SENATOR PHILLIP WHEELER’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Week 1 of the 2024 Legislative Session
January 5, 2024
As we convene the 2024 regular session, I would like first to wish you a happy new year. I hope your holidays were filled with joy and laughter while spending quality time with family and friends.
The Senate convened for day one of the 2024 Legislative Session on Tuesday, January 2, with incredible renditions of our national anthem and “My Old Kentucky Home” by the 100th Army Band, Fort Knox.
Legislative sessions in even-numbered years are budget sessions, consisting of 60 legislative days, unlike the shorter 30-day session that occurs in odd-numbered years. Short session years are intended to evaluate previously enacted policies and address any necessary legislative clean-up. As outlined in the Constitution of Kentucky, the General Assembly must gavel into session on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in January and requires lawmakers to conclude legislative business on April 15.
The primary focus in the Senate on Week 1 was to pass this year’s Senate rules, officially confirm committee assignments, and introduce initial legislation. The only two items constitutionally required in this year’s legislative session are to enact a new two-year state budget and road plan.
The Kentucky Constitution vests the exclusive power and duty to tax and spend the public’s money to the General Assembly. Our state constitution requires balanced spending with available financial resources, which is good. While the federal government can borrow and incur trillions of dollars in debt, this is not an option for our state government. The precious tax dollars you entrust to your government must be spent with care and discipline and that is my intent as your state senator.
The total amount of taxpayer funding for the next two-year budget and road plan will be based on what was recently set by the Consensus Forecasting Group. According to this group of economic experts’ best estimates, total general fund revenues—which result from sales, income and other taxes—are approximately $31.6 billion over the 2025-2026 biennium with road fund revenues resulting from gas and motor vehicle taxes are roughly $3.7 billion. The state budget provides for state government operations and essential government services, and the road plans provide for investments in our roads, bridges, and highways.
The state Senate will have the final say in proposing a state budget and road plan. Our fingerprint will not be applied to the document until a proposal is passed out of the state House of Representatives. I will keep you updated throughout this critical process and will remain an advocate for our district.
On January 1, the second automatic reduction of our state income tax went into effect. House Bill (HB) 8 from the 2022 Legislative Session established the framework by which working Kentuckians’ income tax could be decreased responsibly. During the 2023 Legislative Session, the General Assembly passed HB 1 and codified the first two tax reductions after HB 8’s criteria were met. The January 1 income tax reduction lowers your income tax rate from 4.5 percent to 4 percent. By the end of 2024, HB 8 and the resulting individual income tax reductions will have resulted in approximately $1.8 billion being left in the pockets of taxpayers and consumers, providing you more of your own money to spend as you wish.
While the state budget and road plan will be our primary responsibility this session, there are many vital policy items to take care of. Each proposed measure, be it mundane or headline-worthy, will receive the debate and deliberation the legislative process requires.
Before concluding, I would like to share a few of my legislative priorities for this session.
First, I would like to see legislation that addresses windfall profits in Kentucky’s energy sector that is spurred on by anti-coal activities by investor-owned utilities. Windfall profits are defined as large, unexpected gains resulting from lucky circumstances. Because some on the left are blinded by woke green energy ideology, we have seen some horrendous proposals by investor-owned utilities in Kentucky that are not only against the best interest of our residents but jeopardize their safety and security.
The retirement of coal-fired plants is a top priority of the Biden administration’s socialist agenda and promulgated by his urban Tesla-driving supporters who seem to have little to no respect for the needs of rural America. I fear that if the Kentucky General Assembly does not take swift action, Kentucky’s 19 existing coal-fired plants are in line to meet Biden’s schedule, with six scheduled to close by 2029, six more by 2039, and the remainder by 2049. The annual economic impact of Kentucky’s 19 existing coal-fired plants equates to over $1.5 billion and generates a yearly tax revenue of over $90 million.
I look forward to working with my fellow lawmakers in Frankfort to ensure we give Kentuckians more say in directing their energy portfolio by clarifying that operating a utility in Kentucky is a “privilege” and not a right, and that failure to consider both the safety and economic security of Kentucky consumers can result in a revocation of that privilege by the Public Service Commission or legislature.
Lastly, I hope to see the ATV/UTV pilot program reauthorized. Unfortunately, due to delays in completing the administrative regulations by the Transportation Cabinet, we have not been able to utilize the program extensively. Eastern Kentucky has shown that it is a world-class destination for recreational vehicles and adventure tourism, and this pilot program has benefited our region immensely. The success and popularity of the program and its benefits for local tourism has caught the attention of other countries around Kentucky and will potentially serve as a blueprint for them to start their own programs in the future.
It’s genuinely humbling and one of the great honors of my life to represent the 31st Senate District in our commonwealth’s Capitol, and I want you to know that I will never stop fighting for the best interest of east Kentucky families. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if I or my staff can assist you by emailing me atPhillip.Wheeler@lrc.ky.gov or call toll-free at 1-800-372-7181.
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Senator Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, represents Kentucky’s 31st Senate District, including Elliott, Johnson, Lawrence, Martin, and Pike Counties. Wheeler is vice chair of the Senate Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor, and the Senate Judiciary committees. He is also Capital Planning Advisory Board co-chair. Additionally, Wheeler serves as a member of the Senate Transportation, Natural Resources and Energy, State and Local Government, and Transportation committees.
