Tagged: Jack Conway

The mayors of Lexington and Louisville believe Kentucky needs a local option sales tax to stay competitive. The tax is levied temporarily to finance public infrastructure projects, but an opinion issued this week by the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office says voters would first need to approve a constitutional amendment. 

According to the opinion, local governments nor the General Assembly may enact a local option sales tax without changing the state constitution. The Courier-Journal reports the opinion was requested by the Louisville Metro Council. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray want counties to be able to locally increase the statewide sales tax and use the additional revenue for public projects.  Voters would have to approve the tax and the projects it would fund in a local referendum.

In an opinion issued Monday by Attorney General Jack Conway, the first step would be amending the state constitution.

One of Kentucky's most recognizable political figures is letting other would-be candidates know they may have to get past him if they want to be the state's next governor.

Democratic Attorney General jack Conway told the Associated Press that he's taking "a very, very serious look" at running in the 2015 gubernatorial election, a move that could ward off some potential challengers for his party's nomination to replace incumbent Democrat Steve Beshear.

Three statewide campaigns in the past five years have enhanced Conway's name recognition. Altogether, Conway spent about $10 million in those races, largely on TV advertising that built up his name among voters. Conway had about twice that much spent against him.

A Kentucky appeals court on Friday threw out $30 million in verdicts against two drug makers, concluding that there wasn't any evidence to back claims that the pair inflated prescription drug prices to boost profits from Medicaid.