Kentucky House Passes Budget With Vaping Tax, No Sports Betting

Higher taxes on vaping and tobacco products are the only new revenue anchoring the $23 billion-plus budget approved by the Kentucky House.

House Bill 352, which passed 86-10 in the Republican-controlled chamber on Friday, would give teachers a 1% raise, fund the state’s struggling pension systems, and pay for 50 more state social workers. But it does so without raising additional revenue from sports betting.

Over the next two years, the budget bill assumes, the state will bring in roughly $50 million in additional revenue through enactment of House Bill ...