Governor Steve Beshear's legislative priorities for the coming year are a mix of old and new.
With the next session’s first days weeks away, Gov. Beshear is ready to push some old initiatives and help lawmakers solve pressing issues like the state's flailing pensions.
Beshear says he will once again try to find enough votes to pass expanded gambling legislation. And he wants to raise the school dropout age to 18 as well. In addition to those old reforms, Beshear says he wants to work with lawmakers to address recent reports from task forces that studied pensions and tax reform.
“So those are big issues that we need to at least start discussing during the short session. How far we get on them I don’t know. But I believe the House and Senate leadership are all on board with starting to talk about those big issues," the Governor said.
On top of all this, Beshear says education funding is also a priority.