Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature convened Tuesday to start a 30-day session expected to include action to reduce the state’s individual income tax rate. GOP lawmakers also will resume efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion practices on college campuses.

While their constituents back home were digging out from a massive winter storm, the House and Senate gaveled into session at midday amid the usual opening day pomp. New lawmakers were welcomed and stacks of bills were introduced in both chambers. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear will present his priorities in his State of the Commonwealth speech, set for Wednesday evening.

With supermajorities in both chambers, Republican legislators will set the agenda and determine the outcome of legislation. They wield enough clout to override any gubernatorial vetoes.

Priorities will include a measure to reduce the individual income tax rate to 3.5% from 4%, to take effect in 2026. Top GOP lawmakers announced last year that the state had met the financial conditions needed to set in motion another cut in the tax rate.

Since Republicans passed a tax overhaul in 2022, the personal income tax has gradually been reduced by increments of a half-percentage point, conditioned on meeting benchmarks that ensure revenues are sufficient to meet state spending needs.

Lawmakers also will focus on unfinished business from a year ago, including the push to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public universities. Anti-DEI legislation died last year i n Kentucky amid a House-Senate impasse — resulting in a rare setback for the GOP on a priority, hot-button issue. It reflects a broader conservative quest in GOP-led states to curb DEI initiatives.

The prospect of DEI legislation resurfacing in 2025 had an impact on some campuses. The University of Kentucky announced last August that it was disbanding its office promoting diversity and inclusion efforts in response to questions from state policymakers. The university’s president stressed that the school’s core values remained intact — to protect academic freedom and promote a “sense of belonging” for everyone on campus, regardless of background or perspective.

Lawmakers could also debate whether to bolster oversight of Medicaid — a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage for low-income Kentuckians and people with disabilities.

Spending on Medicaid accounts for a significant portion of the state budget and the program covers more than a third of Kentucky’s population, Republican state Rep. Adam Bowling said recently.

“We have a deeply vested interest in ensuring that the program is operating effectively and efficiently for both those who depend on it and the taxpayers who pay for it,” Bowling said.

Lawmakers’ biggest responsibility — crafting a state budget — won’t be on the agenda this year since they passed a two-year budget in 2024. But they could choose to reopen the budget this year to make adjustments or insert new spending items.

Lawmakers will meet this week and then head home until early February, when the 2025 session will resume. The session will wrap up in late March.

One of the US’s youngest municipal mayors was arrested on Tuesday morning in connection with a drug trafficking investigation by authorities in his home state of Louisiana.

The charges against Tyrin Truong, who was 23 when he was elected as mayor of the city of Bogalusa in 2022, include engaging in transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses and the illicit solicitation of sex work.

Truong is among seven defendants charged in the investigation conducted by Louisiana state police and the Bogalusa police department.

According to a statement from the state police, investigators allege that Truong and the others collectively used “social media platforms to distribute [drugs illegally] and manage payments” for them, “further expanding their reach and criminal activity”.

“The investigation also determined that profits from drug sales were used to purchase firearms,” the state police’s statement continued. Some of those guns were then funneled to people who could not legally possess those weapons – and others “were linked to violent crimes in the Bogalusa area”, the statement added.

Truong, now 25, faces counts of transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses, unauthorized use of moveable property and soliciting for prostitutes.

Six others from Bogalusa also are charged with transactions involving drug-related proceeds. They are: MacKenzie Lynn Cefalu, 24; De-Saleem Wali Pittman, 24; Dirul S Pittman, 22; Salehal-Dien Malike Pittman, 26; Tonya Renee Stage, 51; and Devan Michael Williams, 28.

De-Saleem Pittman is accused of distributing illegal drugs and that defendant, Cefalu, Stage and Williams are accused of plotting to do so.

Truong, a Democrat, pulled off what was considered an upset victory when he won the mayor’s seat of Bogalusa by defeating the independent incumbent Wendy Perrette. Having graduated from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, with a degree in African American studies, Truong was the youngest mayor in the history of the 111-year-old city, which has a population of about 10,000.

The Black grandson of a Vietnamese immigrant who fought in the Vietnam war, Truong later told the Louisiana Illuminator that his priorities were to decrease crime and corruption in Bogalusa, which in 2008 had made unflattering national headlines after a woman who had just been initiated into a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was shot to death.

Truong encountered troubled political waters in April when he received a letter from Louisiana’s legislative auditor informing him that the city’s government had fallen out of compliance with state audit laws. The municipal government had not turned in its 2022 audited financial statement, which was due about six months after Truong took office in January 2023.

That left Bogalusa – which is about 73 miles north of New Orleans – unable to legally receive state money, grants, or federal dollars that would support infrastructure, recreation and law enforcement services.

In a written response, Truong argued that his predecessor did not facilitate a proper transition.

Truong did not immediately comment on authorities’ allegations against him. He had delivered Bogalusa’s state of the city address just four days before his arrest – and said he was elected at an age when many people are still learning “valuable life lessons”.

“I am not different,” Truong said. “I appreciate the trust in confidence you have placed in me, and I don’t take it lightly. Every day, we aim to get better.

“And I ask that we all extend more grace to one another. Mistakes will be made – as they have been. But I was always taught that you get back up, brush it off and apply the lesson for [the] future.”

System’s Gallion Proprietary Digital Solution Developed at its iHarbor Innovation Center

BALTIMORE, January 07, 2025–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has been selected as a finalist in the Gartner Power of the Profession Supply Chain Awards 2025, in the Process or Technology Innovation of the Year category. UMMS is included for Transforming Bill-Only Product Management in Healthcare Supply Chain; the System’s Gallion is a digital technology cutting-edge solution designed to optimize supply chain efficiency that was developed by UMMS’ iHarbor Innovation Center.

“We believe that being included as a finalist in the Gartner awards underscores the critical impact that UMMS has demonstrated so far in optimizing health care bill-only supply chain management and that it could have in the future on patient care,” said Warren D’Souza, PhD, MBA, the System’s Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. “In our opinion, this recognition validates our focus on streamlining processes and empowering health systems with innovative, integrated solutions.”

Gallion’s innovative solution redefines the management of bill-only transactions by digitizing and standardizing workflows, enhancing accuracy, compliance, and efficiency. The platform seamlessly integrates with electronic health record (EHR) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, automating critical tasks such as consumption tracking, charges and contract compliance. Before Gallion’s implementation in 2021 automated these processes, UMMS relied on a manual labor-intensive paper-based process that had the potential for errors and inefficiencies. Data from the deployment of Gallion across UMMS’ 11 hospitals shows significant operational improvements; completion time has been reduced by 75% and the defect/error rate has lowered from 18% to just 3%.

“At UMMS, part of what we pride ourselves on is innovation and being at the forefront of transformative change in health care,” said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, the System’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe this recognition underscores Gallion’s impact as a pioneering solution in health care supply chain innovation.”

Gallion was developed in iHarbor, a wholly-owned subsidiary and the innovation center of UMMS. iHarbor is now bringing Gallion to the market, enabling other hospitals and health systems to realize similar benefits. The enterprise platform offers robust analytics, giving supply chain teams unparalleled insight into cost management, contract competitiveness and compliance, and clinical quality outcomes.

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