Challengers emerge against state House leaders of both parties

As we discussed in our last blog post, it looks like there will be some leadership races in the House...From CN2 Challengers emerge against state House leaders of both parties

Roundup

Its been awhile since we sent out something on general political news, but with the end of the year approaching and a lot of items percolating around now seemed like a good time, so here goes... 

2011 Session - Priority Issues for Governor Beshear and Legislative Caucuses

With the 2011 Session around the corner the Governor and Legislative Leaders have been announcing their policy platforms for the upcoming session. With everything from a sportsman's bill of rights to immigration reform on the minds of policymakers, the real question remains....What will they accomplish?

Beshear wants limited agenda for legislative session does a good job of laying out the top priorities for Governor Beshear...Medicaid budget corrections and raising the dropout age.

President Williams and the Senate Republicans announced their agenda last week and it includes a Commission on Tax reform, providing for Charter schools, reforming pensions, and several others...Download Here

House Democrats are caucusing in Frankfort this week though no formal announcement of their platform has been made, however the Chamber heard House Speaker Stumbo's legislative priorities at a meeting earlier this week.

House Republicans - Announced their 2011 platform prior to the November elections back in September. Ky. House GOP unveils accountability agenda

Senate Democrats caucused earlier this week, though no platform has been announced yet this was up on their website: Democrats moved Kentucky forward, renewing our commitment to improving education, safeguarding our youth, promoting energy independence, creating and keeping jobs and protecting Kentucky’s small businesses through tax relief and improved health care.

General Assembly Organization - Leadership Races, Committee Assignments, and New Chairs

The 2011 General Assembly session will begin in January with the ever-important Organizational Session where the legislature will elect leaders, appoint Committee Chairs, and assign members to committees. Although most of this will not be official until the first week in January some of the Caucuses have made a few announcements.

Senate Republicans - These articles lay out several announcements related to their 2011 organization:

GOP caucus again elects David Williams to head state Senate

David Williams places all 4 freshman GOP senators on budget committee

NKY gains clout in state Senate

House Democrats - Won't finalize their organization until the first week of the session, but their may be some contested leadership races Former House Speaker Jody Richards reportedly to challenge Larry Clark.

Senate Democrats - With the retirement of Sen. Ed Worley, the Senate Democrats must elect a new Senate Minority Leader..R.J. Palmer seeking Democratic Senate leader post, Julian Carroll might too

Meet the Freshman
The 2010 Elections have produced some new faces that will arrive in Frankfort in January. Here are a few resources to help you get to know them better:
LRC Freshman List with Pics
CN2 - Focus on Freshmen and CN2 - Freshman State Senators
House GOP - Videos w/ Freshmen

November Revenue
Sort of interesting that nearly no one in the mainstream media reported that the state revenue report was released last week and the news was good. General Fund and Road Fund revenues were both up in November making it five months straight of revenue growth. The three main takeaways are:
1. These increased revenues were budgeted for, meaning that there really isn't any surplus, revenues are only slightly ahead of budget.
2. In order to meet the General Fund budgeted revenue projections, revenues have to increase 3.7% more by July 2011.
3. There is almost no way the Road Fund will not beat the budgeted revenue estimate, it only has to grow 0.4% more in the next 7 months.
Download Full Report

Secretary Jackson Stepping Down-Longmeyer Named Replacement

Gov. Steve Beshear today announced that Nikki Jackson, secretary of the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet, has submitted her resignation to accept the position of vice chancellor for human resources with Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Ariz. Jackson’s last day with the Cabinet is Jan. 7, 2011. Gov. Beshear has named Tim Longmeyer as the new Personnel Cabinet Secretary. He has served as deputy secretary of the Cabinet since January 2008. Press Release

Kentucky's U.S. Senators, New Louisville and Lexington Mayors Announce Staff Appointments

Senate aide Josh Holmes named McConnell’s next chief of staff:

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has named Josh Holmes, who heads the Senate Republicans’ communications center, as his next chief of staff in his his Washington, D.C., office. Holmes will take over for Billy Piper, who is leaving at the end of the month to join a Washington lobbying firm after serving as McConnell’s top aide since 2002.

Sen.-elect Paul announces staff appointments: U.S. Sen.-elect Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, announced several appointments Tuesday to his official staff.

Fischer begins shaping administration with 8 appointments: "Louisville Mayor-elect Greg Fischer gave a glimpse into his new administration Friday, naming a diverse group of people to eight key positions."

Mayor-elect Gray names transition team: "Lexington Mayor-elect Jim Gray announced Tuesday the process he will use for his transition into office, and he named leaders of a team that will help make it happen."

With the new year approaching we will be posting more...stay tuned.

2010 Election Ratings on Google Maps

Check out this Google Maps gadget that ranks the various U.S. Senate & Congressional races across the country and in Kentucky.

August Revenue Report

The state revenue report for the month of August was released today, you can download a pdf copy HERE. In August the General Fund rose 3.3% and the Road Fund was up 9.5% as compared to August a year ago. This is the second month in a row of revenue increases for both funds.

In terms of the General Fund the numbers can be a little deceiving, because revenues were budgeted to increase during this fiscal year by 4.2% and so far the increases haven't kept track with the budgeted amount at only 3.9%. Although this is a small discrepancy, another revenue shortfall will follow if revenue growth isn't stronger the rest of the fiscal year.

The Road Fund is in an altogether different situation. The official Road Fund revenue estimate in the budget called for growth of 4.9% in this fiscal year, and due to an 11% growth so far this year, revenues are actually ahead of the budgeted estimates. Revenue growth in the fund has been driven by an 18.9% year to date growth in motor fuels taxes.

Health Care Reform & KY Medicaid

As the the Federal Health Care reform legislation begins to take shape there will be a significant role for state's to play. A large piece of the puzzle to achieve universal coverage is Medicaid, which is a Federal program that is administered by the states and the states share in the costs of the program. The match rate for Kentucky is approximately 20% after adjustments made by the Federal stimulus monies, normally the match rate would be closer to 30%. This is generally a good deal for the states, because of the high Federal participation.  

But as the Medicaid rolls grow, due either to the poor economy or the Federal health care reform and their expanded eligibility for the program, the costs are going to go up for states. Kentucky will not be immune to those increases and with the current budget situation as an example of how cash-strapped Kentucky is, it is likely that we will have trouble meeting the increased costs of the Medicaid program going forward.

Kentucky Medicaid is a nearly $6 billion program, so meeting the Federal Stimulus 20% match at the state level is over a $1.2  billion proposition. Not to mention if the match rate goes back up to pre-ARRA levels. As the program grows that cost will as well. 

Here are a couple of articles on the potential increases in enrollment and how they could impact Medicaid.

Report: Number of Kentucky Medicaid patients will surge: (Herald-Leader) "The number of Kentucky residents with Medicaid coverage could shoot up by nearly 424,000 patients by 2019, and the federal government will foot most of the cost of their treatment.

The Kaiser Family Foundation on Wednesday released a study projecting nationwide increases in Medicaid enrollment over a five-year period beginning in 2014, when most provisions of the health care reform bill will take effect.

If Kentucky aggressively pursues enrolling new Medicaid patients, the percentage of uninsured low-income adults in the state would drop 77 percent, versus a 69.5 percent drop in the number of uninsured people nationally.

The state also stands to get a slightly larger than average share of its Medicaid expansion paid for by the federal government 95 percent of the costs of covering newly eligible Kentuckians from 2014 to 2019, versus a national average of 92.5 percent.

The study estimates that if states actively sought to enroll additional Medicaid patients the uninsured and those earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level the federal government would pay $531 billion of the additional health care cost, with states picking up $43 billion."


Health care reform's X factor: (Stateline.org) "
Nobody knows for sure how much expanding Medicaid will cost the states because it's impossible to say how many new people will sign up for the program. A new study says that new enrollments, and their associated costs, could run much higher than many states expected."