Time now for an indirect review of some major political developments, particularly in Frankfurt.

And it's all about the budget.

And we have two good observers with us today, Julia Krieger, who is the founder of Bright Strategies, a Republican consultant and former state treasurer.

Democrat Jonathan Miller is with us.

So we appreciate them both.

I'll start with you, Julia.

Good to see you.

We all asked about your dog who made a cameo a couple of times before.

So we all give our regards to Sergeant Pepper.

But your thoughts about this budget, that there were four bills kind of connected to the budget.

Does some funding more funding for seek fully funding school transportation?

What are some other perhaps highlights of the bill?

Sure.

Yeah.

Renee, thanks for having me.

It's a strong budget that Republicans put out.

You know, I think they they really showed their priorities and their commitment to education with K through 12 historic K through 12 funding, fully funding the transportation in the second year of the budget, as well as some dedicated funds to substance abuse recovery.

In the budget, you'll also see it increase a much needed increase for our foster care providers.

There's several other increases in in areas with health care related to different races that are out there where we're just really behind our other states.

You also see $500 million in a commitment to the unfunded liability and the Kentucky Teacher Retirement System, 150 million to the Kentucky State Police Teacher Retirement System.

So there's a lot in there to like.

But as everybody knows, it's only the last, last version of the budget that counts.

That's right.

And we're far from the final version of the budget.

We've got some days and hours to go before then.

Jonathan Miller, We also know that Democrats on the House floor yesterday had some pretty strong critiques of what's not in the budget at a time when the state is experiencing record cash flow, that they would be the time to make some big, bold investments that current lawmakers the GOP is bypassing.

Yeah.

Democrats had two kinds of issues.

One is procedural.

They were not allowed this year to make amendments to the budget on the floor or offer amendments.

And while it's unlikely a Democratic amendment is going to pass in a super majority Republican House.

So having that opportunity is something is something that's generally granted the minority party in this problem.

But from a substantive standpoint, I agree and support with everything Julia says.

But what's missing are are things that were part of the governor's budget, including an 11% across the board raise for teachers, more money for for affordable housing and other other types of issues that that that the governor has been stressing that we can use these these excess funds for during this crisis time for for education and for our people and ensuring perhaps that we get to the conditions to satisfy the triggers for an income tax reduction.

Democrats, how do they feel about that?

You know, I think that Democrats believe that these continued decreases in the income tax are going to pose challenges in terms of having the money around to pay for programs.

You know, we're we're right now living off of a lot of money that came out of the stimulus packages coming out of Washington, D.C..

They're not going to be there in the future.

And so losing that money, as well as losing income tax dollars could pose some real challenges for for important programs in the future.

So, Julia, Jonathan makes a good point about child care.

And we've heard a lot about concerns from the business community, about from parents and caregivers who are concerned about how they can afford and even access child care.

Do we think that there might be some legislation forthcoming to help bully that system that is so fragile right now, not just in Kentucky, but across the nation?

Sure.

You know, one thing I want to go back to really quickly, Renee, is it kind of sounds like from Jonathan's perspective, Democrats want to have their cake and eat it, too.

They want to say you didn't spend enough money in this budget, but we don't want the income tax to go down because we're worried about how much money we're bringing in.

So it's a little bit of a double edged sword.

But, yes, on the child care issue, I know Chairwoman Samir Hebron, who's a new committee chair to that area when they split Health and Family Services, has been working diligently with stakeholders to address that issue specifically.

I know she's she's looked at paid family leave and different models out there across the across the country and really bringing in stakeholders, large business, small business groups for specifically for mothers and having those conversations.

So I think we'll have to wait and see what happens with that.

Right.

We should mention that there was another bill that passed, a couple of others, but one that will mention right now, House Bill one which used that one time money or some one time money from the budget Reserve trust fund to really go toward infrastructure improvements, state employee and teacher pensions and economic development projects and public safety.

So more on all of this because we know we have a lot more to go before the budget is finally resolved.

What are you keeping your eyes on as we enter week six next week, Julia?

What do you think we could see come down the pike?

I think there's still a lot of want out there to be shopped.

You know, we haven't seen movement yet on school choice issues.

You've got bills filed in the House right now with constitutional amendments on those two issues.

So I think I think keeping an eye towards to see where which of those measures moves.

If the Senate comes up with their own version of a school choice bill, whether that's a constitutional amendment or not.

So I think there's plenty still out there.

Yeah.

What do you think, Jonathan?

Well, you know, I've been a believer for decades that bipartisanship is the way to go.

And it's not dead in Frankfurt as much as people want to say.

I Kasy Chambers.

Armstrong has a great bill that would reduce or eliminate the sales tax on diapers.

It's supported by a number of Republicans, even Majority Leader David Thayer.

And so about half Kentuckians are having trouble buying diapers.

This is a key problem.

And we've got a bipartisan solution.

And, you know, only 5% of the food in Kentucky's public schools is made in Kentucky.

And Chad, all represented here in Lexington, has got another bipartisan bill that would would bring more incentives and more dollars into getting Kentucky proud products, Kentucky agriculture into our our food, into our school systems.

And we know there was a bipartisan bill on allowing the homeless who have been certified, verified, homeless to get free no cost birth certificates.

And that was a bipartisan measure with Republican Susan Whitten and Democrat Sarah Stocker, both from Jefferson County.

So, Julia, bipartisanship is not dead, right, Bill alive.

It's still alive.

We got our beat.

So now we're glad to see that any time folks get the opportunity to work across the aisle and sometimes you see the most nuanced and unique issues that come out of bipartisan initiative.

So stay tuned for more.

We'll see.

Stay tuned for more.

We'll be at, what, day, 23 or 24 when we go back on Monday.

So rest well, both of you, thank you so much for your time.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you.