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Senate adopts free-conference budgets covering executive, judicial and legislative branches
Summary
Lawmakers adopted free‑conference reports and passed key budget bills — including the executive branch budget (House Bill 500), judicial branch budget (House Bill 504) and legislative budget (House Bill 503) — moving large appropriations and policy language into place for the 2026–28 biennium.
The Kentucky Senate on April 1 adopted multiple free‑conference committee reports and voted to pass a slate of budget bills covering the executive, judicial and legislative branches.
Senator from Kenton, who guided the free‑conference reports, outlined major adjustments in the executive (House Bill 500) and judicial (House Bill 504) budgets. Highlights included a $290 million 'lock box' set aside for Medicaid if cost savings were not realized, funding for new judgeships and courthouse renovations, additional home‑and‑community‑based waiver slots, funding increases to support psychiatric and behavioral health services, specified salary increases and base reductions for many agencies, and authorization of capital projects and an asset preservation pool for post‑secondary institutions.
The Senate adopted free conference committee report No.1 to HB504 and then moved HB504 to final passage. Later the body adopted the executive free‑conference report and passed HB500 with a roll call recorded as 38 yeas and no nays. Senators took the opportunity during floor debate to press for changes to post‑secondary formulas, to complain that some districts were left without school gap funding, and to urge continued attention to Medicaid funding adequacy for the second year of the biennium.
The legislative branch budget (House Bill 503) was also adopted after a free conference report; the measure funds the legislature’s requested calculations and includes salary increments and a consultant appropriation for a compensation study.
What this means: The adopted packages move large sums of state dollars into allocations and language that will be implemented over the biennium. Senators signaled further follow‑up work on higher‑education formulas, school facility gap funding and Medicaid second‑year cost exposure.
Provenance: The Governor’s and budget explanations, committee report adoptions, and final passage roll calls appear in the floor transcript where Kenton and others presented free‑conference reports and the body voted (presentation through recorded votes).
