Fixes for budget, changes to Kentucky’s tax code see final passage on last day of 2018 session

By Jacqueline Pitts, The Bottom Line

After the overrides of the governor’s vetoes on the budget and revenue bills on Friday, changes to the tax reform plan and budget to clarify and correct some provisions in the original bills passed on Saturday, the final day of the 2018 session.

TAX BILL FIX

Changes to the tax code included in the new legislation mainly pertain to clean up language including definitions, while also addressing areas of the federal tax code that will not apply to Kentucky, tweaks about how taxes will be reported by some businesses, and other changes that deal with oversights when the bill was crafted. Get all the details of what is in the tax bill fix legislation in a story here.

BUDGET FIX

The Senate and House also passed House Bill 265 with a committee substitute containing language with provisions to correct some oversights made when crafting the budget.

It mainly pertains to the coal severance money in the budget that is distributed to counties, including moving $7 million previously in the Coal Endowment Fund to school districts adversely impacted by the downturn of coal mining in those regions as well as a freeze in rates for quasi-governmental agencies looking to get out of the pension system.

KENTUCKY WIRED

After Fitch Ratings announced the state’s bond rating could be downgraded if Kentucky Wired is not funded in the budget, the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee amended Senate Bill 200 with a committee substitute with language dealing with that funding.

House A&R Committee Chair said the amendment to Senate Bill 200 deals only with funding for the Kentucky Communications Network Authority and will fund operations as recommended by the governor and House in original budget proposals and will maintain funding for the project at the current levels for 2018-2020.

The House and Senate both passed the amended version of Senate Bill 200.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Because the General Assembly is now outside the veto period, the changes made by the legislature Saturday could be vetoed by the governor without the ability for them to override.