Budget & Taxes

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 138 to define terms; impose a 4% state retail regulatory license fee on all alcoholic beverage and cannabis-infused beverage sales to consumers by alcoholic beverage retailers; establish procedures and duties of retailers; impose state wholesale regulatory license fees on alcoholic beverages and cannabis-infused beverages and state retail regulatory license fees on kratom, hemp-derived, and cannabinoid products; set out regulatory license fee rates, deductions for timely filing and payment, and licensee duties; amend KRS 211.285 to fund the alcohol wellness and responsibility education fund with 0.5% of the collected state retail regulatory license fees; create a new section of KRS Chapter 217 to establish Department for Public Health laboratory and testing standards and procedures; amend KRS 241.010 to define "state or national conference" and redefine "alcoholic beverages"; amend KRS 241.069 to delete outdated language; amend various sections of KRS Chapter 243 to establish state license fees for new and existing license types; limit licensee discipline to only the specific license in question; establish a souvenir package license for distillers; authorize distillers, small farm wineries, and microbreweries to allow leashed dogs on their premises; allow caterers and special temporary auction licensees at state and national conferences; modify the privileges for various licensees, including a wholesaler, Class B distiller, and special agent or solicitor; add references to the new tax structure and statutes; modify requirements for public notice of a license application; sunset existing excise, wholesale, and other taxes on July 1, 2027, as they relate to alcoholic beverages and cannabis-infused beverages; repeal and reenact KRS 243.075, relating to local regulatory license fees, to allow any moist or wet city or county to impose the fee; authorize audits of each city's or county's regulatory license fee fund by the Auditor of Public Accounts for the most recent 10 years; describe audit penalties for cities and counties that fail to substantially comply; direct cities and counties to reduce the regulatory license fee to 3% within 4 years; limit future cities and counties to a 1% regulatory license fee; amend KRS 244.080 to permanently prohibit a retail license from using a premises if the licensee sold to minors at that premises 3 or more times in 24 months; amend KRS 244.585 to establish limitations for agreements between distributors and breweries or microbreweries; amend KRS 131.250, 139.010, 243.045, 243.430, 243.790, 243.850, and 243.990 to conform; EFFECTIVE, in part, July 1, 2027; EMERGENCY.

Amend KRS 65.013 to define terms; expand the prohibition on using tax dollars to advocate for or against a public question on the ballot to prohibit using any resources, and to explicitly apply prohibition to school districts, regional educational cooperatives, and recalls on a ballot; establish a criminal penalty and a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person found guilty of violating the prohibition; create a cause of action for a citizen aggrieved by a violation of the prohibition; establish a statute of limitations to commence suit and the appropriate venue; provide when the suit accrues; specify damages recoverable per violation; allow for class action; include a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person held civilly liable; amend KRS 48.025 and 132.017 to conform.

Amend KRS 45A.380 to allow the purchase of used vehicles and used equipment through noncompetitive negotiation if the agency pays no more than 75% of the manufacturer's suggested retail price for new same or similar vehicles or equipment for the used vehicle or equipment; amend KRS 424.260 to allow local agencies to purchase used vehicles and equipment negotiation if the agency pays no more than 75% of the manufacturer's suggested retail price for new same or similar vehicles or equipment without making a newspaper advertisement for bids.