Legislators tout cooperation and compromise as budget bills pass

No special session needed. No chance the governor gets the last say with his vetoes. And no moving the legislative calendar back in order to shoehorn in a budget before the constitutional deadline.

The House and Senate overwhelmingly signed off to a compromise version of the state’s $20 billion two-year state spending plan on Monday, roughly 36 hours after legislative leaders crafted the final bill.

The executive branch budget with most of that spending flew through the Senate 37-1 just before 6 p.m. with Republican Sen. John Schickel, R-Union. At 7:23 p.m, the House voted 90-10 for the measure with nine Republicans and Democrat Jim Wayne voting no.

The spending plan approves raises for state workers and teachers, cuts many agencies 5 percent, boosts K-12 education funding, applies a 1.5 percent cut to universities and includes compromises over funding levels in a host of other programs .

The legislative and judicial bills soon followed with similar levels of support.

And lawmakers gave themselves rhetorical pats on the back.

And that included a special tribute in the Senate to that chamber’s budget committee chairman, Paducah independent Sen. Bob Leeper, who is retiring. Senate President Robert Stivers offered this commendation: