Legislative leaders want to make changes to the state's $9.6 billion budget to plug a hole in the state's struggling retirement fund for public school teachers and build a cancer research facility at the University of Kentucky.
Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo filed a bill that would borrow up to $3.3 billion to help the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System make its monthly $144 million benefit payments. And Republican Senate President Robert Stivers wants to give the University of Kentucky up to $150 million to build a research building for its Markey Cancer Center in a state that has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. Each proposal would require a 60 percent vote to pass.