Kenny Colston (KPR)

A bill granting sales tax refunds for Kentuckians hit by this month’s tornadoes is swiftly moving through the General Assembly.

The measure cleared the House Appropriations and Revenue committee less than 12 hours after it was first proposed. The language granting the refunds had to be inserted into another bill, House Bill 165, because the deadline to introduce new House bills passed weeks ago.

A proposal to cap Kentucky's debt has hit a roadblock in the House.

The House Appropriations and Revenue committee took up Senate Bill 1 today. The bill wouldn't allow the state to accrue debt worth more than six percent of the general fund revenue, but doesn't cap debt in the road fund or most education budgets.

The bill easily sailed through the Senate, a point bill sponsor Senator Joe Bowen made to the House committee.

After a week of negotiations, the House Judiciary Committee has passed an amended version of a bill that would regulate pseudoephedrine.

Kentucky lawmakers continue to chastise three of the state's Medicaid Managed Care organizations for mismanagement.

Representatives of Kentucky Spirit, Wellcare of Kentucky and Coventry Cares appeared before the program review committee today. Legislators wanted to know whether they had solved problems brought up by health care providers in a January committee meeting.

The MCOs all said the problems were mostly solved and that operations were improving every day. But independent pharmacists and mental health care providers disagreed.

Kentucky’s General Assembly is heading down the stretch in the 2012 legislative session.

Lawmakers have ten legislative days left to pass budget and road plan bills, in addition to any other matter.

Many important topics that were priorities for some lawmakers—like raising the dropout age, fixing the state’s problems with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and drug abuse legislation—has yet to pass both chambers in the same form. This means for the bills to become law, legislators will have to form conference committees and reach an agreement.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo is blasting a report that recommends the University of Pikeville not be moved into the state university system.

Stumbo is a chief supporter of making UPIKE Kentucky's ninth public university.

But a report by an outside agency commissioned by Governor Steve Beshear says the measure wouldn'’t do enough to help raise education levels in far eastern Kentucky.

Stumbo rejected the report’s' findings, saying the increased collaboration and creation of scholarships the report calls for isn'’t enough.

The state House of Representatives has passed two-year and four-year financial plans for building Kentucky roads and bridges. The House passed three infrastructure bills this morning, 88-4. The bills are full of projects from sidewalks to building interstate bridges across the Ohio River and widening other highways across the commonwealth.

The Kentucky House budget committee has approved the next two-year road plan for the commonwealth.

The committee easily passed the plan and the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget today.

The road plan funds many of Governor Steve Beshear's big initiatives, such as widening both Interstate 65 around Bowling Green and the Mountain Parkway.

Bill sponsor Sannie Overly didn't offer specific details about the committee's changes to the measures, but says there are some.

The Kentucky House budget committee has approved the next two-year road plan for the commonwealth.

The committee easily passed the plan and the Transportation Cabinet's operating budget today.

The road plan funds many of Governor Steve Beshear's big initiatives, such as widening both Interstate 65 around Bowling Green and the Mountain Parkway.

Bill sponsor Sannie Overly didn't offer specific details about the committee's changes to the measures, but says there are some.

A bill designed to help pay federal interest payments is one step closer to becoming law. The measure passed the House unanimously today, although a few Republicans expressed concerns over the bill. The bill would let the state borrow money to help make federal interest payments on a loan Kentucky took out during the recession. The state borrowed more than $900 billion to help pay for unemployment insurance, but didn’t account for interest payments. If the state is late on payments, the federal government can put a higher tax on employers to recoup the funds.