Budget & Taxes (Appropriations)

Create a new section of Subchapter 32 of KRS Chapter 154 to establish a tiered county system for eligible companies to receive incentives under the Kentucky Business Investment Program; amends KRS 154.32-010 to define "tier"; amends KRS 154.32-020 and 154.32-040 to conform; amend KRS 154.32-050 to specify tiering procedures; amend KRS 154.32-060 to require the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to identify and certify or decertify the tiers for all counties on an annual basis into 4 tax credit tiers; provide that the incentives available under this subchapter be determined based on the county where the economic development project is located by an approved company; provide a county's tier will be based on a 5 year average of its unemployment rate and population ranking; amend KRS 154.32-090, 154.61-010, 154.61-020, and 141.383 to conform.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 154.12 to establish the Kentucky Talent Recruitment Grant Program under the Cabinet for Economic Development; define terms; establish the duties of the cabinet in implementation of the program subject to approval of the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority; establish eligible grant applicants' duties and program reporting requirements; establish the Kentucky Talent Recruitment Grant Program fund; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 336 to define terms; establish the Kentucky FLOW Program and specify eligible participants, activities, and uses of funds; establish the Kentucky FLOW Program fund; appropriate $1,347,500 in each fiscal year from the General Fund to the Kentucky FLOW Program fund; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY, effective, July 1, 2026.

Amend KRS 158.4433 to move the school mapping data program to the Kentucky 911 Services Board, specify responsibility for mapping data accuracy walk-through; amend KRS 65.7629 and 158.442 to conform; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

Amend KRS 164.936 to establish maximum loan repayment awards under the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for dentists and dentists in counties that do not have an actively practicing dentist; provide rural dental practice grant awards and criteria; establish distribution requirements for funds appropriated to the Center of Excellence in Rural Health for loan repayment awards for dentists and rural dental practice grants; amend KRS 164.937 to require information on the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program to be reported to the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Legislative Research Commission; amend KRS 313.035 to require the Kentucky Board of Dentistry to create a Rural Dental Fellows Network; require the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates by 25% for dental services in federally designated health professional shortage areas; appropriate $4,400,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Center of Excellence in Rural Health budget unit; appropriate $600,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Kentucky Board of Dentistry; appropriate $1,000,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Department for Medicaid Services; provide that the Act may be cited as the Rural Dental Incentive and Access Program Act; specify that the expanded award eligibility, required reporting on the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program, and the Rural Dental Fellows Network shall expire on July 1, 2036; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

HB 674 makes technical corrections to Kentucky's budget submission rules for government branches. It requires all budget recommendations to include specific dollar amounts for every item, banning vague terms like "necessary government expense" without them. The bill also mandates that when a fund's entire proceeds are assigned to specific budget units, agencies must provide annual revenue estimates for the current and prior two fiscal bienniums. This affects all state government branches submitting budget recommendations to the General Assembly. The changes clarify procedural requirements without altering funding levels or policy substance.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 218A to define terms; establish the ibogaine research and intellectual property fund to be administered by the Department of Agriculture for the purpose of allowing the department to enter a public-private partnership with a drug developer to conduct a clinical drug development trial or trials related to the use of ibogaine for the treatment of opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disorder, or any other neurological or mental health condition for which ibogaine demonstrates efficacy; establish requirements for the department related to how it contracts with a drug developer related to ibogaine research and intellectual property; appropriate $21 million from the opioid abatement trust fund to the ibogaine research and intellectual property development fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 and in fiscal year 2027-2028; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

The Chief Justice's recommended Judicial Branch Budget: Detail Part I, Operating Budget; detail Part II, Capital Projects Budget; detail Part III, General Provisions; detail Part IV, Budget Reduction or Surplus Expenditure Plan; APPROPRIATION.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 171 to establish the Kids Love to Read Program; specify the program is for children in kindergarten through grade 5; require books to be sent to children's homes; require the Department for Libraries and Archives to promulgate administrative regulations necessary to administer the program; appropriate $500,000 in fiscal year 2027-2028 to support the program; APPROPRIATION.

Appropriate $221.4 million, $18.7 million, and $16 million in fiscal year 2026-2027 for the Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) nonhazardous pension fund, the KERS hazardous pension fund, and the State Police Retirement System pension fund, respectively, to provide a one-time 2% COLA effective July 1, 2026; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.