From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighKentucky Senate President David Williams says lawmakers could pass a new state road plan by the end of the week.Kentucky’s road plan ran into legal problems because it was passed after midnight on the last night of the 2008 General Assembly. So House and Senate leaders, meeting behind closed doors, crafted a revised plan, on which lawmakers are preparing to vote.Senate President David Williams says it will be in the form of three separate bills.“We’re gonna change the statute as far as how the road plan is presented in the future. And then we’ll have the road plan bill which will be passed after that bill is passed. And then we will have an appropriation bill appropriating the money,” Williams said Tuesday.The road plan is funded through gas and motor-vehicle usage taxes, but the fund has a $104 million deficit. So, the revised road plan will freeze the gas tax at 21-point-one cents per gallon. The tax, which is linked to the wholesale price of gasoline, was supposed to drop by four cents on April 1.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.
