Appropriations and Revenue Committee advances Grant Ready Kentucky reauthorization after sponsor cites $200M pool and 7x leverage

Representative Sean McPherson presented House Bill 647 to the Appropriations and Revenue Committee as the third iteration to reauthorize and ‘stand up’ the Grant Ready Kentucky program, which supports preparing local projects for external grant funding.

McPherson told the committee the program has operated with a $200,000,000 pool and “brought down about 800,000,000, which is a 7 x,” framing the fund as a successful leverage tool to attract larger project investments. He said eligible applicants include counties, cities, public-safety entities and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

Miss Hartz, a program representative, answered committee questions about where projects have concentrated. She said Jefferson County has contributed about $32,000,000 in local match that is yielding a total project value of $133,700,000. She also cited Perry County — a rural county in southeast Kentucky — as submitting roughly $15,000,000 in match that corresponds to about $107,600,000 in project value.

On required local matches, Miss Hartz said the earlier scale tied to population density (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%) has been adjusted upward to a new scale of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% so denser counties contribute a larger share. She told members project locations now include about 93 counties and that more than 100 counties participate in regional applications.

The committee placed a motion to pass the measure; the secretary called the roll and each member recorded an affirmative vote. Chair McDaniel announced “12 aye votes, no nay votes,” and the bill passed the committee with favorable expression. After a motion and second, the committee put HB 647 on consent.

Representative McPherson thanked the committee; the measure will proceed on the legislature’s consent calendar.