Kentucky is continuing to take steps to lower the individual income tax and the top priority bill of the General Assembly was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday morning.

Now in only the third week of the 2023 legislative session, House Bill 1 has been signed into law.

House Bill 1, sponsored by Rep. Brandon Reed, carries out another reduction in Kentucky’s income tax, initiated by legislation passed in the 2022 session that put the state on a path to eliminate the individual income tax.

Kentucky Chamber priorities centered around workforce saw movement this week as bills making progress on childcare and the state’s benefits cliff passed through committee.

House Bill 165, sponsored by new state Rep. Nick Wilson, is a technical cleanup bill for the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership set up in House Bill 499 passed in the 2022 session.

House Bill 499 set up a public-private partnership to encourage businesses to provide childcare assistance as a benefit of employment. Employers interested in participating in the program can learn more here: kychamber.com/childcare.

House Joint Resolution (HJR) 39 is the result of recommendations from a task force created in 2022’s House Bill 708 seeking to offer more resources to support working families by studying Kentucky’s benefits cliff that occurs when an individual suddenly loses eligibility for public assistance due to a wage increase or because they started working more hours.

The bill seeks to have the Cabinet for Health and Family Services review benefits, rollout an education campaign, and implement a benefits cliff calculator. Learn more here.

The Kentucky Chamber testified in favor of both bills noting the critical importance of both policies helping individuals stay in or reenter the workforce as well as help employers recruit a high quality workforce.

With thousands of unregulated gambling machines popping up in all corners of the state, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce sent a letter calling on legislators to take action to ban “skill game” machines from the Commonwealth.

In the letter, the business community noted “gray machines” are posing a threat to existing legalized, regulated forms of gambling in Kentucky such as the Kentucky Lottery, charitable gaming, and the signature horse industry.

Stay tuned to The Bottom Line news site next week for an interview with Rep. Killian Timoney on grey machines and how the General Assembly plans to tackle the issue in the 2023 session.