Post by libby on Jan 28, 2016 23:05:47 GMT -6
Bevin’s budget bill cuts money for Planned Parenthood, suspends prevailing wage
FRANKFORT -- Tucked inside Gov. Matt Bevin’s state budget bill is language that would suspend prevailing wage on public works projects and end state funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, two hot-button items for Republicans that are bottled up in the legislative process.
House Bill 303, filed late Wednesday, also would drain $500 million from the Public Employee Health Insurance Trust Fund, a self-insurance fund for 260,000 state workers, retirees and their families, in order to balance the books. Angering some state workers, recent budgets have diverted between $50 million to $93 million a year in surplus funds to plug revenue holes elsewhere. But no cash grab has come close to the size of Bevin’s proposal.
One reason the fund has a surplus to divert is that state workers have been hit with higher monthly premiums since 2008, said Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy in Berea.
“For public employees, it’s on top of other cuts to their compensation, including a lack of salary increases and pension cuts,” Bailey wrote in a report Thursday.
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article57170858.html
FRANKFORT -- Tucked inside Gov. Matt Bevin’s state budget bill is language that would suspend prevailing wage on public works projects and end state funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, two hot-button items for Republicans that are bottled up in the legislative process.
House Bill 303, filed late Wednesday, also would drain $500 million from the Public Employee Health Insurance Trust Fund, a self-insurance fund for 260,000 state workers, retirees and their families, in order to balance the books. Angering some state workers, recent budgets have diverted between $50 million to $93 million a year in surplus funds to plug revenue holes elsewhere. But no cash grab has come close to the size of Bevin’s proposal.
One reason the fund has a surplus to divert is that state workers have been hit with higher monthly premiums since 2008, said Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy in Berea.
“For public employees, it’s on top of other cuts to their compensation, including a lack of salary increases and pension cuts,” Bailey wrote in a report Thursday.
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article57170858.html