Kentucky Legislative Session Begins Tomorrow

The budget is the number-one agenda item for the Kentucky General Assembly, which begins tomorrow. The state faces a nearly half-billion dollar budget shortfall and agencies have been looking for ways to make a four-percent cut.Capitol reporter Jack Brammer with the Lexington Herald-Leader says legislators need to work quickly on this issue."The governor says it would be better for the state agencies to know what they’re dealing with and if they’re going to have to make cuts – and they will – to go ahead and implement those cuts and see then what the economy brings to the state and if additional cuts will have to be made later," says Brammer.Brammer says if lawmakers deal with the budget quickly, they may move to issues like pension reform or overcrowding in the state’s prisons.Legislators will begin the session with leadership elections. There’s a hotly contested race for the post of House Speaker.