxes. The Senate budget stripped the projects and the tax increase, setting up the need for the conference committee.
Republicans are continuing to look for money to pay for some projects, but in no way will they pass the tax increase, said Rep. Paul Marcotte, R-Union.
“People down here think money and projects are an entitlement,” Mr. Marcotte said Wednesday. “Some of the projects the Democrats put in the budget aren't pork, but a lot of them are, and it's those projects where people are lining up to put their snouts in the trough.”
House Minority Floor Leader Danny Ford, R-Mount Vernon, said he voted against the House budget even though it had projects for his district.
“I support the Senate budget because it is fair,” he said. “It took everybody's projects out.”
At one point during a heated floor speech, House Majority Floor Leader Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, blamed U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell for the budget impasse.
Mr. McConnell — a Louisville Republican — helped persuade formerly Democratic Sens. Dan Seum of Louisville and Bob Leeper of Paducah to switch parties last year. The cross-overs gave the state Senate a Republican majority of 20 to 18.
“Mitch McConnell has a job to do in Washington,” Mr. Stumbo said. “He has no damn business interfering with our business.”
Mr. McConnell faxed a statement to reporters Wednesday afternoon that compared Mr. Stumbo to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“Greg's goofy ramblings sound something like Hillary Clinton's crazy talk about a vast right wing conspiracy,” Mr. McConnell said.
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