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Post by ClayLive on Jan 7, 2011 19:52:08 GMT -5
Senators approve tax reform plan, budget transparency
FRANKFORT — The General Assembly would have a comprehensive tax reform package to vote on in 2012 and a more time to consider the complexities of budget and appropriations bills under two bills passed by the Senate today. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, would create the Kentucky Council on Revenue Reform. The nine-member council, composed of university economists, accountants, one tax attorney, and a local property valuation administrator, would report back with a bill to reform the state’s tax code and system of economic incentives. The package would be ready for an up-or-down vote in the 2012 General Assembly, with no substantive amendments to the bill allowed. While two legislators and two state tax and budget officials would serve on the panel, they would have no vote on the group’s final recommendation to the General Assembly. “This sets up a process that is actually working in Georgia right now,” Williams said. He noted his intent was to remove politics from the tax reform process as much as possible. The bill passed on a 25-13 vote. The Senate also approved legislation to ensure that lawmakers have time to fully consider all spending bills before they must cast a vote. SB 5, sponsored by Sen. Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, would require 48 hours after its filing before budget bills or any other bill authorizing new spending could be voted on. Floor amendments would face a 24-hour wait. SB 5, which passed unanimously, would also authorize a timeline for the budget to pass through the legislative process, ensuring that the General Assembly would have an opportunity to override any vetoes issued by the governor. Both bills now head to the House of Representatives for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Jan 8, 2011 8:51:03 GMT -5
Bill for charter, neighborhood schools passes Senate
FRANKFORT — Changes to the way school districts draw their attendance boundaries and allow parents to select their children’s schools would be in the offing under a plan approved by the Senate on a 21-17 vote this morning. Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and Senate Majority Caucus Chair Dan Seum, R-Fairdale, would also allow local school districts to delegate day-to-day management of underperforming schools to an outside group. If parents sought a charter school structure but were refused by the local school board, they could appeal to the state board of education. Under the plan, charter school management would be given increased freedom from many rules and regulations in return for significant improvement in student test scores. Proponents emphasized that elected school boards and district administrators would remain ultimately responsible for ensuring the charter school’s performance and that charter schools would be voluntary. “This is a school district decision about whether to have a charter school or not,” said Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray. “It’s an optional program.” The bulk of the debate on SB 3 focused on how it would affect schools in Louisville, the state’s most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Jefferson County Schools have used multiple attendance zones to increase diversity within each school, which can involve transporting students from one area of the county to another to attend the school for their zone. The result, Seum said, is that many parents and family members cannot afford to travel to their child’s school and take an active role in their education. “When you look at the PTA, very few people are involved,” he said. “Maybe we make it hard to be involved.” Under SB 3, each school’s attendance zone would have to be a single, contiguous area. In districts that do not have specified attendance zones for their schools, parents would have the right to send their children to the nearest school, subject to space and curriculum restrictions. Williams said local districts would still be able to draw attendance boundaries, but that the principle of neighborhood schools would become more prominent. “This does not take control away from the local school districts to establish attendance zones,” Williams said. “What we’re talking about is empowering parents.” The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Jan 8, 2011 8:53:14 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort LRC PUBLIC INFORMATION
FRANKFORT -- Two things were different this time around, as the General Assembly convened for its off-year session in Frankfort: The air wasn’t thick with worry about money, and instead of devoting the four-day week solely to routine organizational matters, the Senate passed and sent a dozen pieces of legislation to the House, including several of major statewide import. The first-week Senate bills touch on some of today’s hottest red-button issues both locally and nationally, from illegal immigration to reaffirming Constitutional protections within a state Bill of Rights. All told, it was a historically unusual first week. And the underlying narrative begins with money. For the first time in three years (and one of the few times in longer than that) lawmakers came to Frankfort not facing hundreds of millions in budget shortfalls and difficult program cuts. Despite the stubborn recession, the revenue projections the state’s two-year budget was based on last year have more than held up, even to the point of leaving a likely small surplus (money that may come in handy as potential funding problems with the state-federal Medicaid program for low-income residents come into sharper focus.) General Fund tax collections rose 8.1 percent in October from the same month a year ago, the best monthly improvement in years. The report for November that came out in mid-December also showed strong growth. Overall, General Fund receipts rose 5 percent for the first five months of fiscal year. Road Fund receipts were even stronger. What that means is, state revenues are slightly ahead of their hoped-for pace, so the budget compass is steady on course. Officials caution that the economy continues to be volatile, and the strong revenue performance mostly reflects how anemic state revenues were a year ago. So the good news can be a bit misleading without knowing that context. Still, it's unconditional good news in a couple of regards. First, it means Kentucky has the money to operate state government within the budget the Legislature passed last Spring, so that can of worms doesn’t have to be re-opened this session. Second, and admittedly more speculatively, these figures hint the effects of the recession may be easing somewhat, or at least has bottomed out. The state's tax collections cratered to a five-year low last fiscal year, the Finance Cabinet says. But a few weeks ago, the head of that Cabinet said the latest numbers show Kentucky's economy is "responding very favorably to the slow but steady recovery" from the national recession. Regardless, all agree the immediate task is to get Kentucky's 10 percent-plus unemployment rate down and get folks back to work, so the three-year snowball of jobs lost and revenues in freefall might actually roll back uphill. Within this generally optimistic context -- and freed for once of dealing with a pressing budget crisis -- the Senate broke with tradition this week and passed a raft of major bills in just four days. The first week of a 30-day off-year session is normally reserved for such routine organizational matters as swearing in new members, electing leadership and constitutional officers, getting issues briefings and mandatory ethics training, and sorting out committee assignments. All this came off as usual. But this year, 13 significant bills passed the Senate. On tax reform, the Senate passed legislation establishing a nine-member council of economists, accountants, and other tax-policy experts — no politicians or bureaucrats invited or welcome — to independently develop a plan to comprehensively restructure our tax system , based on fair, sound and sustainable policy. In 2012, the General Assembly would give their plan a straight up-or-down vote, without special interest amendments or other political interference. The goal is for Kentucky to have the best tax system in the country for fairness, jobs creation, growth, and sustainable, stable revenues to pay for responsible, necessary government services. SB 3, which is similar to legislation passed by the Senate last year, would make Kentucky the 40th state to allow what’s called charter schools. The charter-schools concept allows low-performing schools, under the supervision of its school district, to be exempt from a number of regulations and restrictions so teachers can focus on teaching, and kids can focus on learning. In return, the school’s administration would be held strictly accountable for significant improvements in student performance. SB 3 would also reinvigorate the traditional concept of community schools, where parents live close to their children’s’ school and are directly involved in that school and their kids’ education. The bill would stipulate that kids could attend the school closest to their home rather than be bused long distances to accommodate what many feel are the no-longer-needed social remedies of past injustices. The Senate also passed SB 10, what it calls the 21st Century Bill of Rights. Just as the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution were written to prevent government intrusion on what the Founders considered fundamental human liberties, SB 10 is designed to assert state sovereignty in protecting similar ideals. If approved by the House, SB 10 would be submitted to voters in November 2012, in a referendum to enshrine in the state Constitution such concepts as the right to personal firearms, the right to hunt and fish, the right to accessible government, and the right to display the Ten Commandments in public spaces. The Legislature, organized and with more than 150 bills pre-filed and in the hopper, now goes into recess until Feb. 1 for the remaining 26 days of its 30-working-days session, which will run through late March. Any citizen wanting to contact a lawmaker is encouraged to call toll-free at 1-800-372-7181. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Jan 27, 2011 19:55:38 GMT -5
Committee accepts recommended changes to penal code and drug law
FRANKFORT – A state legislative committee today a step closer to reducing the state’s $500 million annual correctional system costs by accepting task-force recommended changes to Kentucky’s prison system. Recommendations that would strengthen the state’s probation and parole system, improve how drug users are handled by the courts, give more support to crime victims and improve government performance in public safety and corrections spending were explained by officials from the Pew Center on the States before they were accepted today by the Judiciary Committee. The Center worked with the state Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act to craft the several pages of recommendations, which will be used to draft legislation overhauling criminal penalties and drug laws for consideration during the 2011 Regular Session. Committee Co-Chairman Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, said legislation including the recommendations will be filed the first week of the second part of the session, which begins Feb. 1. Some of the recommendations shared by the Pew Center’s Richard Jerome include codifying existing risk and needs assessment tools used on inmates by the prison system, allowing certain inmates to serve the last nine months of their prison sentence on release with mandatory supervision, allowing GPS to be used for pretrial, probation and post-incarceration, earned credits for parolees and those on probation, creating a “presumed sentence” such as probation and treatment for simple drug possession. “Dealing with users (who have not engaged in) other criminal activity, there are often better ways than incarceration,” Jerome said. Other key recommendations would create a tracking system for victim restitution payment, and require fiscal statements on corrections spending to include the source of money that is spent. Lawmakers began considering changes to the state’s Corrections system in recent years after national studies showed Kentucky had the fastest growing prison population nationally through 2007. Pew Center officials said Kentucky’s prison population rose 45 percent over the past decade—compared to a 13 percent increase nationally—although the state’s population has dipped slightly in recent years. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 4, 2011 16:53:37 GMT -5
Bill to ban synthetic street drugs clears House 94-0
FRANKFORT -- A bill that would outlaw synthetic street drugs containing an ingredient that poison control experts say is more potent and dangerous than meth and cocaine passed the House 94-0 today. House Bill 121, sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, would outlaw drugs commonly known as “fake bath salts” made from the chemical methylenedioxypyrovalerone or MDPV. The drugs, which have caused a rash of hospitalizations in Kentucky since late last year, are now sold legally on the street and in convenience stores under more than 100 names, including Red Dove and White Lightening. Should HB 121 pass into law, manufacturing or trafficking of substances containing MDPV would be a Class A misdemeanor and possession of such substances would be a Class B misdemeanor—the same penalties carried for possession and trafficking in less than 8 ounces of marijuana. HB 121 now goes to the Senate for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 4, 2011 17:07:32 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT -- Thirty-day short sessions tend toward two tracks: Dealing under pressure with mind-bending problems like state budgets in freefall crisis, or just taking up nagging but manageable problems that can finally have their day in the sun (or have unexpectedly emerged) in the year between full-bore 60-day sessions where everything’s on the table. With the budget and state revenues in good order this year -- all but a pesky hole in Medicaid funding, caused by dashed expectations of federal relief -- many observers this time around expected a welcome no-drama session of fixing what needs fixing and going home. The governor himself had expressed hope for a limited agenda, and his State of the Commonwealth speech this week underscored that limited ambition. His stand-out policy proposal was to raise the state’s dropout age to 18, in stages. Casino gambling got nary a plug. The hope some have for a limited session may still come true, one way or another, and maybe literally. In fact, this week the leader of the Senate told the leader of the House -- who raised no objection -- that he believed six days could be shaved off the legislative schedule, saving taxpayers nearly $400,000 in session expenses. But still, eight days into the 30-day 2011 session, issues of some complexity have been blinking on and off like fireflies, as Frankfort settles into another legislative winter. Kentucky got an inkling that this session might follow an unusual third track early on when -- instead of spending the session’s opening week last month solely on routine organizational matters -- the Senate passed and sent a dozen pieces of legislation to the House, including several of major statewide import. The Senate bills read like a laundry list of today‘s red-flag issues, from cracking down on illegal immigration to reform of our patchwork tax policy, from a ‘neighborhood schools’ bill that keeps kids closer to home and allows for charter schools, to reaffirming key Constitutional protections within a state Bill of Rights. As might be expected, the House put the brakes on that quick start so it could give the Senate package its own proper study, and some of those dozen bills have already run aground or are running aground in that chamber. The House, of course, has its own priorities. But one new firefly that lit brightly and glowed all week was one that Kentuckians are surely familiar with if they listen to the radio: A proposal to require a doctor’s prescription for over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines that contain pseudoephedrine -- the main ingredient used to cook methamphetamine, or ‘meth.’ Affected would be drugs like Sudafed and any of the so-called ’D’ medications -- Claritin-D or Mucinex-D, for example. Similar bills toward that end have been filed in both the House and Senate, though the Senate version was the focus of the initial committee discussion this week. Opponents of the proposal -- including pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the drugs, along with business groups like the Chamber of Commerce -- have mounted a spirited attack on the bill. A group calling itself the Consumer Healthcare Products Association took to the radio airwaves with an extensive (and, it would seem, expensive) ad campaign saying this move would inflate health care costs by forcing families to pay for a doctor’s visit just to get simple cold medicines. The opposition also calls the bill unnecessary, and even harmful to the cause of combating meth. Under current law, such medicines are kept behind the counter, and must be signed for. Allowable purchase amounts are limited. Sales are tracked electronically, giving law enforcement a valuable tool in monitoring patterns of usage. That ability, opponents say, would be lost under the proposed change. But the bill has plenty of heavyweight backing. Top leaders in both chambers support the proposal, as does the state Attorney General. Educators, law enforcement, and prosecutors have signed on. Hundreds of supporters, including school kids, rallied in a packed Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, the same day a Kentucky congressman flew back to Kentucky to tell a Senate committee the bill was badly needed. (Ironically, the wife of another Kentucky congressman also testified and argued for the opposing view, citing health costs to families for kids with sniffles). It's worth noting that in the two states nationwide who've passed similar bills, officials report a dramatic reduction in discovered meth labs. It's also worth noting that all sides agree something more needs to be done to fight meth, a highly addictive and physically and mentally punishing form of speed that has ravaged poor populations in some rural parts of the state. Nearly 1,100 meth labs were discovered statewide last year, a figure apparently growing. Meth abuse has turned into one of Kentucky’s costliest and most dangerous scourges. At this writing, the meth bill has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and is awaiting full Senate action. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 8, 2011 20:14:23 GMT -5
Nuclear power, state contracting bills advance out of Senate
FRANKFORT — Bills that would allow expansion of the state’s energy portfolio and put Kentucky business on even footing with out-of-state companies when bidding for state contracts each passed the Senate today, sending them to the House for consideration. Senate Bill 34, sponsored by Sen. Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, would end the state’s 27-year moratorium on new nuclear energy facilities. The current ban forbids nuclear power plants until there is permanent storage facility for its waste somewhere in the country. With no approval in sight for the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada or anywhere else, Leeper said the state should join the dozens of other states which allow for safe nuclear power. “As our energy needs increase in this country … we’re going to have to use every possible means to meet that demand,” Leeper said, noting coal’s prominent role in the nation’s energy independence.”We have to keep all viable options on the table.” Locating a nuclear energy facility in Kentucky would also leverage the knowledge base at the current uranium enrichment facilities in Paducah, he said, which employ more than 1,000 workers directly and help sustain that community’s economy. The bill passed 31-5. Senators also gave unanimous approval to SB 39, sponsored by Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs, which would require all businesses seeking a state contract to register with the Secretary of State’s Office. Currently, some out-of-state businesses that operate in Kentucky are granted an exemption from laws to file with the Secretary of State, but SB 39 would remove that exemption if they seek a state contract. “It’s a fairly simple little process,” that costs $90, McGaha said, while state contracts can total in the billions of dollars each year. Just halfway into Fiscal Year 2011, he said, lawmakers have reviewed more than 1,600 contracts worth nearly $3 billion. “Some of the agencies are cooperating quite well” with existing law, McGaha said. “Others don’t seem to care. This levels the field for our state competitors.” The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 8, 2011 20:16:53 GMT -5
House passes illegal immigration bill, 90-6
FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky House of Representatives voted 90-6 today to pass an illegal immigration bill that would require government contractors and government agencies to electronically check their employees’ eligibility to legally work in the U.S. “Its purpose is to save jobs in Kentucky for Kentuckians,” primary bill sponsor Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, said of House Bill 3. HB 3 would require contractors and government agencies to check their employees’ documentation using E-Verify--a federal database that instantly validates or denies someone’s work eligibility based on information gleaned from that person’s federal I-9 employee eligibility verification form—or similar federal verification program. Both citizens and non-citizens are required to have an I-9 on file by employers. Contracts would not be awarded by public agencies under HB 3 until the contractor submits a list of subcontractors on a project along with a sworn affidavit that the contractor is not employing any illegal immigrants and is participating in a federal verification program like E-Verify. Sworn proof that subcontractors are also employing no illegal immigrants and are participating in an employee verification program must also be submitted to the agency. Contractors and subcontractors who do not follow the hiring requirements in the bill would be banned from contracting with public agencies in the state for one year after one violation and five years after a subsequent violation, and any existing contracts would be cancelled if the company’s verification program participation lapses. It would be up to the federal government to verify that a violation has occurred. House Majority Caucus Chairman and HB 3 cosponsor Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, said passage of the bill would make Kentucky the 15th state to enact the work eligibility rules for employers, contractors and subcontractors. HB 3 now goes to the Senate for consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 10, 2011 22:00:08 GMT -5
Senate signs off on Bible literacy bill
FRANKFORT — The Bible’s role as a work of literature and in shaping historical events should be a course option for high school students, the Senate said in a 34-1 vote yesterday. Senate Bill 56, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bowen, R-Owensboro, would direct the state Department of Education to develop a course curriculum around the Bible, which local school councils could then approve for teaching in their schools. The course could focus on the Old Testament, the New Testament, or a combination of the two. “This bill ensures it will be about education, not indoctrination,” Bowen said. Under the bill, students could use any translation of the Bible they choose. The course, Bowen said, would be designed not to preach to students or win them over to a single interpretation, but to help them understand the Bible’s role in the arts and history. The course, an elective option, would be classified under the social studies department. “The influence the Bible has had on our society and all of Western Civilization is not something we can evade,” Bowen said. The legislation now moves to the House for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 10, 2011 22:06:20 GMT -5
Medicaid and higher ed funding bill clears House
FRANKFORT -- A proposal to fill a $166.5 million hole in the fiscal year 2011 Medicaid budget and reallocate $18.9 million to higher education before July passed the House by an 80-19 vote today. House Bill 305, sponsored by House budget committee Rick Rand, D-Bedford, now goes to the Senate for consideration. Rand told the House that the funding fix under HB 305 would come from moving Medicaid money from fiscal year 2012 to this year’s Medicaid budget, while postsecondary funds would be moved from fiscal year 2012 to this fiscal year’s higher education budget. Neither move is expected by state budget officials to negatively impact the Medicaid or postsecondary education budgets in 2012. “We have to give the administration and our governor who has to balance the budget…every tool possible to do that,” Rand said. Not passing HB 305 would force the state to reduce Medicaid by around $600 million over the next six months and lose some federal funding for postsecondary education, Rand said. Cuts in Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals and other health care providers would likely be required to balance the fiscal year 2011 Medicaid budget if the bill does not pass, he added. The hole in the Medicaid budget was caused by a lack of anticipated enhanced Medicaid funding from the federal government. Rand said part of the $238 million received from the feds that was budgeted by lawmakers last year for the fiscal year 2011 Medicaid budget had to be directed to K-12 education. State budget officials early last week assured lawmakers on the House budget committee that the reallocation of Medicaid and postsecondary education funds in HB 305 would not impact funds appropriated for other programs and needs included in the 2010-2012 state budget, enacted last year. Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, questioned the need for the bill when he said state revenue for the first seven months of this fiscal year is up $268 million. “I think we need to be wary of moving money from one account to another to … hopefully get more federal dollars,” said Lee. HB 305 now goes to the full House for consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 10, 2011 22:07:56 GMT -5
Senate OKs ‘semi-open’ primaries
FRANKFORT — Registered independents could vote in party primaries if a bill passed by the Senate today becomes law. Senate Bill 41, sponsored by Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, would allow independent voters to cast a ballot in one of the two partisan primaries. They would have to choose either the Republican or Democratic primary, but would not be allowed to switch between them depending on the office. “This bill will allow around 200,000 Kentuckians, about 7 percent of the voting population, to vote in primaries,” Higdon said. Higdon noted that voters must be registered independent by December 31 of the preceding year to qualify, long before the filing deadline, in order to discourage efforts by one party’s members to affect the other party’s primary results. The change would move Kentucky to a ‘semi-open’ primary system as opposed to ‘open’ primary where citizens may vote in any party’s primary regardless of party registration. The Senate approved the measure on a 23-13 vote, and it now moves to the House for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 10, 2011 22:12:34 GMT -5
Dropout bill passes House, 91-8
FRANKFORT -- Kentucky children would be required to attend school through age 18 instead of the current dropout age of 16 under a bill that cleared the House this afternoon. House Bill 225, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, would increase the dropout age in two phases. The dropout age would be raised to 17 in July 2015 and to age 18 in July 2016. The bill also tightens the state’s alternative education programs and more firmly states the General Assembly’s intent relative to career and technical education. “This measure will have an impact on our economy, on our society, but most importantly, for our children,” Greer told House members. Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington, R-Fort Wright, a retired state trooper, drew from her experience with individuals in the state’s criminal justice system to speak in support of the bill. Most of the nearly 26,000 persons in the state’s penal institutions today read on a third-grade level or lower, she said. “We can’t afford not to pass this bill today,” Webb-Edgington said. Other lawmakers spoke in favor alternate schooling opportunities for Kentucky schoolchildren. Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, said “We must insist…that those alternative school options are ‘hot’—that they provide the education these children deserve to meet their God-given potential.” Public charter schools—independent public schools that are publicly funded--are advocated by some lawmakers this session. HB 225 now goes to the Senate for consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 14, 2011 6:12:55 GMT -5
Pension overhaul approved in Senate
New state and local government employees would have a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan rather than the current defined-benefit pension plan under a package approved by the Senate today. Senate Bill 2, sponsored by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, would not affect current members of public retirement systems. The Kentucky Teachers Retirement System is also untouched by the legislative reform proposal, both for current and future teachers. Under the new plan, new hires beginning on July 1, 2012, would be eligible for the new Public Employees Retirement System, where their contributions would be matched up to 5 percent of total salary for non-hazardous workers and 8 percent for hazardous workers. Legislators and judges would also be a part of the new pension plan. Employees would have control over how their individual accounts are invested, rather than allowing plan administrators to decide the portfolio and guaranteeing a monthly benefit upon retirement. “There are many other states that are looking at this step,” Thayer said, noting that even Congress has considered allowing states to declare bankruptcy to escape the burden of their pension obligations. If those workers moved on to other jobs, their contributions would follow them as part of their 401(k). A step system in years 2-6 would allow employees’ state contribution to become vested and roll over to any new employers’ 401(k) plans as well. Due to recent underfunding of the current system, budget costs would rise over the next few years as the state paid its employer match into the new system while also increasing contributions to the old system. Still, Williams said in a presentation earlier in the day, the state would save $7.5 billion over the course of the next 25 years. “We need to protect our employees and retirees, but we also have to protect the taxpayers who fund these pensions,” Thayer said. Because CERS, which covers most local government workers, is better funded, it would begin saving money as soon as the new plan took effect. Williams pegged the savings to local governments at $1.1 billion over the first decade. KERS’ unfunded liability — the excess of promised benefits over funds in the plan — rose by $1 billion in 2010, while the CERS system fell behind by nearly $800 million, Thayer said. In total, there is an $18 billion shortfall in the pension system currently, he said. The bill, which passed 24-13, now moves to the House for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 14, 2011 6:19:35 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT -- Some issues seem homegrown. Kentucky’s meth problem, like its epidemic of prescription-painkiller abuse, feels woven from the fabric of the Commonwealth’s more troubled history. Other issues, though, seep across the state’s borders, slowly at first, echoes of ‘other people‘s troubles,’ barely on our radar. Until, of a sudden, they rise to center stage and the Legislature is compelled to deal with them. Illegal immigration has emerged as such an issue. Once confined to border states out West, over the past decade or so, it slowly became clear that Kentucky was neither isolated nor immune from a situation whose resolution raises difficult legal, social and moral questions. Indeed, how to deal with a tidal wave of immigrants, millions of them illegal and undocumented, in a nation of immigrants is at this late date in the 21st Century one of the defining issues of our time. Throw economics into the debate -- the scramble for scarce jobs, the concurrent need for cheap labor, the strain on social services at a time when state government budgets are hanging by a fiscal thread, the possible cost to law enforcement and corrections of a major crackdown -- and you have a whopper of a problem. This week in Frankfort, illegal immigration dominated legislative headlines, as a session at roughly its halfway point had two bills in the legislative process dealing with the issue. Those bills -- one from the House, one from the Senate, although with divergent approaches -- remained alive as hundreds of pro-immigrant protestors gathered on the steps of the Capitol chanting slogans in both English and Spanish as they waved American flags. Furthest along -- and the one demonstrators specifically targeted -- is a Senate bill, SB 6, which was among the 12 quick but significant bills that chamber passed in the session’s first week, a time normally devoted to routine organizational matters and not much in the way of substantive lawmaking. The Senate bill recalls an immigration-control law passed last year in Arizona. It’s rooted in the same belief that the federal government has largely abdicated its responsibility to control the borders, and states must take up the slack. It would allow state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws by directly asking individuals about their immigration status during routine encounters like traffic stops, if there is ‘reasonable suspicion’ that they’re undocumented. It creates criminal trespassing penalties for being an “unauthorized alien” on private or public land in Kentucky. It also makes it a crime to assist an unauthorized person to live or work in the state. A separate bill that passed the House this week -- HB 3 -- would require companies doing business with the state (including government contractors, subcontractors, and government agencies) to electronically check each employee’s eligibility to work legally in the U.S. by using the federal E-Verify database or other federal verification programs. Contractors or subcontractors who fail to do so would be banned from government contracts in Kentucky for one year after a first violation and five years for subsequent violations. Also, an existing state contract would be cancelled if a company allows its participation in an employee-verification program to lapse. The legislation passed by the House Tuesday differs most significantly from the Senate bill by putting most of its emphasis on employer responsibility in hiring. SB 6 has been discussed but made no forward progress in the House Local Government Committee. At this writing, the committee has not yet said whether it will even vote on the measure, although its prospects seemed to dim toward week‘s end. House leaders indicated the bill would likely be reviewed by multiple committees before any action is taken -- and this year’s short session is running out of days for such tactical shuffling. It’s also worth noting that a bill similar to HB 3 was passed in that chamber last session, but met with no success in the Senate. So with each chamber’s version of an immigration bill passed and sent to the other, it is more than a little uncertain what compromises, if any, would have to be made to push any bill through both chambers and to the governor’s desk before this legislative session concludes in mid-to-late March. This remains a developing issue that bears watching as the 2011 session begins its downhill run toward final adjournment. The Kentucky General Assembly encourages citizen involvement in its work. Its website -- www.lrc.ky.gov -- is a comprehensive resource for legislative information, including meeting schedules and bill status. It’s updated daily during sessions. Anyone who wants to leave a message for a legislator can call toll-free, 1-800-372-7181. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 15, 2011 20:33:57 GMT -5
Bill to make hunting, fishing a constitutional right heads to Senate
A proposal to make traditional hunting, fishing and wildlife harvesting a constitutional right in Kentucky has cleared the Kentucky House and now goes to the Senate for consideration. Should House Bill 1, sponsored by Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville, be approved by both houses this session, the proposed amendment would go on the statewide ballot in 2012. Supporters of the amendment say it would make hunting, fishing and harvesting of non-threatened species a right instead of just a privilege, and ensure that the state’s wildlife herds and fish population are properly managed. The bill passed the House 91-4. “The real crux of the constitutional amendment is that it recognizes the wildlife herds and fishery population will be managed by harvest,” said HB 1 cosponsor House Speaker Greg Stumbo. By proper management, the herds and fish will be less likely to fall prey to disease caused by overpopulation, he explained. Combs said the proposed amendment will boost the state’s popularity as a tourism destination for hunters and those who like to fish. She said out-of-state hunters and fishermen bring in millions of tourism dollars to the state, making hunting and fishing an important economic development tool. Not all lawmakers saw a need for the amendment, including Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, who said he does not feel his ability to hunt or fish in state is threatened. “My concern about this legislation is you’re asking the people of Kentucky to include this language in the state constitution (when) I believe what we’re talking about is perceived threat.” Kentucky would be the 16th state to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right should the proposed amendment be ratified by voters statewide next year. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 15, 2011 20:46:29 GMT -5
Bill to allow commercial ads on school buses passes House
FRANKFORT—Commercial advertising would be allowed on the outside of school buses in Kentucky with local school board approval under a bill that cleared the House 61-35 today. House Bill 67, sponsored by Rep. Terry Mills, D-Lebanon, would let school boards decide whether to allow the advertising, Mills said. Political or campaign ads and ads for alcohol or tobacco products would be prohibited. Mills said HB 67 will help bring money to school districts in dire need of funding. “There’s not sufficient funding to meet needs,” Mills said he has heard repeatedly since serving in the state House over the past year. “Nowhere have I heard this more than from our educators.” “I believe this bill is good for education, and I believe it’s good for business in Kentucky,” he added. Mills said a similar law in Texas is allowing the Dallas school system to reap over $1 million in revenue this school year. Advertising allowed on school buses under HB 67 could only be placed on the exterior of the bus below the windows from behind the front wheel to the front of the back wheel, and behind the back wheel to the end of the bus, according to the bill. No ads could be placed on the front or rear of the bus, or interfere with the vehicle’s reflective or warning equipment. HB 67 would also prohibit school districts from excluding advertisers deemed by the local school board as appropriate. The bill now goes to the Senate for its consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 15, 2011 20:48:00 GMT -5
Senate approves early graduation bill
FRANKFORT — High school students across the state would have a consistent program to graduate early and start college early under legislation approved by the Senate today. Senate Bill 69, sponsored by Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray, would require 18 credits in core academic areas for graduation under the program, including two college-level courses through the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs. “The basis of this bill is the effort to eliminate the ‘lost senior year’” in which students coast through the final year of school without being challenged, Winters said. Students emerging from the program would also have to achieve baseline ACT scores, benchmark scores on statewide end-of-year exams, and a 3.2 GPA. In return, they would be able to use the state money their school district receives for their attendance — in the range of $2500 annually — and apply that toward their tuition and fees at Kentucky two- and four-year colleges. KEES money the student earns based on their high school grades would be recalculated to reflect four years of grades rather than their actual time spent in high school, Winters noted. “What we’re trying to do is create a system that will allow students to move at an accelerated rate,” Winters said. The bill, which passed 35-1, now moves to the House for its consideration. The Senate also approved legislation to boost the prospects of a carbon-capture pipeline. SB 50, sponsored by Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, would allow such pipelines, which carry stored carbon dioxide, to use the same eminent domain laws used by other utilities. The law, Jensen said, is crucial to creation of an Illinois-to-Louisiana pipeline, built through western Kentucky, which would help boost U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly one thousand construction jobs would be created, he said. SB passed on a 37-0 vote and now awaits action in the House. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 17, 2011 6:22:12 GMT -5
Bill to enhance energy incentives passes House
FRANKFORT -- Energy incentives for manufacturers of components used in renewable or alternative energy facilities and other technologies in Kentucky would be created by a bill approved today by the House. House Bill 340, sponsored by House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, passed the House 96-0. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Should the bill become law, manufacturers that invest a minimum of $25 million in components for renewable, alternative or gasification energy projects, energy storage and energy efficiency or conservation technologies would be eligible for state tax and financial incentives. The minimum investment would be $100 million for alternative fuel or gasification plants that use oil shale, tar sand or coal as a primary feedstock. With the presence of GE’s Appliance Park in Louisville and other energy projects throughout the state, Adkins said Kentucky is in a “good position” to attract more investment through enhanced incentives. “This legislation is to ensure that Kentucky continues to be the energy leader, not just (here) but all over the world,” said Adkins. Alternative fuel and renewable energy incentives in place now are expected to add billions of dollars to the state’s economy, he added. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 17, 2011 19:18:27 GMT -5
Penal code overhaul passes House by large majority
FRANKFORT—A massive overhaul of the state’s penal code system that is expected to net $147 million in savings over 10 years by reducing penalties for lesser drug crimes while remaining tough on serious offenders has passed the House 97-2. House Bill 463, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chair John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, puts several provisions in place to improve public safety while lowering Correctional costs and the state crime rate. “Our drug convictions have skyrocketed,” said Tilley, adding that approximately 25 percent of all current prison inmates in the state are held for drug offenses. HB 463 will replace imprisonment or jail time for many of these offenders with supervised treatment “…leaving (jail and prison) beds for serious offenders,” he said. Highlights of HB 463 includes scaled drug penalties with serious drug traffickers, manufacturers of meth, those convicted of first degree drug possession of cocaine and other top-scheduled narcotics continuing to face felony penalties while penalties for many lesser crimes, including simple possession of small quantities of drugs, would be reduced to misdemeanors. Parolees would earn credits for time served, and many offenders would be sent to local jails toward the end of their sentence. The bill also would also encourage drug treatment over incarceration for low-level non-violent offenders—who can be treated at Comp Care centers for around $3,000 as opposed to the taxpayer cost of $21,700 a year cost to incarcerate a prisoner in Kentucky, said Tilley—and institute “presumptive probation” for many low-level offenders unless the court finds “substantial and compelling reasons” why community supervision is not an acceptable option. GPS monitoring of offenders would be expanded, an online database to keep victims informed of an offender’s whereabouts would be created, and an emergency provision—that would take effect the moment the bill becomes law—would ensure better tracking of sex offenders who violate upon their release. A last-minute compromise between local governments and hospitals would help pay cost of hospitalization of prisoners out of a state catastrophic loss fund that is available, Tilley said. Fellow lawmakers, including House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, praised Tilley for his work on the bill before the vote. “Only those with private insurance or other means are able to get help most of the time (in treatment),” said Hoover. “This will help many more people. This is a step in the right direction,” although Hoover said he still has some concerns with the bill. The majority of the provisions in HB 463 were recommended by the state Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act that met for over six months last year to recommend updates to the penal code, which was last revised in the mid-1970s. The outdated code is believed by many to be a primary cause for a 45 percent jump in the state’s prison population since 2000. The rate of incarceration has only gone up 13 percent nationally over the same period. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 18, 2011 21:03:05 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT -- It’s said all prayers are answered, but sometimes the answer is no. Similarly, in a legislative session, all bills are successful, but sometimes they just don’t pass. This is said against the backdrop of what some might think a striking number -- the number of bills that have passed both chambers this year. That number, as of sundown on Thursday, the 17th day of a 30 day session, was zero. The first bill to pass both chambers finally got House approval this morning, the 18th day. But even if bills die a quick death, or stall and bog down terminally later in the process, they succeed in small or large measure by bringing forward public issues -- sometimes urgent ones -- and crystallizing them for broader discussion. And sometimes democracy hears a bill, like God hearing a prayer, and says no. At least for now. A surprising truth: The success of a legislative session can’t be measured simply in the number of bills it passes. Obviously, it’s premature to declare any bill dead in this winter’s Legislature, or speculate which or how many might finally pass. It hasn’t been unusual, in the past decade, to go deep into an off-year session before bills start clicking. And some bills have more lives than a cat. Beaten and bloody, they rise again and again. Others explode suddenly like supernovae, and power through the process on surprising, strong sentiment. Just in the last week, what’s being called the Optometrists Bill had just such a jet-propelled ride, despite formidable opposition from the medical establishment. The bill would let optometrists, who are not medical doctors, perform a specific surgical laser procedure to correct problems that sometimes follow cataract surgery -- a significant expansion of their charter -- and to administer certain new medications. It would give the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners more authority to define the scope of optometric practice. The Senate bill sped through its home chamber in four days last week, then got quick committee approval in the House earlier this week. It passed the full House un-amended Friday, and became not only the first two-chamber passed bill of the session, but the first sent to the governor for his signature. But that bill is, so far, the exception this session. A number of measures that have received wide attention face what looks like tough sledding on their bumpy journey toward law, as the session runs ever shorter on days. One issue that emerged dramatically and with powerful support among legislative leaders and law enforcement would require a doctor’s prescription for certain cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a precursor ingredient used to cook methamphetamine. ‘Meth’ is a growing problem in rural Kentucky, a powerful drug of abuse with devastating personal and social consequences. But Senate Bill 46 ran into a buzzsaw of equally powerful and well-heeled opposition from business groups, who questioned why law-abiding Kentucky families with sniffles should pay in added medical expense and inconvenience to combat meth abuse. They pointed out that the current electronic tracking system for monitoring and regulating over-the-counter decongestant sales would be lost. The bill was passed by a Senate committee, but has not been called from the board for a vote in the full chamber. Presumably, a whip-count shows not yet enough votes to pass it. So that bill’s fate remains up in the air in its chamber of origin, even as time is running short to get it through the House after that. Still, even if it ultimately fails to pass, the bill has already succeeded in the overall grand scheme of self-government, by giving rise to a broad discussion about best approaches to combating meth abuse -- an undisputed scourge and a war all parties agree must be fought. The same could be said of other major bills this session. The House and Senate have each passed competing bills dealing with illegal immigration. The chambers have widely divergent approaches to the problem. Neither has seemed much inclined to accept the other’s. But like meth, it’s a problem that won’t go away, and a vigorous debate has surrounded the two immigration bills, their different approaches, and the issue generally. It‘s certainly conceivable neither bill (nor a compromise melding of the two) will pass this session. But regardless of the outcome, each succeeded in shaping public thinking about the overall problem, and moving the debate down the road toward eventual consensus and resolution. Sometimes, issues just don’t seem ‘ripe.’ One chamber sees a clear necessity, while the other is dubious. In such cases, public discussion may be far less lively because it hits a brick wall. The House passed a bill earlier this month raising, in steps, the dropout age in Kentucky schools to 18. This was really the only public-policy priority the Governor had this session But the Senate, unenthusiastic, sent the House bill to its Education Committee, where it remains undiscussed. Similarly, the Senate in the session’s first week sent the House a bill that would make Kentucky the 40th state to allow what’s called charter schools, allowing certain schools, under school district supervision, to be exempt from a number of regulations and restrictions so teachers can focus on teaching. SB 3 also stipulates that children could attend the school closest to their home rather than be bused long distances. But the House, also unenthusiastic, sent the bill to its own Education Committee, where it too remains undiscussed. Even bills on life support can succeed in a larger public policy sense by focusing civic attention on their ideas, however fleetingly, and schooling their advocates -- who are many, and not going away -- on the need to sharpen their arguments, marshal public support, and do a better job in future sessions of convincing skeptical legislators that their issue‘s time has come. In that regard, every session, and every bill in it, is or can be a successful lesson in civics -- win, lose or draw. And fight another day,. The Kentucky General Assembly encourages citizen participation in its work. Its website --- www.lrc.ky.gov -- contains a wealth of information about the Legislature in general, and the ongoing 2011 session in particular. It is updated continuously. To leave a message for a legislator, the toll-free Message Line is 1-800-372-7181. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 22, 2011 21:17:25 GMT -5
Consumer protection bill goes to Senate
FRANKFORT— It would be a crime in Kentucky to immediately solicit someone involved in a motor vehicle accident for business related to the wreck under a bill passed by the House today. Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, the prime sponsor of House Bill 382 which passed the House 95-1, said the bill is meant to protect consumers who are already covered by at least $10,000 in no fault personal injury insurance required by the state. Gooch said the policy funds help pay medical expenses, loss of wages and other costs no matter who caused the accident—funds that could be lost to unscrupulous solicitors. “There are people soliciting people through runners to certain clinics…doing things that aren’t needed,” said Gooch. HB 382 would make it a Class A misdemeanor to solicit those involved in an accident within 30 days of the wreck. A Class A misdemeanor can carry up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. Advertising to the general public, communication from emergency responders or communication from insurers, their agents and adjusters would not be considered solicitation under HB 382. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 22, 2011 21:19:55 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville (right), and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, explain legislation calling for a federal balanced-budget constitutional amendment during a meeting of the Senate State and Local Government Committee. Senate OKs proposal for federal balanced budget amendment
FRANKFORT — All but one U.S. state is required to balance its budget, and it’s time to require the same of the federal government, the Senate voted today. Senate Concurrent Resolution 134, sponsored by Senate President David Williams, would make Kentucky the first state to petition Congress with specific proposals as part of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment. The proposed 28th Amendment would not only limit federal spending to annual revenues, but would also prohibit tax increases or unfunded mandates on states. Those limits could be waived by a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress. The plan also allows flexibility in times of war or military conflict. If passed by the House, the call would be forwarded to leaders of the U.S. Senate and House as well as legislative leaders in statehouses across the nation, requesting their participation. “When the state legislatures rise up, the United States Congress has always responded,” said Williams, R-Burkesville. “The U.S. Congress must act if we tell it to act.” It would take 33 other states — for a total of two-thirds of all states — making similar requests before Congress would be forced to call a constitutional convention, but Williams said he expects action sooner than that. “On several other occasions, when faced with the probability, possibility, or the imminency of a constitutional convention, the United States Congress has relented and passed a constitutional amendment through both houses and submitted it to the people through their legislatures,” Williams said. “We believe that this will be the ultimate result.” Once the convention is called and the exact language is drafted, it would take ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, 38 in all, to add it to the U.S. Constitution. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul spoke to the chamber before the floor debate, urging state lawmakers to take action to rein in the federal debt. “The deficits we are mounting in Washington are a bipartisan problem,” he said, noting that the federal debt is projected to increase by $11-13 trillion over the next decade regardless of which party’s budget is adopted. “We need some restraints. We need something like a straitjacket.” The resolution was adopted on a 22-16 vote and now awaits action by the House. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Feb 26, 2011 15:38:02 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort 25 Feb 2011
FRANKFORT -- Kentucky’s new U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican with strong Tea Party credentials, bolstered his reputation for non-traditional thinking in Frankfort this week, pitching a federal balanced-budget amendment via the never-done Constitutional convention route to the state Senate -- a proposal endorsed by the chamber later that day. Paul’s trip to Kentucky came as a season of discontent over state government spending -- and the human consequences of resulting efforts to contain that spending -- spread across states in the Rust Belt to our north. Budget issues at all levels, local, state and federal, are the topic of the day in political/governmental circles, and the stakes are enormous. Budget showdowns have seen minority lawmakers flee their home states to deny quorums and block floor votes in such states as Wisconsin and Indiana, and brought thousands of protesters into the streets of state capitals. At this point, Kentucky is not among the states in turmoil. The state budget is not up for a general re-opening in this winter’s short session. Revenue projections for the two-year General Fund and Road Fund budgets the General Assembly passed last Spring have held up remarkably well. Except for a troublesome hole in state-federal Medicaid funding, state finances seem, for now, sound. But this is the first session in years that Kentucky hasn’t faced major shortfalls. And the problem nationwide is deep and widespread. By some estimates, the states face combined deficits that may total as much as $125 billion in the next fiscal year. Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey are trying to weaken collective-bargaining agreements and increase worker contributions for budget-draining employee health care and pensions. Opponents called the moves simple union-busting. Labor, beleaguered for years but strong with public employees, geared for a fight. The simmering situation exploded onto the front pages in the last week -- a surprise to many, who didn’t anticipate its ferocity -- with positions already established, sharply divided, and both sides digging in for a long struggle of what looks like trench warfare. One observer looked at the hardened divisions and the emotional determination to prevail shown by both sides, and said the old ‘culture wars’ of the past few decades, centered on social issues, have been replaced by ‘economics wars’ of the current day. The issues in play are not unfamiliar to Kentuckians: Spending that outstrips revenues here on a regular basis, causing round after round of budget cuts -- including nearly $1 billion last year -- and growing demand to help get spending under control by curbing what some call overly-generous state-employee benefits, have all been part of the Commonwealth’s public dialogue in recent months and years. The most controversial proposal in Wisconsin involves largely eliminating public employees’ collective bargaining rights, which is not an issue for state workers here, as they are non-union. But also up in the air are state pension plans that many say are unsustainable in their current configuration, given actuarial realities. Kentucky is certainly familiar with the pension issue. The state-employees pension plan here carries about $25 billion in unfunded liabilities, a staggering amount. One bill dealing with the threat -- SB 2 -- has passed the Senate this session. Its approach is basically to close the current defined-benefits retirement plan to new state hires and replace it with a 401(k)-type plan, a much less expensive approach that has become standard in the private sector. The pension-reform bill passed the Senate earlier this month and was sent to the House, where it has remained undiscussed since its referral to the House State Government Committee on Feb. 15, its fate there highly uncertain. Meanwhile, the theme of budget stresses and saving money continued elsewhere in the session, as a largely unremarked bill some say could represent one of the most significant reforms of recent decades passed the House late last week, received Senate committee approval Thursday, and was poised to pass that chamber, perhaps as soon as Monday. House Bill 463 is the product of a blue-ribbon task force study by judges, attorneys, public officials and legal experts, all focused on making the criminal justice system work more effectively and efficiently. It addresses explosive growth in one of the costliest segments of the state budget: Corrections. The main target: Non-violent drug offenders. The goal: Lower exploding Corrections costs by getting non-violent, non-dangerous offenders out of jail, into treatment, back to work, and off the taxpayers’ dime. As penalties against drug crimes -- including simple possession -- have risen in patchwork fashion in recent years, so has the state’s prison population exploded. The bill codifies the types and amounts of different drugs that define serious trafficking versus simple possession, and sets out alternatives to re-incarceration for parole or probation violations. The goal is to keep the bad guys in prison, but treat lesser no-threat offenders in a manner commensurate with their crimes, including penalties other than imprisonment, and treatment and help in leading productive lives. The payoff: Experts estimate the changes proposed in the measure could save the state corrections budget as much s $422 million over the next decade. Meanwhile this week, great attention accompanied Sen. Rand Paul’s visit to the Senate, especially in light of recent events. During his day in Frankfort, he testified to a Senate committee and spoke to the full chamber on his proposal for a Constitutional convention to consider a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Article 5 of that document spells out two ways the Constitution can be amended. Amendments may be proposed by either two-thirds of both house of Congress -- the way it’s always been done -- or by a national convention, commonly called an ‘Article 5 convention,‘ frequently attempted but never successfully. Such a convention requires that at least two-thirds (34) of the Legislatures of the 50 states request it. Over the years, there have been fears, both supported and refuted by strong legal minds, that such a convention could not be confined to a limited agenda, and could in fact open up the entire Constitution for rewrite. Regardless of who‘s correct (and until it’s really tested, no one will know) that fear alone has been a pretty effective roadblock to past efforts to convene one, although it could also be said that the political threat of a convention forced Congress‘ hand into proposing an amendment itself. Proponents of this amendment, including Paul himself, say they hope and expect that to happen this time too. Proposed amendments of either type -- drafted by Congress or drafted by convention --must then be finally ratified either by approval of the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the states. Congress has say over which method of ratification will be used. After Paul‘s appearance, the Senate passed SCR 134 requesting an Article 5 balanced-budget convention from Congress, and forwarded it to the House, where its fate too is uncertain. The Kentucky General Assembly encourages citizen participation in its work. Its website --- www.lrc.ky.gov -- contains a wealth of information about the Legislature in general, and the ongoing 2011 session in particular. It is updated continuously. To leave a message for a legislator, the toll-free Message Line is 1-800-372-7181. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 1, 2011 22:04:46 GMT -5
CO2 pipeline bill heads to governor’s desk
FRANKFORT—A bill that would help build carbon dioxide pipelines in Kentucky through state incentives and eminent domain rights received final passage by an 80-17 vote today in the House. Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, would add carbon dioxide pipelines to the short list of pipelines currently built by eminent domain in Kentucky, including natural gas and oil pipelines. House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said carbon dioxide pipeline projects eligible for incentives under SB 50 would have to have a minimum investment of $50 million. Adkins, the primary sponsor of the 2007 Kentucky Incentives for Energy Independence Act, said SB 50 is necessary tie future energy technologies to carbon capture and storage as required by the 2007 law. “If we want to capture carbon dioxide, we have to have an infrastructure of pipelines to capture carbon dioxide,” said Adkins, adding that carbon dioxide is already being stored and used to recover oil from old wells in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Around 20 percent of West Texas oil is recovered with the help of carbon dioxide technology, he said. Carbon dioxide pipelines created under SB 50 could move carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to oil recovery sites in-state and elsewhere, among other uses. Pipelines would also allow the gas to be transported for storage in deep underground natural reservoirs. Rep. Steven Rudy, D-West Paducah, said he supports SB 50 but that the state’s energy plan is missing a key ingredient: nuclear power. He asked his colleagues for support of SB 34, a bill that would pave the way for nuclear power facilities to locate in Kentucky. The bill passed the Senate 31-5 on Feb. 8 and is awaiting a vote in the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee. “I think a large piece of the puzzle is missing before we can be truly (energy) independent,” Rudy said. “I think there is still time to get that bill through.” SB 50 now goes to the governor for his signature. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 1, 2011 22:06:20 GMT -5
FRANKFORT -- Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, presents a penal code reform bill in the Kentucky Senate.
Penal code reform bill awaits governor’s signature
FRANKFORT — State taxpayers could save as much as $147 million over the next decade under an overhaul of the state’s penal code passed unanimously by the Senate today and now headed to the governor’s desk for his signature. “This is one the best days in the 26 years I’ve been up here,” said Senate President David Williams, the longest-serving member in the chamber. House Bill 463, sponsored by Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, is the result of a multi-year task force that examined the state’s anti-crime efforts in collaboration with the Pew Center on the States. The reform package is the first comprehensive examination of the state’s criminal laws since 1974. The intent is to protect public safety by reducing the number of repeat offenders, said Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London. The plan achieves that end by taking a new tack on drugs while putting a renewed emphasis on non-incarceration options that are proven to work. The bill will continue to severely punish violent crimes and drug trafficking but reduces the punishment for simple drug possession in two ways. While remaining a Class D Felony, possession of small amounts will result in up to three years in prison, down from the current maximum of five, and repeat offenses will remain Class D Felonies rather than being Class C Felonies punishable by up to 10 years behind bars. Drug crimes are the reason for about 40 percent of all state prisoners, Jensen said. Initial savings estimates were set at $422 million over the next decade, but half would be reinvested in drug abuse and mental illness treatment. An additional $61 million would go toward probation and parole services, which will be focused on the greater number of would-be inmates who will undergo community supervision or be fitted with GPS ankle monitors. Those who violate their probation or parole in minor ways could also face “intermediate sanctions” rather than mandatory return to prison, Jensen said, which often results in longer sentences than originally intended. Inmates will also receive credit for time served for their treatment and education programs. A third component of the reform plan is a focus on evidence-based or data-driven programs that clearly work, said Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester. Such an approach will drive out “profiteers” who cost the state significant money but don’t help reduce recidivism, he said. Since the last reform package, many laws have been passed to tackle particular crimes, resulting in laws that were “tough on crime” but not cost-efficient or particularly effective at reducing recidivism, Jensen said. As a result, corrections costs have grown 45 percent in the last decade as opposed to the 13 percent national average. “We can’t expect to fight crime the way we always have and get different results,” he said. “We came up with an irrational code” because of the piecemeal changes, said Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville. “This is a step toward rationality.” The bill also retains the existence of the original task force, which will continue to examine the best ways to protect Kentuckians in a cost-effective way. “We still have work to do on this matter,” Jensen said. Neal, who sponsored the original legislation to form the task force, concurred. “This first step is significant,” he said, while saying he thought there was much more to do. “This is the right direction.” The Senate approved a handful of changes to the original House plan, including setting the minimum amount of heroin to qualify as trafficking at 2 grams, equal to the qualifying amount of meth. The Senate also expanded the number of instances where police could make arrests in misdemeanor cases, including for DUI stops and resisting arrest. Later in the day, the House approved the Senate version of the bill 96-1, putting it one step closer to becoming state law. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 3, 2011 22:07:17 GMT -5
Business center bill amended by House, returns to Senate
FRANKFORT -- Businesses could apply for licenses, pay taxes and file all paperwork required to operate in Kentucky electronically through one convenient web portal under a bill amended and passed today by the House. Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, and amended and passed 99-0 in the House, would create a one-stop portal where businesses could set up electronic accounts to track official state paperwork, state tax and fee payments and other required dealings with the state. “They will only need to fill in their vital information once, rather than multiple times on myriad forms,” said Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, who presented SB 8 on the House floor. The House took out an $150,000 appropriation that had been included in the bill by the Senate for both research and an end-of-year report on portal issues. Several state agencies and an advisory group to work with those agencies on the portal’s creation were also added by the House. SB 8 now returns to the Senate for consideration of the House changes. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 3, 2011 22:09:15 GMT -5
Senate approves Medicaid budget plan
FRANKFORT — The Senate approved its own plan to stabilize the state Medicaid budget today, a vastly different version from the House’s that points toward a possible conference committee to work out a compromise in the legislative session’s waning days. House Bill 305, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, is aimed at plugging a $166.5 million hole in the Medicaid budget for the current fiscal year. The original House plan would move that money forward from FY 2012, with next year’s budget being reduced thanks to anticipated cost savings, including managed care. The Senate plan, in contrast, would make broad-based cuts across state government for the rest of the biennium to make up the Medicaid shortfall. Under the Senate version, 0.525 percent cuts would be made to most state programs, except for K-12 and higher education, for the rest of the current fiscal year. Schools and colleges would be included in statewide cuts of 2.26 percent for FY 2012, which begins July 1. Base SEEK funding for local school districts would be cut 1.33 percent. Local school districts would be allowed more flexibility in implementing some state regulations to make up for the reduction in SEEK funding, said budget committee chair Sen. Bob Leeper, I-Paducah. Some dedicated funds, including coal severance, would also be spared cuts. The Senate plan also includes language prohibiting the governor from furloughing state workers until other targeted savings on state contracts, non-merit employees and operating efficiencies are met. "In my opinion, this is a more responsible strategy," Leeper said. HB 305, which passed the Senate on a 24-12 vote, now returns to the House for its consideration of the Senate changes. If the two chambers cannot agree on one plan or the other, a conference committee will be appointed to iron out a final version. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 5, 2011 9:16:44 GMT -5
Elder abuse, synthetic drug bills clear Senate
FRANKFORT — Bills to crack down on abuse of the elderly and other vulnerable adults and to ban a new wave of synthetic drugs were among those that passed the Senate today. House Bill 52, sponsored by Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, would ban people convicted of abusing, neglecting, or exploiting vulnerable adults from being granted guardianship, power of attorney, or similar positions for others. Those convicted could also not inherit from their victims. HB 52 also contains provisions tripling damages for those convicted of stealing from vulnerable adults if timely restitution is not made. House Bill 121, sponsored by Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, is aimed at new street drugs marketed as bath salts or other common household items. In fact, the drugs are commonly snorted or smoked, leading to hallucinations that result in horror stories of self-mutilation and other dangerous results. The Senate made changes to the bill to bring it into conformity with the penal code reform plan signed into law earlier in the week. Both bills passed unanimously as part of the Senate consent calendar. Because changes were made to each, they now return to the House for its consideration of the Senate versions. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 5, 2011 9:22:00 GMT -5
One-stop online business center ready for governor’s signature
FRANKFORT — Business would have a one-stop online government center to help navigate the paperwork and other regulations they face under a bill headed to the governor’s desk. Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, creates a One-Stop Business Portal Advisory Committee, which would in turn develop the core of an online business portal. By the end of the year, the committee would present state officials with cost estimates and recommendations for the full rollout of the web portal. Certain functions are required to be online by the end of 2012. The Senate signed off on House changes to the original bill by a 37-0 count, giving the bill final passage and sending it to the governor. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Post by ClayLive on Mar 5, 2011 9:31:04 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort March 4, 2011
FRANKFORT -- Some bills strut and fret their hour on the stage, full of sound and fury, but in the end signify little. Others come through on cat’s feet, quietly, plain in their presentation but historically transformative in what they plan to do. This week, a true ‘change’ bill of the latter sort passed the General Assembly, quickly and with little fanfare, a strikingly bipartisan bill that rethinks a fundamental but ever-more-costly function of state government: corrections. House Bill 463 takes a long look at the drift toward harsh and punitive sentencing in the so-called War on Drugs, and admits the unproductive drag such sentencing of non-violent offenders has become on the state budget. Kentucky has about 20,500 prison inmates and spends about $440 million a year on Corrections -- closing in fast on a billion dollars a biennium. As recently as 2008, the Pew Research Center reported Kentucky had the fastest growing prison population in the nation. Incarceration costs nearly $22,000 per inmate, per year -- money many have come to see as pure waste if all it accomplishes is simple punishment of low-level, non-violent drug offenders. The reform bill changes the way we think. It’s designed to keep such offenders out of prisons and in treatment, under community supervision. The goal is to return no-threat offenders to productive lives as taxpaying, contributing citizens, not wasting away behind bars, becoming hopeless, hardened criminals on the taxpayers’ tab. The legislation arose from months of work by a blue ribbon task force of prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, police, lawmakers, corrections officials and others. The Pew Center, a national resource in helping states cope with exploding Corrections costs even as recidivism rates worsen, helped the task force in its work. Kentucky’s penal code has not had a comprehensive review and revision since 1975. In subsequent years, as the state bought into the premises of the nationwide War on Drugs, penalties grew like Topsy in patchwork fashion. Corrections costs flew high, right along with the number of incarcerations -- incarcerations overwhelmingly drug-related and too often imposed on non-violent offenders arguably more in need of treatment and job training than a locked metal door and three squares a day from state kitchens. Compounding the fiscal problem is that, by its very nature, Corrections is relatively immune to the budget cuts that have stripped most of state government bare in recent years, though eight rounds of cuts over three years. Prison buildings must be maintained, guards must be paid to watch the inmates, the inmates must be fed. Prison costs are resistant to cuts and always referred to in the newspapers as ‘soaring.‘ But with passage of this bill, the dollar signs will finally fly in reverse. It’s estimated the bill will net $147 million in clear savings over the next decade from reduced jail and court costs, even after paying for treatment programs and probation and parole monitoring. Total savings including money plowed back into treatment, could reach $420 million. And that doesn’t include the clear benefits -- financial and otherwise -- of having non-violent offenders working, producing, and paying taxes in the community. The measure ultimately came within one vote of unanimous General Assembly approval. The final agreed-upon version passed the House with only a single dissenting vote, the Senate with none, and it was sent to the governor for his signature Monday only days after it was brought up for its first discussion. The Corrections Reform Bill of 2011 promises to be the signature achievement of this year’s session, and has been hailed by veteran legislators and others as one of the landmark legislative accomplishments of recent decades. Meanwhile, as usually happens, the session’s major budget issue has waited till the 11th hour to fully emerge. The issue is Medicaid -- fittingly, the only government expense growing faster than Corrections -- and the dispute is how to deal with an anticipated $166-million shortfall in this year’s Medicaid budget. The House earlier endorsed a plan proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear that would bring forward enough money from next year’s Medicaid budget to plug this year’s hole. Under House Bill 305 as passed in that chamber, the money brought forward would be made up for next year through new ‘managed care’ initiatives that will save money in Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for low-income Kentuckians. The Senate, however, questioned that assumption, saying savings of that magnitude in such a short timeframe are highly unlikely. Instead, the Senate amended the bill to fill the budget hole next year with a share-the-pain-fairly strategy of cutting state spending across the board. The Senate plan starts with a cut of 0.525 percent in the final quarter of this fiscal year and a cut of about 2.26 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Basic public-school funding (the SEEK formula) and postsecondary education would be exempt from the cuts in the last quarter of this fiscal year. year but would face reductions in the second year, including a cut of about 1.3 percent for K-12 education. The House voted Thursday to refuse to go along with the Senate amendments. House leaders objected particularly to the education cuts, saying they should be a last option, not a first, and that the governor’s cost-containment approach deserves a chance to succeed before more cuts are imposed on state agencies and schools. The two chambers thus go into conference committee to negotiate a final agreement far apart in their basic approach. Only three working days remain in the session, although the Legislature can delay using its last day and adjourning sine die until March 30. But however you parse it out, the session's almost over, the issues in play push a lot of buttons both govermentally and politically, and a lot of ground must be covered to close the gap in very little time. The Kentucky Legislature encourages citizen involvement in its work. Its website -- www.lrc.ky.gov -- is a comprehensive resource for legislative information, including meeting schedules and bill status. It’s updated daily during sessions. Anyone who wants to leave a message for a legislator can call toll-free, 1-800-372-7181. The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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