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House passes bill expanding legislative seats on performance-based funding work group
Summary
The Kentucky House on Jan. 22, 2026, passed House Bill 96 to increase General Assembly representation on the performance-based funding work group to five House and five Senate members, add a calendar-year schedule and include an emergency clause to begin work immediately; vote was 79–16.
The Kentucky House on Jan. 22, 2026, passed House Bill 96, a measure to expand legislative membership on the state’s performance-based funding work group and move its reporting schedule to the calendar year.
Representative from Spencer, who explained and moved passage of the bill, said the change would increase General Assembly representation to five House members and five Senate members with appointments split between each chamber’s leadership and minority leader. "I feel like it is very important to get more members of the General Assembly involved in this process," the representative said, urging broader legislative involvement in the decade-old program.
The measure preserves one representative from the governor’s office, retains the nine university presidents as members and names the president of the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) as a non-voting chair of the work group. The bill also changes references that currently have the group meeting in fiscal years to a calendar-year schedule so the work group would complete recommendations in time for the 2027 session; it carries an emergency clause to allow the group to begin work immediately.
Representative from Campbell asked whether the bill accounted for geographic spread among institutions to ensure balanced representation across the state. Representative from Spencer replied that leadership should select appropriate members and said the universities and the CPE support the legislation.
The House voted by roll call. The clerk recorded 79 members voting "Yea" and 16 voting "Nay," and House Bill 96 passed. Representative from Spencer moved the clincher; the clincher was applied and the orders of the day concluded.
The bill’s expansion alters the composition of the work group tasked with recommending changes to performance-based funding, a policy first enacted by the General Assembly in 2017. With the emergency clause, the new composition can convene and undertake its assigned work ahead of the 2027 session.
