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Media Center

March 14, 2024 3:00pm

Senate Passes Their Version of the Budget

After several weeks of silence, yesterday the Kentucky Senate presented and passed their version of the biennial budget. While colloquially we refer to the “budget” as a single entity, it more broadly refers to House Bill 6, the executive branch’s functional budget for the next biennium, and House Bill 1, a historic collection of one-time investments to a variety of programs and recipients across the Commonwealth. The House passed their version of these two bills on February 1. With the passage of these bills by the Senate, the budget process now heads into conference committees where bipartisan leadership meets to hash out the final edits of the budget. It then moves to the Governor’s desk for review. The budget is unique in that it is the only legislation which the governor has line-item veto power.  

The Senate version of the budget contained a number of key wins for Louisville and a number of GLI top priorities that we have been advocating for this session including: 

  • Almost $8 million dollars over two years for the Kentucky Talent Attraction Initiative, including $250,000 in FY24-25 for consulting and strategic support and $7.5 million in FY25-26 to support the creation and implementation of the Kentucky Talent Attraction Initiative and to support local and regional talent attraction campaigns through a grant program.   
  • $100 million dollars across two years to the Department for Local Government budget unit to be distributed to Louisville Metro Government for the revitalization of downtown Louisville to include these projects: 
    • The Belvedere; 
    • Community Care Campus; 
    • LOUMED Campus; 
    • Louisville Gardens; 
    • Downtown Vacant Lot Revitalization; and 
    • Butchertown Sports District; 
  • $25 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 to the University of Louisville budget unit to be distributed to the University of Louisville Health System for cancer care, research, screening, and educational programs at the Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research. 
  • $5 million investment in Louisville Muhammad Ali Airport as a part of a $35 million total invested in the largest airports in the state. 
  • $8.5 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 and $1.5 million in fiscal year 2025-2026 to the University of Louisville budget unit to support construction, renovation, and operations for the University’s cybersecurity program. 
  • $30,000,000 dollars to the Home of the Innocents for the expansion of the Kosair for Kids Complex Care Center. 
  • A one-time allocation of $1.5 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 for an Immigration Law Clinic at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.  

GLI is proud of the investments made by the General Assembly in support of the Louisville business community. We look forward to continuing to advocate in the coming weeks to ensure that investment in Greater Louisville remains a top priority in Frankfort through the rest of this session and beyond.