Tagged: Kentucky General Assembly

The House budget committee has passed a bill that would help shore up Kentucky's underfunded pension system by relying on gambling revenue.

House Bill 416 would take revenues from expanding Kentucky lottery sales and online games, as well as from Instant Racing—if the state Supreme Court upholds the legality of the game—and move the money to the struggling pension program for state employees.

The state Senate has passed a bill that allows Kentucky military personnel to register to vote and receive ballots electronically—but they'll have to use snail mail to send the ballots back.

Senate President Robert Stivers would allow deployed citizens to register to vote and receive their ballots electronically.

Initially, a floor amendment to the bill would have allowed the military members to return the ballots electronically, but the amendment was withdrawn by sponsor Sen. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat.

The illegal recruiting of high school student-athletes in Kentucky is out of control, and athletic officials need help to fix the problem.

That’s what state Rep. Keith Hall told a legislative panel in Frankfort today.

The Democrat from Pike County is proposing a bill that would require all appeals of disputes involving a student’s athletic eligibility to be resolved in Frankfort instead of local court.

The state pension system would not transition to a hybrid 401K-style plan in an amended version of the pension reform bill.

The amended bill also only allows plans to set up a new 11-person committee to provide direct oversight over the pension systems.

And cost of living adjustments are no longer banned under the bill, but can only be allowed if there is a surplus in the retirement systems or if lawmakers prepay for the expense.