It's day 35 of the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly and regular session, and a plan on how to pay for government programs and services is in full motion.

Today, the full House gave final passage of the state's two year, $31 billion budget.

House Bill 500 was debated on the House floor at length this afternoon.

Several Democrats filed a number of floor amendments seeking to add funding for housing, teacher pay, expanding pre-K and more.

All of those floor amendments failed.

Speaking on the House floor, House Minority Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke said when it comes to crafting the budget, she and her fellow Democrats want to have a seat at the table.

We represent constituents that you don't, and our constituents are no less important than yours.

So we're doing a really hard job up here because you might get a seat at the table and we don't.

And that's just wrong.

And as a result, this budget is just wrong.

It fails to consider many of the things that Kentuckians across the state need and deserve.

And I hope that the Senate will do better.

Do you know how many times in the hallway or how many conversations I've had with members of the minority about any of these four amendments that have been filed?

Zero.

These cameras turn on you, act like you're doing something.

But when it comes time to work, nobody ever asks.

So you can have your press conferences.

You can file your amendments, but do the work.

We all want to see more taxpayer dollars spent in appropriate manners.

We want to see more education funding.

We want to see more money for our universities.

We want to see you name it.

We.

We want to see more Medicaid funds.

But the fact of the matter is we have to live within our means.

House Bill 500 was forwarded to the Senate today after being amended during a committee meeting late yesterday.

One big change to the bill is that that it no longer includes a proposed 5% cap on state contributions to the Employee Kentucky Employees Health Plan.

Many current and retired state employees said the cap could have increased their health insurance premiums by almost 80%.

The amended bill also increases funding for Seac, which is the state's education funding formula.

The Pritchard Committee on Academic Excellence and Education, an advocacy group, applauded that decision, saying, quote, we are encouraged to see improvements in seek and transportation funding in this version of House Bill 500, while continuing to advocate for transportation funding at the full level called for in the statute.

Today, Democratic State Representative Tina, now a teacher from Louisville.

Also threw her support behind the bill.

There are celebrations for public education in this budget bill.

The cap on employer contributions to state employee health insurance has been removed.

That is a great sigh of relief for many educators.

Our pensions are fully funded.

The total Department of Education general Fund appropriation for all of Department of Education increased by 172 million for fiscal year 27 and 233 more in fiscal year 28.

All in all, I think this is a pretty solid public education budget.

But some fiscal conservatives say the newly crafted budget bill still needs to be put under a microscope.

Andrew McNeal is with the Kentucky Forum for rights, Economics and Education, or what's commonly called Kentucky Free.

He said the budget still, quote, contains an excessive number of earmarks directed towards numerous nonprofit organizations and government programs that have gone without meaningful review for years and some cases for decades.

He did, however, applaud House Republicans for showing some fiscal responsibility and its current form.

The budget is expected to add more than $600 million to the state's Budget Reserve Trust Fund, commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund.

House Bill 500 cleared the full House today by a vote of 81 to 18, largely along party lines.

Having now cleared the full House that now awaits action by the Senate.