General Assembly Holds Budget Hearings

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighThe first legislative hearing on Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s budget-balancing plan has been held in Frankfort.After hearing a lengthy explanation of the governor’s plan for filling a 456-million dollar hole in the state budget, lawmakers began asking tough questions. Frankfort Rep. Derrick Graham wants to know how much the state can save by eliminating contract employees."If we’re going to ask our employees, those who are hired by the state, to sacrifice, I think we also should look at showing that we are trying to eliminate those contracted employees or services that we may not need or can provide and turnover to state employees," said Graham.The House and Senate budget committees met jointly to hear the governor’s plan.Now, they will start meeting separately to get a more detailed look at how budget cuts will affect individual state agencies.