Quip of the day

With the House voting to adhere to their rule that the final two days of the session are to be used solely for considering veto overrides, quite a few folks make jokes around the Capitol Thursday about “the rules” and when to suspend them.
Senate President David Williams had the best.
There’s been a lot of talk [...]

General Assembly may not take up additional bills this week

House leaders said today they plan to stick with House rules that reserve the final two days of the legislative session solely for dealing with overriding vetoed bills.
After a meeting between House and Senate leaders, Senate President David Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo both said the session could conclude without any action on remaining [...]

Road plan stalls over gas tax freeze

Work to pass a road plan and funding mechanism stalled Friday over a disagreement between House and Senate  leaders about when the legislation should be delivered to Gov. Steve Beshear.
Senate President David Williams said Friday morning during a press conference with House Speaker Greg Stumbo that he wants the governor make any vetoes in the [...]

Senate president: Road plan expected tomorrow

Senate President David Williams told reporters this afternoon that he expects the road plan that House and Senate leaders have been working on for more than two weeks to be presented Wednesday.
“We’re getting very near,” Williams said. “We met with the House today and we’ve got a few adjustments, but we’re getting very near.”
The plan [...]

Williams hasn’t made decision on potential U.S. Senate run

Following reports over the weekend that he is considering a run for the U.S. Senate next year, Kentucky Senate President David Williams told reporters this morning that he had made not decision about running for a different office. 
“We’ll just see what the rest of the year brings,” Williams, a Burkesville Republican, told reporters, according to [...]

State’s top Republicans in Bowling Green tonight

Some of the state’s top Republicans will be in Bowling Green tonight for the Warren County GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner. 
Among the elected officials attending are Bowling Green’s U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, who began his first term in Congress last month, and both of Kentucky’s U.S. senators – Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning. 
Given that there has [...]

House, Senate leaders hope to have budget plan passed in a week

Senate President David Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Friday during a morning press conference that they hope to have a plan to close a $456 million gap in the state’s budget passed and to the governor by Feb. 13. 
The plan, which is still being hammered out, will likely include cuts on par with [...]

Bits and pieces from Wednesday night

Here are a couple of quick observations and notes about Gov. Steve Beshear’s address Wednesday night -

By my count, the audience broke out in applause 15 times during Beshear’s speech which ran just under 33 minutes. 
After the speech, Senate President David Williams, a Burkesville Republican, paid tribute to former House Speaker Jody Richards, a Bowling Green Democrat, for [...]

House, Senate leaders continue meeting about budget shortfall

House and Senate leaders met yesterday to continue their discussion about the state’s $456 million budget shortfall. 
This is the latest in a series of meetings headed by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and few details about what’s being discussed are being shared, though those involved say the meetings have [...]

Williams pitches statewide smoking ban

On last night’s edition of Kentucky Tonight on KET, Senate President David Williams said he would support enacting a statewide smoking ban similar to those put in place by several Kentucky cities.
Louisville and Lexington, along with Daviess County, have imposed bans on smoking in certain public places. In Daviess County, smoking is prohibited in any [...]