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Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is instituting major overhauls at Louisville’s Metropolitan Sewer District after state Auditor Crit Luallen released a scathing report detailing a culture of misusing funds. Luallen’s audit, which came at the request of Fischer, detailed over 150 recommendations for the organization to better manage the funds it receives from charging sewer rates. In response, Fischer accepted the resignation of MSD’s Executive Director Bud Schardein and named Greg Heitzman, the president of Louisville Water Company as interim executive... Read more 

Senate Republicans have decided not to change any leadership positions for the upcoming session after their annual retreat, Republican Senator Jimmy Higdon told Pure Politics on Thursday. The group’s two-day retreat wrapped up late Thursday evening after meetings about the budget, a potential caucus agenda and a discussion about their leadership. Higdon told Pure Politics that the caucus voted to “confirm their leadership” and that there were no plans to take future votes on leadership this upcoming session. Williams, who has... Read more 

New Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson is optimistic that more information will be unveiled early next year regarding the possibility of the Ohio River Bridges Project starting in 2012. Speaking to Pure Politics after his first official economic development announcement as the second-in-command, Abramson said he expects the details of a financing plan to come “in the first quarter” of next year. And he agreed with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who said that the upcoming legislative session is the right time... Read more 

Senate Republicans are pushing back on the idea that any expanded gambling bill in 2012 should originate in their legislative chamber, Joe Gerth of the Courier-Journal reports. Senate President David Williams told Gerth it was “premature” to talk the strategy of where Gov. Steve Beshear’s proposed constitutional amendment for expanded gambling should start. And he repeated his stance that Beshear needs to put a full bill together before talking strategy. House and Senate Democratic leaders have said any expanded gambling... Read more 

One Democratic lawmaker’s proposed compromise on pseudoephedrine doesn’t go far enough in cracking down on “smurfers,” two leading advocates in the fight against drug abuse told Pure Politics. Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway both said a bill pre-filed by state Rep. Brent Yonts, a Democrat from Greenville, isn’t enough to stop an increase in methamphetamine production and use in Kentucky. Yonts’ bill would require anyone with a meth-related conviction to have a prescription to buy... Read more 

Governor Steve Beshear used his second inaugural address to lay out his priorities of reforming education, allowing expanded gambling and continuing to expand children’s health care, while also raising the specter of tax reform. Beshear specifically called for raising the drop out age and the need for additional revenue through expanded gambling. He also said he wants to continue pushing to expand health care programs for children. His administration expanded the Kentucky Childrens Health Insurance Program during his first term.... Read more 

After serving as a running mate, state Rep. Mike Harmon wants to change the way they’re selected in the future. Harmon, a Republican from Danville, ran as the lieutenant governor candidate with Phil Moffett in this year’s GOP primary for governor. And he pre-filed a bill that would allow candidates for governor to run solo through the primary, then pick a slate-mate. In Kentucky, each gubernatorial candidate must pick their lieutenant governor candidate when they file to run — unlike... Read more 

The agreement that an extension of the payroll tax cut is necessary won’t be hung up by Republicans’ insistence on a provision to speed approval for the Keystone oil pipeline, one Kentucky Democrat said today. In an interview with Pure Politics, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Louisville, said the latest proposal, which comes from House Republicans, will get bipartisan support and opposition. The House Republicans’ proposal includes the one-year extension to the payroll tax holiday, language accelerating the... Read more 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer says it’s time to go all in during the 2012 legislative session for full funding needed for the Ohio River Bridges Project to proceed. One of the factors pushing the urgency of the project is the departure from office of one of the project’s key proponents from Indiana, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, said Fischer, a Democrat. The project includes two new bridges across the Ohio River, one in the eastern part of Louisville and a second bridge... Read more 

The up and down receipt reports of fiscal year 2012 are continuing with a 2.8 percent drop in November receipts, state budget director Mary Lassiter announced today. The general fund receipts have risen 2.1 percent for the year and would need to rise another 0.7 percent to meet revenue forecasts. In a news release, Lassiter said the reports still show modest economic growth for the state, despite the dip in receipts for November. The road fund was up 5.7 percent... Read more