Lawmakers will meet on 60 of those days, which is the maximum allowed under the Kentucky Constitution.



Lawmakers will not convene on Jan. 20 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day or on Feb. 17 in observance of Presidents’ Day.

March 2 will be the final day that House bills can be introduced and March 3 will be the final day for the introduction of Senate bills.

Bills that have been introduced by these deadlines will be able to continue moving through the legislative process until the session adjourns.



The veto recess dates, when lawmakers return to their home districts to await possible gubernatorial vetoes of legislation, will run from April 2-13.

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on April 14 and 15 for the final two days of the session.

One of the biggest items on lawmakers’ agenda will be passage of a two-year budget to cover the period from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022.



Despite the fiscal year that ended June 30 having a $194.5 million surplus, legislative leaders say it’s still going to be tough crafting a state spending plan.



“We remain a state with an incredible amount of needs and a limited amount of resources,” said House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect. “We know that pension costs continue to escalate, we know that Corrections costs continue to escalate. Prison population has reached a very difficult level that’s going to cost a lot of money.”

On the other hand, Osborne is remaining positive.



“It’s good that we have a surplus, and I’m sure that when we get a report from the Consensus Forecasting Group later this fall, we’re going to see positive projections. But by no stretch of the imagination does it make things easy.”


By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today