KET Allowed As House, Senate Approve Budget

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Kentucky Senate voted 36-1 Friday to approve a two-year, $19 billion state budget that calls for 8.4 percent cuts to most government agencies and programs, accounting for nearly $300 million in savings. The Kentucky House voted 81-7 Friday evening to approve the state government’s spending plan for the two-year period beginning July 1st. Negotiators this year allowed cameras from the public television station KET to run throughout the proceedings. What the public learned from watching the KET feeds was that more than 30,000 government workers will go without pay raises and some 200,000 retirees won't get cost-of-living increases in their monthly pension checks and a compromise was reached to extend scholarships to college students in all of Kentucky's coal-producing counties, including those in western Kentucky. Governor Steve Beshear says he's pleased that education, Medicaid and corrections were spared from major cuts.