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Post by Press Release on Feb 11, 2012 9:08:52 GMT -5
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – Redistricting this week in a nutshell: A roller coaster ride in the Capitol. On Tuesday, a Franklin Circuit Court judge ruled that the boundaries lawmakers had drawn for their own House and Senate districts were unconstitutional. The ruling said too many counties were split, and the population of some districts strayed beyond allowable limits. That same day, House-Senate negotiators failed to reach compromise on a new Congressional redistricting plan as the filing deadline they had earlier extended by one week came and went. Prospects for a resolution of the impasse looked bleak. But Friday dawned with a reported break in the logjam, and by 10:40 that morning, a Senate Committee had approved a compromise measure that within hours passed the Senate and the House. So was settled the Congressional half of the redistricting question, with a five-business-day filing extension (after the governor signs the bill) to allow for any new entries under the revised plan. Meanwhile, the Legislative Research Commission – the combined leadership of the House and Senate – pushed back against the judicial objections to the legislative plan. It said in a release Thursday it would appeal that Circuit Court ruling, bypassing the Court of Appeals to go straight to the Kentucky Supreme Court for expedient resolution. Time is, of course, an issue; the waters of that appeal, uncharted. But clearly the constitutionality question remains in play. (And so, at this writing, did the question of where state House and Senate candidates should file to run, the old districts or the proposed new ones? End of day Friday remained the latest filing ‘deadline,’ this one set by the court). As for the Congressional redraw in House Bill 302, in the ten years since the state’s six congressional districts were last drawn, they’ve changed considerably in population — so much so they violate the longstanding and very strict ‘one person/one vote’ rule the courts insist on. (What that means is, each elected representative should speak for the same number of citizens, so everyone’s voice is equal). To regain that balance, Congressional Districts 2, 4 and 6 would have to be stripped of population, and Districts 1, 3 and 5 would have to gain. To see what district you’re currently in, go to: www.lrc.ky.gov/GIS/pdf/CH001A09bw.pdfThe week’s back-and-forth developments added further uncertainty to a session that’s already been slow to unfold. Historically, any even-year Legislature rarely takes up divisive or politically difficult issues until the filing deadline passes and potential electoral opposition (or lack thereof) is known. That effect is magnified under the hot lens of a redistricting year. This year’s filing delays haven’t helped. But the 60-day session is more than one-third over – 26 of its allotted 60 days are past, and next week, Thursday, will see its halfway point. So expect larger issues to have their day soon, despite the session’s watchful waiting to date. The redistricting uncertainty will have the near-certain effect of making the session’s second half even busier and more pressurized than usual, and the long hours of sessions’ end in spring more wearying. Of course, the state budget bill (an even-year Legislature’s one necessary task) waits always for those closing hours, after weeks of study and dissection in committees and subcommittees. It’s a huge job – over $19 billion and a vast universe of state services are on the table -- and can’t be wrapped up till fiscal-impact bills are known anyway. The much-touted casino gambling bill (which is said to be drafted, ready and awaiting the right moment for introduction) has still not been uncloaked. Its presumed sponsor in the Senate has said the issue has been so thoroughly discussed for so long that the bill’s turn on stage could come even very late in the session, if necessary, despite its huge and controversial implications. But a two-headed issue has emerged as major this session, and is drawing attention right now: Drug abuse. Specifically meth (a longstanding Kentucky problem) and ‘pill mills’ (relatively new to widespread public awareness). Both have made session headlines already. And, in the case of a major anti-meth initiative, resulted in an extensive – and expensive -- campaign of radio ads in opposition. The ‘new’ problem (new at least in terms of headlines and public attention) is the emergence of pill mills to serve the Commonwealth’s epidemic of prescription-drug abuse -- mostly pain pills, and most notably in Eastern Kentucky, where officials have said more than 70 percent of crime connects in some way with prescription-drug abuse. Legislation has been introduced to crack down on those operations, the offices and clinics where prescriptions are dispensed with little or no physical examination, and few questions asked. The underlying problem is ease of access. It’s just not that hard for addicts to get powerful painkillers and other drugs, if they know where to go. Among its numerous provisions, the bill would make expanded use of the state’s electronic monitoring system for prescription drugs. It would also require that pain clinics be owned by licensed medical practitioners (with the exception of licensed hospitals and pharmacies). Law enforcement officials say most problems occur when non-doctors own pain clinics and operate them mostly if not solely to generate profits. Officials estimate there are about 70 pain clinics in Kentucky; more than 30 are not physician-owned. The other emerging drug issue – which you can’t possibly have missed if your car has a radio – is actually an old issue back for an encore: Requiring prescriptions for certain over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a precursor ingredient used to make illegal methamphetamine. Meth is Kentucky’s other drug scourge, and a devastating one in some, primarily rural, parts of the state. Under current law, buyers must show identification to purchase such OTC decongestants as Claritin D. But many law enforcement officials say that restriction has had little effect on the overall meth problem. Opposition to the prescription-only proposal last time was – as it is again – fierce. The pharmaceutical industry, saying it speaks for average families, contends this year’s Senate Bill 50 would punish law-abiding Kentuckians, who’d have to get a doctor’s appointment, spend extra money, and take time off work just to get a simple bottle of decongestant for their sniffles. As they did last session, they’ve taken to the public airwaves with a sophisticated ad campaign to make their case. 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 Kentucky News on Feb 15, 2012 18:07:07 GMT -5
Pro Gambling lobby finally pushes through plan to have Vegas style gambling in Kentucky
FRANKFORT, Ky.– Calling it “the best way to keep hundreds of millions of dollars here at home,” Gov. Steve Beshear and Sen. Damon Thayer announced their plan to introduce an expanded gaming bill in the Senate today. The bill would authorize a statewide vote to amend the state’s constitution to allow expanded gaming in up to seven locations in Kentucky. “We’ve been debating this issue in Frankfort for more than 15 years. The citizens of our state are clamoring to have their voices heard,” Gov. Beshear said. “Two recent polls show more than 80 percent of Kentuckians want to cast a ballot on gaming. Are we going to listen to them or not?” The bill would allow Kentucky voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would authorize up to five casinos at racetracks and two at stand-alone locations at least 60 miles from the nearest racetrack. Revenue from the gaming facilities would be spent for job creation, education, human services, health care, veterans programs, local governments, public safety and support of the horse industry. “The time has come to let the people decide on the issue of expanded gambling,” said Sen. Thayer. “This issue has been lingering in Kentucky for nearly two decades, a majority of Kentuckians wish to vote on it, and the time has come to give them that opportunity.” Gov. Beshear and Sen. Thayer worked together for weeks to develop the bill and to build consensus support for it within the General Assembly. Sponsors of the bill include three Republicans, Sen. Thayer; Sen. Carroll Gibson and Sen. Tom Buford; and five Democrats, Sen. R.J. Palmer; Sen. Perry Clark; Sen. Denise Harper Angel; Sen. Gerald Neal and Sen. Joey Pendleton. “A recent economic study showed that in 2010, Kentuckians spent $451 million on casino gaming in our neighboring states. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars that could be supporting our schools and building our roads – but instead it’s padding the budgets of Indiana and West Virginia,” Gov. Beshear said. “It’s time to keep Kentucky’s money here at home, and it’s time to let the voters have their say.” The expansion of gaming would bring millions of dollars in recurring revenue into the state budget without raising taxes, Gov. Beshear said. One recent economic study estimates that, under one scenario, expanding gaming at racetracks would bring in one-time license fees of $266 million and $377 million in taxes annually into the General Fund. That kind of recurring revenue would have enormous positive impact for Kentuckians, said Gov. Beshear, noting that his current biennial budget proposal cuts most state agencies 8.4 percent. These cuts are on top of prior cuts, some of which total more than 30 percent since 2008. Gov. Beshear has characterized the budget as “inadequate,” and warned that without increased revenue, persistent generational problems will continue to prevent the state from flourishing. With the infusion of gaming money, the state could increase funding for education, help universities lower the cost of tuition, or better fund service programs for our elderly – all without raising taxes or further painful cuts to other services, Gov. Beshear said. Details such as where to put the casinos and license fees and tax rates will be determined by enabling legislation that would be drafted after the legislature approves this bill, and if Kentuckians vote to approve the gaming amendment. Because the bill is a constitutional amendment, it must garner at least 60 percent of the votes in each legislative chamber in order to pass. “You continue to hear all kinds of arguments for and against allowing expanding gaming in this state,” Gov. Beshear said. “What you don’t hear, however, is one argument about why the people of Kentucky shouldn’t have a right to vote on it. That’s because there really isn’t a legitimate argument against that. The time for a vote is now.”
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Post by Press Release on Feb 17, 2012 17:36:07 GMT -5
Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks on an anti-drug measure up for consideration in the committee.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – First, some quick background on legal gambling in Kentucky. The Commonwealth’s 1891 Constitution forbids what it calls ‘lotteries and gift enterprises,’ a polite way to say ‘gambling.’ In 1931, the Court of Appeals ruled that pari-mutuel wagering on horse races (requiring, as it theoretically does, skill instead of chance) did not violate that prohibition. And so the Court explicitly legalized a nebulous area of the law, which was being routinely skirted anyway. In 1987, a long-shot candidate for governor won on a promise to bring a state lottery to Kentucky. After the long shot came in, in very short order the Legislature approved a constitutional amendment to allow it. The voters said yes in November ‘88. Since then, despite many proposals, endless discussion and several attempts, no general expansion of gambling has occurred here (charitable gaming aside). Meanwhile, six full-blown casinos have opened across the state’s northern border, along or on the river, drawing money and crowds and profits and tax revenues, and calls by some for Kentucky to get its share of that lucrative pot. Many Unbridled Spirit license plates are in those cross-river parking lots, gambling proponents say. In 2007, a candidate for governor ran and won on a platform that specifically featured expanded gaming. In his first term, he took it to the Legislature and it failed. Now, in his second term, he’s trying again, and a new bill to that effect – delayed till nearly-mid-session because of the Legislature’s protracted redistricting uncertainty -- was served up to lawmakers and the public this week. It takes the form of a constitutional amendment that would allow for seven casinos in Kentucky, five at state racetracks and two others freestanding. Which of the state’s eight racetracks would get casino licenses isn’t specified; nor are locations for the two non-track facilities. There is, though, a sort of ‘no-compete’ clause in the bill that says a freestanding casino can’t be within 60 miles of a track. The amendment would have to be passed by the Legislature in bill form, then worded as a constitutional amendment for voter yay or nay on the November ballot. For now, though, questions have been raised. Specifically tethering casino licenses to racetracks has in itself generated resistance to the proposal, with some saying special treatment for one industry shouldn’t be written into the constitution. The 60-mile restriction has also proven problematic with some, creating as it apparently does market monopolies and eliminating great swaths of the state from consideration for a freestanding facility. The proposal contains a list of supposed beneficiaries from casino tax revenue, including job creation, education, human services, health care, veterans programs, local governments, and the state’s troubled horse industry. However, it was quickly pointed out that there’s no real specificity in that broad, encompassing list, and no divvying up by percentage, so it can be read as fairly empty language. One leader said it might as well just say any tax revenue ‘goes into the General Fund.’ The governor said Thursday he was ‘welcoming all of the suggestions,’ and said he may bring a revised and simplified bill. It should be noted that any constitutional amendment, let alone one fraught with as many political landmines and powerful opposition as this one, faces steep challenges in becoming law. Amendment proposals require a supermajority three-fifths approval in both chambers (60 House members and 23 senators). Assuming it clears that hurdle – no casual assumption by any means – the amendment would then be loose for months in an inevitable blizzard of TV, radio, and print ads from both sides that would bury voters with conflicting takes on such a controversial issue. Especially in a Presidential election year, voter turnout Nov. 6 might be enormous. Recent history may not be predictive here, but it’s surely instructive. Expanded-gambling bills have gone basically nowhere in nine legislative sessions over the last 11 years. House committees have passed out a few, but only one -- a video lottery terminal bill during a 2009 special session (called ‘video slots’) actually passed the full House. That bill didn’t even get out of committee in the Senate. In his Budget Address in January, the governor contended that casinos at the state’s racetracks alone would dump one-time license fees of $266 million into the Treasury, and thereafter pump $377 million yearly into the General Fund. Those numbers were, at best, estimates. He mentioned this at the tail-end of a speech in which he sent to the Legislature a budget that -- even using one-time money from the Rainy Day Fund, a tax-amnesty plan and other fund transfers -- comes up $286 million short, and so envisions new cuts of 8.4 percent across much of state government. The Legislature is working on its version of that budget now. The argument for casino gambling is basically fiscal and economic. The argument against is largely moral and philosophical, though there are also economic arguments against gambling’s impact on communities. As one key lawmaker said, each side has good arguments, which need to be well aired before the Legislature acts, if it does. But polls have shown that most Kentuckians, whether they support or oppose expanded gaming, would like a chance to vote on the issue and settle it themselves, once and for all. The question before legislators is whether the current proposal is the right vessel for that public expression.
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Post by Press Release on Feb 23, 2012 5:42:17 GMT -5
Debt ceiling bill clears Senate
FRANKFORT -- Legislation that would cap the Commonwealth’s debt supported by General Fund appropriations was approved by the Senate today by a 34-2 vote. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bowen, R-Owensboro, and Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, would prohibit the legislature from appropriating more than 6 percent of General Fund revenues to bonded indebtedness. Supporters of the legislation say that percentage is a generally accepted industry standard used by bond rating agencies. According to Sen. Bowen, this legislation would reign in potential high debt levels in the future and put Kentucky at the same levels as many other states. “We’ve taken on more debt than most states relative to our tax base. We are acquiring more debt than we are retiring… Senate Bill 1 adds that structural safeguard that we need, that built-in discipline,” he said. “By limiting our bonded indebtedness, we’re going to be better prepared to meet the programs and services we’re obligated to provide… We’re not going to become a slave to our debt. We’re going to emphasize programs over pork, basics over bricks,” Bowen said. The measure excludes debt for universities, the Kentucky Housing Authority, and other agencies not using the General Fund. It also allows the General Assembly to exceed the 6 percent limit by a majority vote if the Governor declared a state of emergency that required additional funds. The bill is based on similar legislation that proposed enacting the debt limit through a constitutional amendment. That legislation was withdrawn in favor of this measure that sets the limit in statute. The legislation now goes to the 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 In The News on Feb 24, 2012 16:46:09 GMT -5
wkyt.com Stumbo asks for records of MSU officials same day they opposed bill he sponsored
Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo asked for spending records of Morehead State University's president and regents the same day the regents voted for a resolution opposing a bill sponsored by Stumbo that would make the University of Pikeville a public institution. The university said it is against the measure on the grounds that it would divert coal severance tax dollars and could hurt Morehead's enrollment and programs. www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Stumbo_seeks_spending_records_for_MSU_officials_140222453.html
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Post by In The News on Feb 24, 2012 21:13:12 GMT -5
herald-leader.com Lawmakers say compromise in the works on anti-meth bill By Beth Musgrave
FRANKFORT — The sponsor of a House bill that would require prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, says supporters are not backing down, despite the withdrawal of a similar proposal in the Senate. On Thursday, Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, withdrew Senate Bill 50 despite it passing out of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. Stivers said Thursday that supporters were still trying to find middle ground on a bill aimed at controlling home made meth labs. The issue has been one of the most contentious and costly battles in Frankfort for the past two years. Most of the state's narcotics officers are backing the prescription effort, saying that Mississippi and Oregon have enacted similar laws and seen a dramatic decline in the number of meth labs. The over-the-counter drug industry says those statistics are misleading and that meth addiction is still a problem in those states. The industry has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on automated calls and other advertisements. Those who support the bill have also started running ads. Under SB 50 and HB 79, gel cap forms of cold medicines such as Advil Cold & Sinus would not require a prescription because it's harder to use that form of the drug in the meth-making process. Read more here: www.kentucky.com/2012/02/24/2082622/lawmakers-say-compromise-in-the.html
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Post by Press Release on Feb 24, 2012 21:16:46 GMT -5
FRANKFORT - Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville (right), confers with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Tom Jensen, R-London, as the committee hears testimony about bill sponsored by Jones to strengthen regulation of a pain management clinics in Kentucky.
This Week in Frankfort FRANKFORT – This week, casino gambling made it to the floor of the Kentucky State Senate. And this week, casino gambling crapped out. So came the quick denouement of a public policy debate that has been with us, in one form or another, for two decades: Shall we join five of the seven states bordering us that have over those years allowed casino gambling within their borders – and in some cases, especially Indiana, just across the river from ours? The answer, given for the first time by an unambiguous vote on the Senate floor, is: No. Senate Bill 151 was defeated 21-16 after a little over two hours of debate. The measure fell a full seven votes short of the required 23 to send a constitutional amendment to voters for their own say on the matter in November. Long awaited, the governor’s casino bill, finally loosed upon the Legislature last week, didn’t arrive without objection from both sides of the gambling issue. Gambling opponents simply opposed it. That was a given. But even some supporters of expanded gaming in Kentucky took exception to a central tenet of the plan, what they called its protectionist bias toward one industry, the horse industry, and writing that bias into the state Constitution. The words ‘market monopoly’ were used. The governor’s original bill specified that, of a prospective seven casinos, five would be at the state’s eight racetracks. Two would be stand-alone. But it also stipulated that neither of those freestanding venues could be within 60 miles of a state racetrack – whether that track got a casino license or not. As a practical matter, that meant there could be no casino in Louisville unless it was at Churchill Downs, and no casino in Northern Kentucky unless it was at Turfway. Lexington the same, with Keeneland and the Red Mile. Kentucky geography further tells us this: The 60-mile restriction left only a couple of narrow strips where stand-alone casinos could go, neither of them metropolitan centers. The London-Corbin corridor, and (possibly) the Fort Campbell area were possibilities under the restriction. Ironically – considering criticism the bill was too horse-centric -- some in the horse industry itself (most notably a former governor who’s also a horse breeder) criticized the amendment as not friendly enough to them. They worried aloud that casino revenues weren’t with any specificity dedicated to their ailing industry, and that the two freestanding casinos could become ‘mega-casinos,’ dwarfing their own envisioned tracksite operations. The sitting governor, elected twice on a pro-gambling platform, said he was amenable to suggested changes in his bill. He even took a rare leap and testified before the Senate committee debating it. The version that passed out of the State and Local Government Committee Wednesday did drop the stipulation that five casino licenses definitely go to racetracks. But it retained the 60-mile sphere of influence around them. The proposed constitutional amendment cleared the committee by a 7-4 vote. It was the first time a Senate committee had approved any bill to expand gambling (other than charitable gaming, a different animal) since the state lottery bill sailed through the Legislature 24 years ago. Thursday’s full-chamber vote marked the first discussion of statewide gambling-beyond-lottery on the Senate floor in all those years. The roll-call whipping of SB 151, it seems fair to say, laid to rest one of this session’s potentially defining issues. It remains to be seen how that defeat will resonate in years and sessions to come. Meanwhile, another defining issue of 2012 – redistricting – remained in the air this week. At this writing (mid-morning Friday), the Kentucky Supreme Court should be hearing oral arguments on an appeal brought by the Legislative Research Commission after a Franklin Circuit judge ruled the new House and Senate redistricting plan unconstitutional. The legislative leadership disagreed, and appealed. Under the lower court ruling, this year’s legislative races are for now being run in existing districts, pending high court resolution of the issue. 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 In The News on Feb 24, 2012 21:30:00 GMT -5
courier-journal.com Drug industry spend nearly $200,000 to lobby Kentucky lawmakers to defeat Meth Bill
FRANKFORT, KY. — A national organization trying to defeat a bill that would require prescriptions for medications containing pseudoephedrine — a key ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine — spent more than five times as much as any other group on lobbying the Kentucky General Assembly last month. In a report filed last week with the Legislative Ethics Commission, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association of Washington reported spending $194,957.76 to lobby Kentucky lawmakers in January. The group that spent the second-largest amount for the month was the Kentucky Hospital Association, at $36,120. In fact, Consumer Healthcare reported spending more on Frankfort lobbying for the month than the next eight largest groups combined, according to lobbying expense data posted on the website of the Legislative Ethics Commission. “That’s almost an obscene amount of money to be spending in one month on one issue,” said Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester. Stivers is the sponsor of the bill that the organization is trying to defeat — Senate Bill 50, an attempt at combating the state’s meth problem by requiring a prescription for over-the-counter cold and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine. www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012302200074
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Post by Press Release on Mar 2, 2012 17:56:56 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, shows an image of a woman injured in a meth lab explosion during debate of a bill in the Kentucky Senate to limit the sale of over-the-counter medication that contains a key ingredient used in the production of illegal methamphetamine.
Anti-meth bill clears Senate
FRANKFORT – A bill aimed at curbing methamphetamine production and abuse gained Senate approval today by a 25-10 vote. Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, would decrease the current monthly over-the-counter purchase limit of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from nine grams to 7.2 grams, and impose a 24 gram yearly limit. The drug is a required ingredient in the making of meth. According to Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, the number of meth labs is increasing across the state and posing danger to law enforcement and other citizens who may accidently encounter a lab. “It’s a terrible problem and we have an opportunity to address it,” he said. The measure would also replace the paper-tracking system currently in place for the purchase of medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed and other decongestants, with a mandatory electronic system that would allow more real-time purchase tracking. Anyone convicted of a drug-related crime would not be allowed to purchase the drug with or without a prescription for five years after the offense under provisions of the bill. Gel caps and pediatric liquid medicines containing pseudoephedrine are exempt because they are not typically used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Advocates say the bill would cut the number of meth labs in the state and help prevent ‘smurfing’ activity in which meth producers hire a group of people to visit multiple pharmacies to obtain large amounts of the drug. Supporters say the limits imposed by the bill would still provide law-abiding citizens with an ample supply of decongestants to treat a simple cold or allergies without a prescription. Opponents feel the provisions could be burdensome to chronic allergy sufferers or families with children as they are more likely to reach the threshold and have to pay for a doctor’s appointment to get the amount of the medicine they need. The measure now goes to the 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 Press Release on Mar 3, 2012 7:50:59 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, confers with Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, during debate of an anti-drug measure in the Kentucky Senate.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT -- With a casino-gambling bill beat and legislative redistricting struck down by the state Supreme Court -- one after the other in a dramatic 24 hours last Thursday and Friday -- the 2012 session left a conflicted February in its rearview mirror this week and entered its last full month, accelerating. Only 21 working days remain of this year’s 60-day session. They promise to be busy. Since no one expects gambling to be revisited this year, and redistricting possible but a long shot at this late date, just one of an original triumvirate of what some saw as potential session-defining issues – a budget of near-unprecedented challenge – remains clearly unresolved. But between now and a final budget vote, other big issues are now emerging from the redistricting/gambling penumbra. An anti-meth bill, ‘pill mill’ legislation, the future status of Pikeville University, and raising the state’s dropout age could each or all strike sparks. And it’s not unheard-of for a hitherto-unremarked issue to explode into March headlines. A legislative session has its predictable rhythms, but has its surprises too. This week, drug-related bills saw significant committee action in both chambers. What may be the most publicly and expensively lobbied issue of this session was scaled back in a Senate committee Thursday. Originally and controversially, the proposal (in the form of Senate Bill 50) would have required a doctor’s prescription for cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a precursor ingredient used to cook illegal methamphetamine. Meth, as everyone colloquially calls it, is Kentucky’s signature drug scourge, and a devastating one in some primarily rural parts of the state. Under current law, buyers must show identification to purchase OTC decongestants like Claritin D or Mucinex DM. But many law enforcement officials say that restriction has had little effect on the overall meth problem. Still, just like last session when the prescription-only proposal was raised and failed, opposition has been fierce. A well-heeled industry group, saying it speaks for average families, has gone on the airwaves in a big way, contending this year’s bill would punish law-abiding Kentuckians with colds or allergies, who’d have to get a doctor’s appointment, spend extra money, and take time off work just to get a simple bottle of decongestant pills for their sniffles. This week – after the original bill was withdrawn -- a Senate committee passed out a new but closely related measure, Senate Bill 3, that would drop the prescription requirement but place monthly and cumulative yearly limits on just how much pseudoephedrine could be purchased. Like the original bill, it exempts liquid and gel medicines, since they’re not normally used to make meth. Amended on the Senate floor this morning to raise the committee-determined limits somewhat, the bill passed. Now it goes to the House. House and Senate committees this week also separately took up legislation dealing with ‘pill mills.’ This is a relatively new problem in terms of headlines and public attention although it’s long been know that prescription-drug abuse is epidemic in the Commonwealth -- mostly pain pills, and most notably in Eastern Kentucky, where law enforcement says more than 70 percent of crime connects in some way with prescription-drug abuse. Legislation has been introduced in both chambers to crack down on those operations, where prescriptions are dispensed with little or no physical examination, and few questions asked. The underlying problem is ease of access. It’s just not that hard for addicts to get powerful painkillers if they know where to go. And ‘where to go’ too often is the friendly neighborhood pill mill, frequently owned and operated by non-physicians, many from out of state and largely there just to generate profits. Law enforcement says that’s where most problems occur. Among the regulatory proposals on the table (there are differences in the bills) are expanded use of the state’s KASPAR electronic monitoring system for prescription drugs, and requiring pain clinics be owned by licensed medical practitioners (with the exception of licensed hospitals and pharmacies). House Bill 4 passed out of that chamber’s Judiciary Committee this week. Senate Bill 2, a separate but similar pill-mill measure, was discussed but not voted on by the Senate’s own Judiciary panel Thursday. The bill’s sponsor said he may seek committee approval next week. Given how the overall issue is trending in both chambers, supporters have expressed confidence some form of pill-mill regulation with make it through the Legislature this session. Of course, this year as always, final action on the budget awaits session’s end. In those last days, House and Senate action on a two-year spending plan usually brings the winter’s work to a weary late-hours climax, with time running out and the process (usually) prevailing against sleeplessness. Any year, writing a budget is a massive undertaking. But that truism especially applies in 2012. Early on, the governor proposed spending cuts of 8.4 percent for most state agencies to close a wide gap between projected outlays and anticipated revenues -- this on top of cut after cut in an era of seeming unending shortfalls. Some $19.5 billion in General Fund dollars is there for budgeting this year. With a few specified exceptions (including SEEK funding for schools, Corrections, and Medicaid) most state operations are on the table for cuts. Budget review subcommittees have been deep in the weeds on specifics in recent weeks, taking agency testimony and parsing every dollar, and getting a proposal ready for the House to debate, amend, pass and send to the Senate, which will debate, amend, and pass its own version. It’s a complex dance that always ends up in a conference committee, with lights in the Capitol burning late into the night. It’s expected the full House will take up its version of the budget next week. And finally, just to get you quickly up to speed on another issue: Last Friday afternoon, after press time for this column and after deliberating for only four hours, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that struck down the Legislature’s redistricting plan for itself. That ruling – in response to an appeal brought by the Legislative Research Commission after a Franklin Circuit Court nixed the plan earlier -- means this year’s legislative races will be run under existing district lines. The court said the new lines were unconstitutional in part because they split too many counties in drawing new population-equal districts. 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 Press Release on Mar 6, 2012 19:24:22 GMT -5
Social worker licensing bill heads to Senate
Front line social workers with social work degrees would be required to be licensed under legislation that passed the House today. House Bill 237, sponsored by Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, passed the House by a vote of 74-18 and now goes to the Senate for consideration. “The problem is, when somebody makes a mistake—when they have falsified documents or lied in court—we don’t know if that’s a licensed social worker, a degreed social worker, or somebody who really isn’t a social worker,” Westrom said in committee testimony on the bill last month. “As we hire people, starting this July, if we’re hiring social workers to work front lines, we should be hiring licensed social workers.” Should HB 237 become law, social workers with social work degrees who are currently employed by the state would have until July 1, 2015 to be licensed. The licensing requirement would not apply to currently-employed social workers who are not degreed in social work. All social workers who are hired on or after the bill becomes law in mid- to late June would have to be licensed. Westrom has said that 750 of Kentucky’s front line social workers do not have social work degrees, and only 90 of the state’s front line social workers are licensed. New procedures for disciplining social workers who have lost their license or been found guilty of a criminal complaint or contempt of court would also be established by the bill, among other provisions. 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 Press Release on Mar 7, 2012 22:23:33 GMT -5
State budget bills, tax amnesty bill head to Senate
FRANFORT—The Kentucky House approved two-year budget plans today for all three branches of state government, including a $19.5 billion Executive Branch budget plan that would cut spending for many state agencies by 8.4 percent. House Bill 265, which contains the proposed Executive Branch budget to cover most state government operations, passed by a vote of 78-17. It closely mirrors the budget proposed by the governor in January. The 8.4 percent cuts—which would affect all but a handful of critical areas, such as Medicaid, total school funding based on attendance (SEEK), and Corrections—are in addition to agency budget reductions of 25-30 percent over the past four years. The state’s public universities would have their budgets reduced by 6.4 percent in 2013, with smaller cuts of 4.2 percent for the Education Cabinet and 2.2 percent for most areas of the Justice Cabinet, excluding Corrections and Commonwealth’s and county attorneys. The cuts in HB 265 are aimed at helping cover a $742 million gap between state revenue and spending over the biennium, according to the state Budget Office. Other revenue measures to deal with the gap include fund transfers, a tax amnesty program (also passed today) that would add an estimated $55 million to the budget over the biennium, fund lapses and other measures. HB 499, which includes the tax amnesty plan and other revenue proposals, was approved by a vote of 67-28. HB 265 would also reduce the amount of overall debt to be authorized from $968 million in the governor’s proposal to less than $535 million over the biennium, with most of the reduction in agency bonds. No debt restructuring would be allowed under HB 265 over the next biennium, and the 1.5 percent cost of living adjustment for state retirees (not retired teachers) would be suspended over the next two years to reduce the state retirement systems’ future unfunded liability by approximately $400 million. HB 265 also includes no salary increases for state employees for the next two years. The bill would provide some new money, including funding to reduce state social worker caseloads, allow more people with severe disabilities to live in non-institutional settings, and cover more burial services for Kentucky’s veterans. Additionally, it would also authorize construction of the state’s fourth veterans nursing home, although construction is not yet scheduled, and boost lagging revenues at the Kentucky Horse Park and the Kentucky State Fairgrounds. Salary increases and cost of living raises for retirees are also excluded from the state legislative budget proposed in HB 268 and the state judicial budget proposed in HB 269. Like HB 265, both bills also propose operational cuts of 8.4 percent for their agencies over the biennium. HB 268 and HB 269 passed the House by votes of 94-2 and 90-3, respectively. All three budget bills, and the revenue proposal in HB 499, now go to the Senate for consideration. The House is expected to vote on the state’s Transportation budget plan next week, according to House budget leaders.
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Post by Press Release on Mar 9, 2012 12:46:47 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester (left), confers with Senate Democratic Floor Leader R.J. Palmer, D-Winchester, during a recess period in the Kentucky Senate.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – Someone once called writing a budget ‘a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.’ That Kentucky state government faces continued hard times is a good bit more than a suspicion. But March, with a budget actually emerging from mainly talk to real numbers in a real bill, brings us the real math of the Commonwealth’s two-year fiscal future -- at least the math as it now stands at this coalescing stage of the budget process. The House put pen to paper this week and passed its spending plan Wednesday. That was 50 calendar days after the governor handed off his own proposal to the Legislature, in a near-grisly Budget Address Jan. 17. There are, at this writing Friday, 16 working days left for the Senate to put its own stamp on the bill and leave time for the two chambers to come together in conference committee for a final reckoning. The House version of the budget pretty closely reflects the proposal the governor sent up in January, a budget he called ‘inadequate for the needs of our people,’ reflecting a fiscal situation he described, memorably, as ‘wretched.’ House leaders conceded early on there wasn’t much wiggle room for improvement, considering the money bind Kentucky finds itself in. That’s in contrast with previous years, even difficult ones, when the Legislature could see at least some daylight in the budget picture. Just two years ago, after the governor proposed a dead-on-arrival budget that assumed revenues from an expanded-gaming proposal with no realistic prospects that session, the House basically tossed that budget and started from scratch. No such running room was apparent to House budget writers this year. One indicator of 2012’s fiscal straitjacket was the limited and even subdued debate the bill got on the House floor before it passed 78-17. State agencies and programs have undergone 10 rounds of spending cuts totaling 25-30 percent since the Great Recession settled over Kentucky and the nation like a gray mist in 2007. This year, with a budget said to start $742 million in the hole, they face more. (Just an aside: State revenues have shown encouraging signs of turnaround recently; but not enough to offset the loss of one-time revenues like federal stimulus dollars used to stanch the bleeding the last three years). Even after dipping into the Rainy Day Fund, scrambling to find other fund transfers, and counting on an amnesty program to recover millions in unpaid taxes, House budget drafters were looking at a shortfall that they say (agreeing with the governor) requires 8.4 percent cuts to most agencies, a 6.4 percent cut to higher education, and a 4.5 percent cut to many areas of education -- although SEEK, the basic funding formula for Kentucky schools, is spared an actual cut. But even SEEK will not fully keep pace because of projected growth in student population, and will as a practical matter fall back to 2008 levels. Corrections is spared. So is Medicaid. But separate budgets for the legislative and judicial branches take the full 8.4-percent whack. The tax amnesty program, also passed by the House Wednesday in a separate bill, would remove penalties for tens of thousands of delinquent taxpayers, and also forgive half the interest on what they owe if they come forward and pony up. Proponents say it could raise $55 million or more. There’s historical justification for thinking so. Statewide amnesty was last offered ten years ago, and raked in $40 million. An earlier and even more successful program in 1988 netted over $60 million. The House did make several relatively modest changes to the Administration’s overall budget proposal, including dropping about $450 million in university bonds. It also put state retirees in the same boat with state employees, with neither getting cost-of-living raises the next two years. The governor had left the retiree COLA in. The House did restore funding for some key education initiatives, including after-school programs, social-service programs and gifted and talented programs. And there is actually some new spending, including money to reduce social-worker caseloads, allow more people with severe disabilities to live in non-institutional settings, and cover more burial services for Kentucky’s veterans. Additionally, the House plan authorizes the planned construction of a fourth state veterans nursing home. As a practical matter, and in horsy terms Kentuckians understand, House passage of a budget is racing in the backstretch, important but not decisive. The Senate must still act, and will surely have its own ideas. But even Senate passage will just mark the turn for home. Then there’s a long, wearying stretch run, where things are settled with finality. A conference committee of House and Senate leaders will, line-by-line, work their way through chamber differences, try to arrive at a bottom-line compromise, and ship the bill and its hundreds of pages downstairs to the governor. He may then sign it, veto it, or veto specific parts of it in what’s called a ‘line-item’ veto. Even then, the General Assembly retains a Constitutional right to override any or all of his objections. To finish the metaphor, we’re still some distance from the finish line. But the end is now in sight. And odds are the ‘suspicion’ that Kentucky has lean days ahead will be confirmed in a budget that, given hard unyielding reality, is simply the best good people can do. 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 Press Release on Mar 9, 2012 21:27:59 GMT -5
Pill mill legislation approved by House
FRANKFORT -- Legislation that would crack down on “pill mills” by requiring electronic monitoring of prescribed pain medications by the state’s Attorney General was approved by the state House of Representatives yesterday. Under House Bill 4 sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Louisville, licensed practitioners would have to check the state’s electronic controlled substance monitoring system, known as KASPER, when they prescribe or dispense drugs. Failure of a provider to submit the data to KASPER within a timely fashion would carry penalties. KASPER, meanwhile, would be brought under the Attorney General’s Office, which would have the power to investigate and seize records of licensed providers related to prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances. The power to investigate licensing medical boards would also be given to the Attorney General. All providers in the state would pay a $50 annual fee to maintain the KASPER system. The legislation would also require that pain management clinics be owned and licensed by a physician or nurse practitioner who is licensed to practice medicine and prescribe controlled substances in Kentucky. In-office dispensing would be limited to a two-day supply, and practitioners would face license suspension for improper prescribing or dispensing. Other provisions added to HB 4, by amendment, address the sharing of reports between investigative agencies and licensing boards, review of drug records only by those authorized by law, and prescribing of controlled substances by dentists, among others. Stumbo said HB 4 has support in the state’s medical community. “The medical community of Kentucky wants to help. And we need their help,” he said. “In this war on drugs, the battlefield changes almost daily. Now it appears our problem is centered in our own state,” he said, explaining that HB 4 will help to address the problem. The drug classes addressed in HB 4 include Schedule II and Schedule III narcotics which include drugs like Oxycodone, morphine, Fentanyl and Ketamine. Licensed hospitals, pharmacies, hospices, long-term care centers and educational programs are exempt from the bill. HB 4, which was approved by the House of an 81-7 vote, now heads 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 In The News on Mar 10, 2012 9:20:01 GMT -5
courier-journal.com Stivers says legislature may need to help tornado victims
FRANKFORT, KY. — Two senators said Thursday that the General Assembly may need to act in the remaining days of its 2012 session to assist tornado victims. Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said that he is hearing concerns about how damage from the tornado could affect school funding in affected districts — because of lower average daily attendances that determine how much schools get. One possibility Stivers mentioned in an interview was that the average attendance calculation could be based on the averages before the storms. Besides changing the way schools are funded, Stivers also suggested the state might need to provide initial assistance to local entities that could then be reimbursed through insurance payments or federal disaster relief. Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, suggested forgiving the 6 percent state sales tax on building materials purchased to rebuild after the storm, saying he’d proposed similar legislation a couple years ago after severe flooding in Eastern Kentucky. Read the entire article at: www.courier-journal.com/article/20120308/NEWS01/303080047/Stivers-says-legislature-may-need-help-tornado-victims
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Post by Press Release on Mar 13, 2012 19:49:43 GMT -5
UPike compromise bill heads to Senate
FRANKFORT—Scholarship grants paid for in part with multi-county coal severance dollars would be available for students completing their bachelor’s degrees at colleges and universities in the Eastern Coalfields region, or other approved institutions, under an amended bill that passed the House today, 89-7. House Bill 260, sponsored by Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville, and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, would create a Kentucky Appalachian College Completion Program for students in the region. KACC grants totaling up to $6,000 per academic year would be available for students attending a regional nonprofit, independent college or university like the University of Pikeville while grants totaling up to $2,000 per academic year would be available for students attending a regional public university extension campus, or regional education center like the University Center of the Mountains in Hazard. Eligible students could receive scholarship grants until they complete a bachelor’s degree, or for a maximum of five full-time fall, spring or summer semesters or the equivalent—whichever comes first, according to HB 260. Part-time students would have their grant eligibility determined by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The intent of the legislation, Combs explained, is to allow students to obtain a bachelor’s degree at a reasonable cost. “Our baccalaureate degree attainment rates are below the state average, and the national average,” Combs said. A proposal in the original HB 260, which would have made UPike the state’s ninth public university, is left out of the amended bill. Combs said that proposal has been “postponed”. HB 260 would also allow KACC grants to be used at accredited Kentucky colleges or universities outside the Eastern Coalfields region if a student’s program of study is not offered in the region. HB 260 would set a $500,000 annual maximum limit on grants disbursed to these “non-participating” institutions located outside the region. HB 260 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 Press Release on Mar 17, 2012 5:57:02 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, reacts to receiving University of Kentucky blue roses following UK's defeat of Western Kentucky University in the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Mike Sunseri, Legislative Research Commission
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – ‘Crisis’ may not exactly equal ‘opportunity’ in Chinese – scholars disagree on that –but one linguistic coupling in English can be asserted for sure: A Legislature faced with a problem will always see it as an opportunity to fix it. Such is the case with this session’s legislative redistricting. The House and Senate passed their plans early on. But Franklin Circuit Court, and then the state Supreme Court, swatted those plans down as unconstitutional. Maybe not a crisis, but certainly a problem. And this week, the Legislature did what Legislatures do: Saw therein an opportunity to fix a problem that too often gums up the works in the every-ten-years political and personal ordeal of redistricting, and seized it. The Senate State and Local Government Committee – and quickly, the next day, the full Senate – passed a proposed constitutional amendment to address among other things county-splitting, the central legal objection the courts had to this year’s plan. It would also nudge timely resolution of the whole redistricting issue along, by requiring lawmakers to agree on an acceptable plan in the first full legislative session after the latest U.S Census data is released. And there’s a kicker: If the session’s 60 days run out without an acceptable plan in place, the General Assembly would have to stay in session, without pay, until new lines are drawn. But that possibility would fade, presumably, with the amendment’s clear stipulation of how counties can be constitutionally split into separate districts — a gray area the courts specifically cited in disqualifying the new map that passed fairly early this session, before January’s end-of-month filing deadline for the May primary. The courts said more counties than necessary were divided, and ordered that current district lines stay in place till that situation is remedied. Redrawing the state’s legislative, judicial and congressional boundaries is required every decade to ensure that districts have close-to-equal populations, and therefore meet the well-established constitutional requirement for one-person/one-vote representation. Kentucky hasn’t changed its redistricting guidelines for decades. This amendment – which House leaders have signaled they’re receptive to considering – is designed to get those guidelines squared with court rulings about acceptable reapportionment practices in the intervening years. In doing so, the Legislature might avoid uncomfortable situations like this year’s, where incumbents (and opponents) are now running in old districts after most originally filed in their presumed new ones, and sometimes in their old ones too just to cover that base, and things were pretty confused for a couple of weeks while judges pondered. The fog surrounding who would run where and against whom slowed the early legislative process even more than is normal in an election year. Incumbents who plan to seek re-election quite understandably want to know who if anyone is running against them before taking up controversial issues. Sessions in January of regular filing years – even-numbered years -- are typically slow to unfold, partly for that reason. This year, with redistricting, the effect was compounded. Then, with court intervention and delays, it was compounded further. Uncertainty and caution stretched into February as lawmakers waited on the courts. The bill now goes to the House. Constitutional amendments require a 60-percent supermajority, 60 votes in the 100-member House, 23 in the 38-member Senate. Then the voters say yay or nay in a referendum on the November ballot. The governor can’t veto amendment bills. They go straight from the Legislature to the people. While we’re on the subject of constitutional amendments in the Senate, that chamber passed two other proposed ones this week, including one giving the Legislature reinforced authority over administrative regulations. Regs have been a perennial headache for the Legislature over many years, with executive branch agencies issuing them and enforcing them as law, sometimes counter to legislative intent. For decades, the General Assembly has been grappling with their proliferation, and even has an entire statutory committee and staff devoted to their oversight. Despite that, the bill’s advocates say some regulations getting thumbs down from the Legislature are reissued and enforced between sessions anyway. The measure, they hope, would ensure that legislative findings that a reg doesn’t reflect legislative intent cannot so easily be ignored. The measure passed handily, 26-12, though the dozen nay votes reflected some expressed concern that the balance of power envisioned in our three-branch system might tip too far to the Legislature if the amendment is approved. A third amendment, called by proponents the Religious Freedom Act, would in the bill’s own language "prohibit any human authority from burdening actions that are based on religious beliefs, except in support of a compelling governmental interest using the least restrictive means to further that interest.” The intent would be to codify legal accommodation of religious groups who have strong beliefs, to the extent public safety and the overall civic good are protected. An example would be the recent objections some Amish raised about garish orange warning signs on their buggies. The compromise proposed – white reflective tape instead of a big orange triangle – is in the spirit of the proposed amendment. The Legislature may propose up to four constitutional amendments in even-numbered years.
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Post by In The News on Mar 17, 2012 11:43:12 GMT -5
courier-journal Group that makes ingredient in Meth biggest lobbying group in Frankfort Reporter Tom Loftus
FRANKFORT, KY. — The national group successfully fighting the bill to require prescriptions for medications containing pseudoephedrine — a key ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine — spent another huge amount in February to lobby the General Assembly. The Washington-based Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents makers of over-the-counter medicines, reported Thursday that it spent $192,985 to lobby Kentucky lawmakers during the month. That amount is similar to the $194,957 it spent on lobbying in January. That was more than five times what any other group spent on Frankfort lobbying costs for the month. And none of that two-month total of $387,942 includes any of the costs of the group’s large advertising campaign. Cost of advertising to the general public does not have to be reported as a lobbying cost. So far the lobbying effort has been successful. Last month Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, reluctantly withdrew a bill to require prescriptions, saying it did not have the votes to pass. He filed an alternative that instead limits the quantities of medicines containing pseudoephedrine that can be purchased without a prescription. That bill passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee. www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012303150090
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Post by Press Release on Mar 23, 2012 8:42:31 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Rep. W. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, debates a bill up for consideration in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Senate approves two-year budget plans
FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky Senate approved its version of the state’s biennial budget plan yesterday by a 32-4 vote. House Bill 265, as amended by the Senate, is similar to the budget that cleared the House two weeks ago. The plan includes 8.4 percent cuts on nearly all agencies over the next two years. This is on top of 10 rounds of budget reductions since 2007. Critical areas, such as Medicaid, are exempt from the cuts. Base-line school funding remains, along with an additional provision for school districts suffering damage from the recent tornadoes. The Senate included a waiver for up to ten school days that students missed due to storm damage, as well as a special process to calculate SEEK funding in the 2012-2013 school year, for those districts. Most of the changes made by the Senate to HB 265 were aimed at reducing the state’s overall amount of authorized bonded indebtedness. The governor’s original proposal included $968 million in debt that was reduced to $552 million by the House. The Senate reduced that amount even further to $391 million by removing bond funds for several projects, including $20 million previously allocated for the High-Tech Construction Investment Pool and $25 million for the maintenance and renovation of the state’s public school buildings and facilities. The Senate plan also mandates a reduction of nearly $100 million over the next two years in contract expenditures by the governor. It increases the Budget Reserve Trust, or ‘rainy-day’ fund, to nearly $129 million by the end of the biennium. The Senate concurred with a handful of funding increases in the House plan, such as providing additional money to reduce the caseloads of frontline social workers. Both plans also include more than $4 million total for the expansion of the state’s KASPER prescription-drug monitoring program. While it approved funding to boost revenues for the Kentucky State Fair Board, it cut additional funding in the House-approved budget for the Horse Park. Legislative and judicial branch operational budgets, included separately in House Bills 268 and 269, respectively, were approved unanimously. Those branches of government would also face a full 8.4 percent cut. Salary and cost of living increases for state employees and retirees in all three branches were excluded. The budget plan will now be considered by a conference committee comprised of members of both chambers working to hammer out differences in their versions of the bills. 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 Press Release on Mar 24, 2012 8:23:11 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville (second from right), speaks to Legislative Research Commission Director Bobby Sherman about meeting plans for the state budget conference committee, as (from left) Senate Democratic Floor Leader R.J. Palmer, D-Winchester; Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester; and Senate Democratic Whip Jerry Rhoads, D-Madisonville, look on.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – A smart and stoic old Roman pol, who knew something about both life and legislatures, told us centuries ago we should neither dread our last day, nor long for it. But with end times upon the 2012 General Assembly, it isn’t hard to dread the session’s last six late-hour days, yet long for an end to the winter’s weary labor. Such is usually the mood of a session’s penultimate week. That’s when the stale air of too many packed committee meetings contrasts with the arrival of an open, fresh spring, which came early, spectacularly so, this year. Even youngsters in the process look pale and bunker-bound and ready for air. Lawmakers going from the Annex to the Capitol more and more walk outside, instead of taking the underground tunnel between buildings. But atmospherics aside, let’s see where the ’12 session stands. Hanging out there unresolved -- expectedly so, since it’s usually the year’s last real order of business -- is the issue that will largely define Kentucky’s next two years: The $19.5 billion state budget. The Senate passed its version of the biennial spending plan Thursday. The House forwarded its own a couple of weeks ago, taking off from a budget the governor submitted way back in January. Most of the big changes made by the Senate are aimed at reducing the state’s authorized bonded indebtedness. The governor’s original proposal included $968 million in debt. That was reduced to $552 million by the House. The Senate bill shrinks that amount even further, to $391 million. The House and Senate bills are, at bottom, chamber statements of priorities. Their divergences map a starting point for hard bargaining next week. The final budget will be negotiated between chamber leaders, in a conference committee free to find compromise on those differences– with even small ones magnified in a budget facing major cuts this year, on top of earlier deep cuts last year, which themselves came after cuts on top of cuts, ten rounds altogether till now, as the grim years of the Great Recession hopefully fade and future budgets won’t be slash-and-burn. It’s a recipe for all-nighters in the Capitol, as the session’s last hours tick down. Elsewhere, other major bills too face their day of reckoning, in this coming week of up-or-down decisions. Close to resolution, if not yet fully signed, sealed and delivered, is a so-called Pill Mill Bill, designed to deal with an epidemic of prescription-painkiller abuse that, in addition to killing chronic pain, kills a thousand Kentuckians a year, more than die on state highways. Pill mills are clinics, often with out-of-state ownership by non-physicians, that prescribe powerful, legal painkillers with only cursory physical examination and few questions asked. Both the House and the Senate have advanced legislation dealing with the problem. But they’ve differed on one key element -- which state agency would oversee the statewide prescription monitoring system, the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system known as KASPER. This week, though, key lawmakers in both chambers said an agreement had been reached on a compromise that would clear the way for what one leader called ‘landmark’ legislation. Lawmakers say they know they’re walking a thin line here. They want to crack down on shady operators mostly out to profit by offering a legal-drug spigot for addicts and abusers. But they don’t want to hamstring or intimidate legitimate medical practitioners helping folks with a real medical need. They’ve approached this bill thoughtfully and cautiously, and indications are the two chambers’ cooperative work on this major issue will soon bear fruit. Meanwhile, a bill to fight Kentucky’s other (though illegal) drug scourge – methamphetamine – resumed its halting progress through the legislative process. A bill that would limit the amount of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine Kentuckians could buy monthly and yearly without a prescription passed a House committee this week and went to the full House. Pseudoephedrine, a common decongestant, is a precursor used in cooking meth, an illegal form of speed that has ravaged some Kentucky communities, mainly in rural areas. The bill ran into the same snag in the House panel that bogged it down in the Senate before that chamber finally passed it: If you’re going to restrict sales at all, how much is a reasonable amount for law-abiding families to be allowed? The bill as now written would let Kentuckians buy as much as 7.2 grams of pseudoephedrine in one month and 24 grams, in pill form over the counter, in any one year. More than that would require a prescription. (It’s important to note that gel caps and liquid pseudoephedrine are excluded from the limit because making meth from liquid forms is difficult and unlikely). To put this limit in perspective, a generic 48-count box of pseudoephedrine, with a standard 30-milligram dosage, contains 1.44 grams of the medicine. Earlier in this year's session, lawmakers were looking at a bill that would have required a doctor’s prescription for virtually any cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine. That idea, resurrected from a grisly death last session, met heavy resistance again this year, including an expensive and expansive industry-backed ad campaign that saturated the airwaves – a campaign that continues, since the industry group opposes even the diluted restrictions. The scaled-back measure’s next step is the full House, where at this writing early Friday it was not yet posted for consideration by the full chamber. Meanwhile, here’s the late-week status of some other headline bills: The University of Pikeville, now a private college, had sought admission to the state’s publicly-funded system, in part to increase educational-attainment levels in the Appalachian region. Resistance to that idea – based largely on its likely fiscal impact at a time when existing state schools face spending cuts -- led to the proposal being withdrawn. It was replaced with an amended bill to provide scholarships for mountain students to attend existing colleges, financed with multi-county coal severance tax funds. The measure passed the House. But the Senate budget doesn’t fund the initiative. Whether that comes up in the budget conference, we’ll see. Indications are it may. Across the Third Floor, a bill aimed at widespread dissatisfaction with Jefferson County’s student-assignment plan (usually just called busing, a court-ordered attempt to eliminate vestiges of racial segregation and promote diversity in the state’s largest school system) passed the Senate along solid party lines, after pointed debate. In a nutshell, the bill would allow parents to enroll their children in the neighborhood school nearest their home rather than seeing them bused to sometimes-distant locations. That bill’s prospects in the in the House are unlikely, at best. Its Senate sponsor conceded (and House leaders agreed) it has virtually no chance in that chamber this session. But advocates say the issue will remain live and important, and this year’s debate was valuable for spotlighting it. Finally, constitutional amendments are still loose in the process, waiting for the chambers to settle on as many as four (the legal maximum) to be sent to voters in November. Though several are out there, most have narrow or limited impact. But one with broad repercussions is a Senate proposal the House has said it’s receptive to, which would update and revamp legal guidelines for legislative redistricting, a problem that has bedeviled this session, and whose consequences are still being felt. The redistricting amendment has passed the Senate, and at this writing awaits what the House will do. 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 In The News on Mar 28, 2012 17:22:16 GMT -5
courier-journal.com Osborne adds sports betting to Stivers backed redistricting plan
FRANKFORT, KY. — A House Republican filed an amendment to legislation Tuesday that, if considered and approved, would resurrect the debate on legalizing casino gambling in Kentucky. The amendment, by Rep. David Osborne of Prospect, would gut Senate Bill 18, which proposes a constitutional amendment to clarify procedures relating to redistricting. That language would be replaced by a proposed constitutional amendment to allow up to seven casinos and permit sports betting at racetracks if such gambling is legalized federally. Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, the Manchester Republican who is SB 18’s sponsor and who voted against the casino amendment, chuckled at the filing of a proposal that would make him “the sponsor of the gaming issue.” Recalling that casino supporters expressed confidence they could get an amendment passed in the House, Stivers said: “Tell them to go ahead and vote it. See if they’ve got the votes down in the House. They’ve always said they’ve got it.” He said he doesn’t know whether his redistricting proposal will be advanced in the House. www.courier-journal.com/article/20120327/NEWS01/303270064/Casino-gambling-surfaces-again-Kentucky-House-amendment
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Post by In The News on Mar 28, 2012 20:01:03 GMT -5
The Times-Tribune Could Senate legislation undo legal battle won by city over Knox? By Jeff Noble, Staff writer
The final week of the legislative session in Frankfort has lawmakers working in the final hours to agree on a two-year budget for the state. But a piece of a revenue bill in the House that’s coming up in the Senate has some Corbin leaders steamed up. That bill is House Bill 499, which includes a tax amnesty program geared to generate more revenue into the state’s coffers. Last Thursday, both Senate President David Williams and State Senator Robert Stivers introduced competing floor amendments in HB 499 — Senate Floor Amendments 1 and 2, which some officials say would bring some variation of Senate Bill 200 into the planned budget bill. Corbin officials feel the senate bill would undo a knock-down legal battle which went to the Kentucky Supreme Court between the city and the Knox County Fiscal Court over the issue of an occupational tax for those who work within the section of Corbin that lies in Knox County. Both Knox County and Corbin have fought over the collection of occupational tax revenues for four years. Corbin won the legal battle in the state Supreme Court in February when both sides were notified by the court, saying they would refuse to make a decision. Those supporting the city say they argued successfully that Knox County is required to offset Corbin’s license taxes against their county’s license taxes as required by Kentucky Revised Statute 38.197. Read the entire article at: thetimestribune.com/local/x1560869617/Proposed-bill-thorn-in-Corbin-s-side
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Post by Press Release on Mar 29, 2012 17:16:45 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, presents an anti-methamphetamine bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Anti-meth bill passes House, returns to Senate Commonwealth News Center press release
FRANKFORT – Legislation that would further limit over-the-counter purchases of cold and allergy tablets that contain pseudoephedrine, an ingredient that can be used to make methamphetamines, was amended and passed today by the Kentucky House of Representatives. Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, passed the House by a vote of 60-36 with changes. The bill was returned to the Senate for consideration of the changes. The bill would keep targeted medications out of the hands of methamphetamine offenders by blocking sales of the drugs to those offenders for five years after they are discharged or conditionally released from jail. The House retained Senate language that would limit individual purchases of drugs like Sudafed that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and related compounds to 7.2 grams a month and 24 grams a year, with no limits on the purchase of gel caps or liquids and no limits on drugs dispensed by valid prescription. The current limit is 9 grams per month for an individual purchase. The House also retained Senate provisions that would mandate electronic record keeping to track OTC purchases of the targeted cold and allergy meds. The electronic log must include the purchaser’s name, date of birth, address, date of transaction and amount dispensed. The system will be provided to pharmacies at no cost. Currently, dispensation of the drugs is tracked on paper. Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, recounted the horrors of meth abuse in the state for her colleagues before the vote. “Recently we had a six-week old baby die,” she said. “He had ingested his mother’s milk, and she was a meth addict.” Belcher said the bill, as written, would provide allergy and cold sufferers with about two boxes a month of the medications without a prescription. “If that is not enough, they can go to their doctor and get a prescription,” she said.
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Post by In The News on Mar 29, 2012 17:24:26 GMT -5
courier-journal.com Stumbo, Stivers clash over $100 Million school debt bill
House and Senate budget conferees clashed Tuesday over whether to commit to $100 million in bond-funded school construction in the 2014-16 state budget. Such a promise for a future biennium has been made in recent state budgets, to allow more time for the projects to be planned. And House budget negotiators say the commitment should be made again to ensure meeting the greatest needs for renovation and construction in school districts. “I think everyone would agree that of all the programs that we do, that’s the one that has the most far-reaching effect,” said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg. “We simply want to keep that program rolling.” But Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said that “everybody wants good schools and everything else, but in a time like this how much bonding can you afford? And everybody has to sacrifice a little bit.” He described the disagreement one of “four or five substantial issues” which still divide negotiators on the budget, House Bill 265. Read the entire article at: www.courier-journal.com/article/20120327/NEWS01/303270052/Kentucky-House-Senate-budget-conferees-clash-over-school-bonds
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Post by Press Release on Mar 30, 2012 17:23:34 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence (right), speaks with Rep. Marie Rader, R-McKee, prior to the start of the day's legislative session in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Anti-meth bill headed to governor
FRANKFORT – The Senate today gave its approval to changes made by the House to a bill addressing methamphetamine, or ‘meth,’ production and abuse in Kentucky. The bill now goes to the governor. The final version of Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, would decrease the monthly over-the-counter purchase limit of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from nine grams to 7.2 grams, and implement a 24 gram yearly cap. The drug is found in cold and allergy decongestants and is a required ingredient in meth-production. Under the legislation, those convicted of meth-related crimes would not be allowed to purchase the drug for five years after being discharged or released from jail. Supporters say the pseudoephedrine limits included in the bill will still provide law-abiding citizens with an ample supply of decongestants through the typical cold and allergy season without a prescription while cracking down on those purchasing the medicines for illegal purposes. The measure would further replace the current paper-tracking system of the purchase of medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, like Sudafed, Claritin D and others, with an electronic system that would allow better real-time purchase tracking. Advocates say this would significantly reduce the number of dangerous meth labs in the state and help prevent ‘smurfing,’ which occurs when a meth dealer hires several people to visit multiple pharmacies to buy large amounts of medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Gel caps and liquid medicines are exempt from the provisions of Senate Bill 3 because they are not typically used to produce methamphetamine. Medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine prescribed by a doctor are also exempt. 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 Press Release on Mar 31, 2012 7:35:12 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs (left), confers with Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, during a budget conference committee meeting.
State budget bill passes, heads to governor’s desk
FRANKFORT--A $19.2 billion two-year state budget that will reduce spending by around $300 million, restrict new bonded debt, and preserve funding in critical areas like Medicaid and base funding for public schools over the next biennium has cleared the Kentucky General Assembly and now goes to the governor to be signed into law. HB 265, sponsored by House budget committee chairman Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, passed the Senate 36-1 and the House 81-7 today. The legislation contains the state Executive Branch budget, which will govern spending of most state agencies through Fiscal Year 2014. Much of the budget, which was negotiated by the House and Senate in recent days, is unchanged from the governor’s budget proposal unveiled in January. It includes no state employee salary increases or retiree cost of living increases, 8.4 percent cuts to most agency budgets (exempting Medicaid, Corrections, teacher’s retirement, and a handful of other areas), lesser cuts of around 6 percent to state university budgets, and even smaller cuts of 2.2 percent to the Kentucky State Police biennial budget. The budget also includes limited additional spending proposed by the governor, including $21 million to hire 300 more state social workers, $4 million to enhance the state prescription monitoring KASPER system, $1 million for the state colon cancer screening program, and additional money for veterans programs and local prosecutors, who will get around $1 million extra over the next two years. Additionally, the budget holds down new state debt over the next biennium to less than half of the over $900 million in new debt that was proposed by the governor, while requiring the governor to come up with more savings to help close the $742 million gap between revenues and spending in the two year budget that will be partially bridged by spending cuts. Fund transfers, fund lapses and a tax amnesty program approved as part of HB 499—which would bring in approximately $61 million in delinquent taxes during the biennium—would also help close the gap. (HB 499 also passed both chambers tonight and now goes to the governor for his signature.) Provisions to beef up the state’s “rainy day” Budget Reserve Trust Fund—which helps the state meeting eligible “necessary” expenses that aren’t covered by the budget—to nearly $73 million by the end of the biennium is also in HB 265. Also sent to the governor today was the Judicial Branch budget in HB 269. Both HB 269 and HB 268—the Legislative Branch budget that was passed and sent to the governor in recent days—include 8.4 percent cuts to each branch’s operational budget over the biennium. Like HB 265, neither budget includes salary increases for employees or cost of living raises for retirees. The House and Senate will adjourn tonight for the governor’s 10-day “veto recess”—a period during which the governor will consider vetoes to HB 265 and other bills. Both chambers will then return to Frankfort on April 12 and reconvene for that day only to wrap up the 2012 session. 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 Press Release on Mar 31, 2012 8:49:54 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London (left), reviews the language of a bill to better regulate pain management clinics with Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, as Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, looks on.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – So this is the way the session ends, not with fireworks, but with a budget delivered on time, not with grand and sweeping legislation, but with quietly important bills addressing this year’s absolute civic urgencies, while keeping Kentucky’s core government services intact, lean and hungry for sure, but alive to hope for better days. That in itself is a real winter’s work, if you stop to think about it. Consider the train wreck lawmakers found when they convened in session Jan. 3. Federal stimulus money was gone and wasn’t likely coming back, some $3.2 billion of it. Many of those dollars, along with other one-time money, creative accounting strategies, and 10 previous rounds of agency cuts had kept Kentucky shakily solvent through the grim years of the Great Recession. But a day of reckoning had come. The Legislature came to town and looked down the barrel of a $740-million gap between anticipated spending and money available to spend. The pile to divide looked scarily meager. The governor in January sent up a $19.5 billion two-year budget he freely admitted was ‘inadequate for the needs of our people,’ and asked unhappily for new agency cuts of 8.4 percent (though sparing Medicaid, Corrections and base SEEK funding for schools) across an already stripped and barren landscape. Lawmakers could find little, really, to disagree with – or, more on point, the flexibility to do so if they did. The budget submitted was tight as a tick. The House discussed it for weeks in budget review subcommittees, and passed a spending plan that largely mirrored the governor’s. The Senate, the same. But on closer look, there were some meaningful differences, both between the governor and the Legislature and the House and the Senate. The latter – as expected and as always – required a conference committee of House and Senate leaders and budget chairs to iron out. Those conferees, like their budget committees and full chambers before them, found little free air in a spending plan that might be the most closely drawn, even suffocating, in living memory. Unlike three sessions in the last ten years, when the Legislature adjourned without a budget agreement, this session’s scramble to fund just clear necessities left little room for the sort of philosophical stands-on-principle and end-of-session sound and fury those years saw. This year, no one spoke much about ‘discretionary spending.’ Still, there was one key area of disagreement to work through, and even that was mostly a matter of degree, not philosophy. The major divergence that became clear as the bill progressed from governor to House to Senate to conference involved an issue increasingly central to our politics, both federal and state: Public debt, and what’s an acceptable level of it. The Kentucky Constitution, unlike the U.S Constitution, requires a balanced budget. But the state does have leeway to incur bonded debt. Roads and capital projects can be funded by issuing bonds. Though the budget is technically balanced biennium-to-biennium, the Commonwealth can and does owe and borrow money. The governor originally proposed a level of projects bonding that the House, skittish about adding that much new debt, pared down considerably. The Senate whittled away further. Debt level was, arguably, the main issue conferees had to resolve. They met throughout most of this week, into the early hours of Thursday morning, when an agreement finally came deep in the night with what one leader jokingly called ‘white smoke’ from the conference room. It came just minutes shy of a self-imposed process deadline of 3 a.m. That was the drop-dead hour for getting a bill of this size proofed, printed, read by members, and ready for a Friday vote. (Lawmakers needed Friday budget passage to preserve their ability to override any line-item vetoes the governor might impose, when they return for the session calendar’s one reserved override day on April 12). Meanwhile, two bills aimed at what some have called Kentucky’s most devastating social ill – drug abuse, legal and illegal – survived a long tough session, with one passing this week and the other still alive but not acted upon because of a process hang-up. Some say those bills, taken together, might be this year’s landmark legislation. One (an anti-methamphetamine bill) had a rockier session journey than the other, which is aimed at the growing epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, and the ‘pill mills’ that shovel them to addicts. However, while the anti-meth bill got final passage Friday, action on the pill mill measure had to be delayed because certain procedural ‘letters’ hadn’t been dotted and crossed. The legislative process is very precise – some might say picky -- as befits the enactment of law. The methamphetamine bill as finally constituted would restrict how much of the decongestant pseudoephedrine consumers could buy without a prescription. Pseudoephedrine is found in cold and allergy meds like Claritin-D and Mucinex-DM. It is also a key precursor ingredient used in cooking meth. Senate Bill 3 would limit over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine in pill or tablet form to 7.2 grams in any month and a cumulative 24 grams a year. A generic box of pseudoephedrine with 48 pills, each with the standard 30-milligram dose, contains 1.44 grams of the medicine. The bill's advocates had wanted even lower OTC limits (in fact, the measure had started out requiring a doctor’s prescription for all decongestants of that class) but it was scaled back in the face of ferocious opposition, led most notably by an industry group that ruled the airwaves this winter with radio ads warning about the cost and inconvenience to law-abiding families who’d have to go to a doctor for meds for simple sniffles. (The group, in fact, opposed to the end even the bill’s latest, milder iteration). One thing to keep in mind: Gel caps and liquid pseudoephedrine are excluded from the limits because it’s problematic and rare to cook meth from liquid forms. So the sniffles drug itself will still be available OTC to all comers, in any amount, though maybe not in the form folks prefer. The Legislature had previously tried to limit pseudoephedrine sales by requiring a signature and photo ID to buy it and placing the pills in secure areas behind store counters. But that didn't solve the meth lab problem, which has only grown – and which explains why proponents said even further restrictions were needed. Meanwhile, the Senate took up House Bill 4, designed to get a regulatory handle on the growing and deadly phenomenon of pill mills, fly-by-night pain clinics that contribute to the state’s emerging epidemic of prescription-drug abuse by making powerful pain meds easy for addicts and abusers to get legally. Officials say more Kentuckians die every year from legal-drug overdoses than in highway crashes. The number’s around a thousand. A key provision of the bill transfers oversight of the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting program -- KASPER, it’s called -- to the attorney general's office, where proponents of the move hope monitoring and enforcement of questionable prescribing trends will be more aggressive. As the bill stood early Friday, it required that pain clinics be owned by trained pain-management physicians who live in Kentucky and practice on-site – many pill mills are now owned by non-physicians out of state, simple profiteers -- and that patient IDs be verified. Whether those provisions (or any others in the bill’s current version) will stand unchanged or be modified somewhat between now and the expected April vote is not known with certainty at this writing. Final passage of both the meth and pain-clinic bills would mark what some will surely call the session’s most notable achievement, a twin strike at the heart of a two-headed beast that has ruined many lives (and taken many), rent families asunder, and devastated rural communities across the Commonwealth. Coupled with passage of a balanced budget in good and timely order, it would mark a satisfying end to a session that, while less contentious in its closing days than any in recent memory, was still beset from its earliest days with challenges (like a redistricting bill thrown out by the courts) that made such success seem elusive. And so the session ended, almost quietly. Lawmakers called closing time, shut the lights and chamber doors, and left the Third Floor to its echoes. The end felt abrupt, but better than some recent sessions with their lingering uncertainty. They’ll be back for one last day, in 13 days, to likely deal with pill mills and certainly answer whatever the governor’s veto pen says about their work (with nothing to stop them from passing another stray unresolved bill or two; it just won’t be veto-proof). But for now, on this special March weekend in the Bluegrass, like the citizen-legislators they are, lawmakers will put thoughts of Frankfort aside and do what virtually every Kentuckian near and far will do: Turn their attention southward, toward a little basketball game at 6 o’clock tomorrow evening. Rumor has it, it’s going to be a good one. 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 Kentucky News on Apr 7, 2012 11:56:39 GMT -5
Robert Stivers Still Pushing for Passage of Critical Prescription Drug Abuse Bill Commonwealth News Center press release
One day remains in the regular session for the 2012 General Assembly, and the state's top leaders say that's enough time to pass a bill that will help the state battle one of its most significant threats – prescription drug abuse. In a bipartisan showing of support, Governor Steve Beshear, Attorney General Jack Conway, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, Senate Minority Leader Robert Stivers, Senator Jimmy Higdon and Rep. John Tilley all called on the legislature to pass House Bill 4 when lawmakers return to Frankfort for their final day April 12. Since the beginning of 2012, more than 400 Kentuckians have been hospitalized because of prescription drug overdoses – a statistic that the leaders say underscores the crucial need to pass this bill in this legislative session. "Every day that we delay strengthening our response to prescription drug abuse is another opportunity for a Kentuckian to fall victim to this devastating scourge," said Gov. Beshear. "Our law enforcement officers, our medical licensure boards, and our communities are desperate for new tools to attack this epidemic. HB 4 can help, and I am calling on our lawmakers to deliver." More Kentuckians die of drug overdoses than in traffic accidents. Kentucky has the nation's sixth-highest rate of prescription drug overdose deaths, at nearly 18 deaths per 100,000. According to a 2011 Kentucky Health Issues poll, one in three Kentuckians reported having a family member or close friend that abuses prescription drugs. "This legislation is an important step in our effort to fight a problem that kills more than 1,000 Kentuckians each year," General Conway said. "I'm hopeful everyone, including the medical community, can get on board with House Bill 4 to ensure that we don't lose another generation in Kentucky to prescription drug abuse." "Few bills I have worked on have had the level of input that House Bill 4 has had, and that's been crucial, because it will take a lot of cooperation between law enforcement and healthcare professionals to carry it out," said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the bill's sponsor. "Given the true epidemic we are seeing, we cannot afford to wait another year to try to pass this again. The time to act is now." "The heartbreaking statistics speak for themselves. The diversion of prescription drugs and illegal uses of prescription drugs are serious issues facing the Commonwealth," said Sen. Stivers. "This directly affects families, jobs, and the well-being of communities. We must take swift action that is designed to immediately address and impact this problem. House Bill 4 does that." "I'm looking forward to getting back to the Capitol on Thursday to work on the final version of House Bill 4 with other Senators and Representatives," said Sen. Higdon. "I think this is a crucial, crucial bill that has to be passed." "This legislative session is poised to be remembered for the major bills we have passed to fight drug abuse, but it's vital that House Bill 4 be part of that group, because it has tremendous potential to dramatically slow prescription drug abuse in the years ahead," said Rep. John Tilley, of Hopkinsville. In October, Gov. Beshear, Attorney General Conway and Speaker Stumbo announced the creation of a Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) advisory board of physicians, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists to work with KASPER officials and law enforcement professionals to create guidelines for generally accepted prescribing practices among different medical disciplines. These criteria will be used as a guide for when a prescriber or dispenser's KASPER reports may be flagged for unusual prescribing activity. They have also supported other prescription drug legislation, and have forged relationships with other states to share successful strategies. Both Gov. Beshear and Attorney General Conway have testified before Congress regarding the impact of this epidemic on Kentucky citizens and communities. Elements of HB 4 HB 4, sponsored by Speaker Stumbo, offers a broad spectrum of policies that impact not just prescribers, but also medical licensure boards and pain clinic operators. The bill would: * Expand the reach of KASPER by requiring all prescription providers to register and use the system under circumstances outlined by their licensure boards. This will allow better information sharing among licensure boards and investigators, as well as regular data review of KASPER reports to root out unusually high prescribing rates for further investigation; * Require pain management clinics to be owned by a licensed medical practitioner. This would eliminate the growing problem of unaccountable operators of ‘pill mills' who have little or no medical proficiency but are dispensing controlled substances; and * Require medical licensure boards to investigate prescribing complaints immediately and issue a report within 120 days determining whether appropriate medical practices have been followed. Law enforcement members warn that Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia and Florida have passed legislation similar to HB 4 to address pill mills, and failing to pass similar legislation could create a diversion effect in which Kentucky could become a source state for prescription painkillers. "Our legislators still have time to pass meaningful legislation that will have immediate and lasting impact on Kentucky families and communities," said Gov. Beshear. "Prescription drug abuse has been a key issue in this legislative session, and our lawmakers have an opportunity to deliver a bill that has real value for fighting this scourge. I look forward to signing this bill."
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Post by Press Release on Apr 13, 2012 5:29:28 GMT -5
General Assembly's 2012 session ends
FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky General Assembly's 2012 session came to a close this evening, marking the end of a session in which lawmakers approved the state’s next two-year budget and boosted efforts to stop the spread of methamphetamine labs. This was the 60th working day of the session and the final one allowed by the state constitution. The session started on January 3. General Assembly's 2012 session ends Approved bills will go into effect in mid-July, except those that specify a different effective date or include an emergency clause that allows them to take effect immediately upon being signed by the governor. Legislation approved during the 2012 session includes measures on the following topics: Blue Alert. SB 32 will establish a statewide emergency alert system to catch those suspected of injuring a police officer. The “Blue Alert” system, which is modeled after the Amber Alert system, will use law enforcement communication systems, electronic highway signs and media to spread information to catch perpetrators after an officer has been reported wounded or missing. Budget. HB 265 will guide more than $19 billion in state spending for the next two fiscal years and, in recognition of lean times, will impose 8.4 percent spending cuts on many state agencies and reduce state support for universities by 6.4 percent. Key areas such as Medicaid, Corrections, and base school funding are protected from the cuts. The budget includes $21 million to hire additional social workers, $4 million to enhance the state prescription monitoring KASPER system, and $1 million for a colon cancer screening program. Coal mine safety. HB 385 will enforce new rules for miners who fail drug or alcohol tests. Offenders will be ineligible to hold mining licenses or certificates for three years. Penalties are more severe for repeat offenders. The legislation also outlines an appeals process for suspended miners. Coal truck drivers. HB 411 will designate the Monday of the fourth week in August as Coal Truck Driver Appreciation Day. Concealed deadly weapons. HB 484 will allow Kentuckians to carry concealed weapons on their property or place of business, if they are the sole proprietors, without a license. Copper theft. HB 390 will help curb theft of copper and other valuable metals by ensuring thieves don’t get immediate cash for the stolen goods at recycling centers. Instead, after showing proof of ownership, a check will be mailed to those selling certain metals to recycling centers. The legislation will also ensure that recycling centers receive reports on recently stolen metal items in the area so they can be on the lookout. The bill does not affect individuals recycling aluminum cans. Confederate pensions. HB 85 will remove from the law books outdated language regarding pensions for Confederate soldiers. Consumer protection. HB 421 will protect homeowners from being defrauded by providing a five-day grace period to cancel a signed roofing contract if the homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover the repair work. Diplomas. SB 43 will provide diplomas to students with disabilities who finish modified high school curriculums. The diploma will replace the certificate of completion the students currently receive. Election costs. HB 293 will save money on election costs if only one candidate is running in a special election. The legislation is named the “Dewayne Bunch Act” in honor of a former state legislator who was seriously injured last year while breaking up a fight among students at the school where he taught. Emergency room safety. SB 58 will allow officers to make arrests for misdemeanor assault with probable cause if the crime occurs in a hospital emergency room. Under current law, emergency rooms aren’t exempt from the requirement that an officer must witness a misdemeanor assault in order to make an arrest. Ethics. HB 402 will allow the Executive Branch Ethics Commission to share evidence with the state Personnel Board or the Auditor of Public Accounts if the information is needed for the agencies’ investigations. For-profit postsecondary schools. HB 308 will establish a new panel to regulate private for-profit colleges and universities in Kentucky. The legislation will replace the Kentucky Board for Proprietary Education with the Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education and will limit the schools’ membership to four seats. The legislation also calls for the creation of a compensation fund (paid for by the industry) for grievances of eligible Kentucky students and a revised student complaint review process. Horse-drawn buggies. SB 75 will allow drivers of horse-drawn buggies and other motorless vehicles to substitute reflective tape for the traditional orange safety emblem typically affixed to the back of those vehicles. The bill was filed in response to legal action taken against a group of Amish men in far west Kentucky who were arrested for refusing to use the orange emblem, citing religious concerns with the emblem’s shape and bright color. Judicial budget. HB 269 will guide judicial branch spending for the next two fiscal years. Like much of the executive branch budget, it will impose 8.4 percent spending cuts. Juvenile offenders. House Concurrent Resolution 129 will establish a task force to study the state’s juvenile code. The task force will look at issues relating to status offenders – those who commit acts that don’t rise to the level of crime such as skipping school – and the feasibility of establishing an age of criminal responsibility, as well as other issues. The task force will submit a report on its work to lawmakers by Jan. 7, 2013. Legislative budget. HB 268 will guide legislative branch spending for the next two fiscal years. Like much of the executive branch budget, it will impose 8.4 percent spending cuts. Meth labs. SB 3 will boost efforts to stop production of methamphetamines by tightening rules on the purchase of certain cold and allergy medicines that contain an ingredient needed to make meth. The legislation will decrease the current monthly over-the-counter purchase limit of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in pill or tablet forms from 9 grams to 7.2 grams and impose a 24 gram yearly limit. The measure will also replace the paper-tracking system currently in place for the purchase of medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine with a mandatory electronic system that will allow more real-time tracking. National Guard Assistance Program. HB 224 will make Kentucky National Guard members eligible for financial assistance to help pay child adoption costs. Personal-care homes. SB 115 will require a medical examination that includes a medical history, physical examination and diagnosis prior to admission to a personal-care home. POW/MIA flags. HB 121 will require Prisoner of War and Missing in Action flags purchased or displayed by public institutions to be made in the United States. School athletics. HB 281 will require interscholastic coaches to complete training on recognizing and treating head injuries, including concussions. The bill also outlines actions required before an athlete with a head injury may return to play. School facilities. SB 110 will make it easier for school districts to allow community access to school facilities for recreational use during non-school hours by protecting the schools from liability in cases where an injury occurs. Seat belts. SB 89 will expand Kentucky’s seat belt law to include 15-person passenger vans. The bill was filed in response to a 2010 crash on I-65 near Munfordville that killed 11 people, most of whom weren’t wearing seat belts. Current state law only requires seat belt use in vehicles designed to carry ten or fewer passengers. Speed limits. HB 439 will allow the Transportation Cabinet to increase the speed limit on I-69 in Western Kentucky to 70 miles per hour. Students. SB 24 requires children to be five years old by August 1 rather than October 1 to enter public school kindergarten classes and six years old by the same date to start first grade. The new requirements take effect in the 2017-2018 school year. Synthetic drugs. HB 481 will widen the current state ban on synthetic drugs, including those sold as bath salts by some convenience stores. The legislation expands the state’s ban by including whole classes of the drugs rather than specific ingredients so that manufacturers can’t get around the ban by changing a single ingredient. Tax amnesty. HB 499 will establish a tax amnesty program to be held during the 2012-2013 fiscal year to help collect unpaid taxes. Unemployment insurance. HB 495 will give the state a financing mechanism to generate funds needed for interest payments on the state’s federal unemployment insurance loan, thereby protecting a $600 million tax credit for businesses. Veterans’ licenses. HB 221 will allow veterans to have their service designated on driver’s licenses and state identification cards. The designations will make it easier for veterans to show proof of service needed for various discounts and special services available to them. War memorial. HB 256 will establish a committee responsible for oversight of construction and upkeep of an Iraq/Afghanistan War Memorial. Wild hogs. HB 344 will impose stiffer penalties on those who release feral hogs into the wild. The state’s growing feral pig population is a threat to farmland, natural habitats and human health, experts say. 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 Press Release on Apr 13, 2012 17:24:58 GMT -5
FRANKFORT – House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg (left), speaks with House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, in the waning hours of the final day of the 2012 legislative session in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
This Week in Frankfort
FRANKFORT – Some encores blow the roof off, some are quiet fades. Some strike a middling note between the two before they knock you out of your seat with a last-minute surprise. The 2012 General Assembly, after 13 days in veto recess and back onstage for one last turn, saved its biggest surprise for its latest minutes Thursday, a slowly unfolding but seemingly routine last day of the session’s allotted 60. It was called a Veto Day, theoretically reserved to override – or at least consider overriding -- gubernatorial vetoes. As it happened, no vetoes were overridden. But toward midnight, the session’s absolute constitutional deadline, it became clear that two key pieces of legislation still out there – funding for the state Road Plan and a bill to combat prescription drug abuse in Kentucky – weren’t about to pass just yet. And less than an hour after final 11:59 p.m. adjournment, the governor told reporters he would call legislators back to Frankfort in special session Monday to resolve those matters. Friday, he made good on his word and issued the call: Monday at high noon. So a surprise encore has lead to a second one, a dramatic turn after a session remarkable for its low-key bipartisan cooperation. Thursday was a long day. As is traditionally true, lawmakers returned from their veto recess with a bit of actual legislating on the table, most notably two key items still unresolved: The so-called ‘pill mills’ bill that was half this session’s two-flank assault on Kentucky’s legal and illegal drug scourges; and the Road Plan that specifies highway and bridge projects in the Commonwealth’s near- and mid-term future. Resolving those hung-up issues – and considering some 45 line-item vetoes the governor imposed on specific aspects of the executive branch budget -- raised prospects of a wearying but, it was hoped, fairly routine full-day’s return to the Capitol. It came after a welcome respite at home for most lawmakers – most but not all. The Legislature’s version of Spring Break was neither universal nor absolute. Some lawmakers were spotted in the Capitol over the veto recess, as discussions aimed at resolving House-Senate differences on Road Plan priorities, and to address lingering concerns over some provisions of the stalled pill-mills measure, continued. But even lawmakers back home were working. Reporting to their community, hearing its concerns, answering phones at all hours from constituents whose crumbling roads need patching, getting grilled about some bill or another at the local Pic-Pac on a Saturday morning – that’s in a legislator’s job description too. The recess is when the impact of a session begins to consolidate, with one day left for final touches. And Thursday, those final touches were these: First, after some early hours spent on routine resolutions and saying farewell to retiring members, the chambers geared down to work. Road Plan bills began moving. Long days of hard negotiating had paid off with a compromise agreement in the wee hours Thursday morning, just hours before the session gaveled in. Subsequently, an all-told $10-billion projected six-year Road Plan passed both chambers, including $4.5 billion in immediate projects over the next two years, projects that needed funding. But the necessary and separate funding bill did not pass with it. And there was the rub. As a strategic move to ensure the integrity of the projects list agreed upon by the Legislature, the Senate insisted the governor sign the Road Plan itself before it passed the bill to fund it. Doing so would insulate the legislative projects list from veto. When the governor didn’t sign, the Senate adjourned. The House had no choice but to follow suit. And the governor quickly told reporters he planned to call a special session for Monday. The Road Plan bill (actually it’s a bill for the next two years and a resolution for four ‘out’ years) is massive. Its ambitious scope reflects the relatively robust state Road Fund, which is based on the gasoline tax, which in turn is tied to the wholesale price of gas – which, as you know, is sky high. The plan envisions major investment in road and bridge work across the Commonwealth, including the Louisville bridges project. Till it’s funded though, it’s just a plan – and funding will be on the agenda of the special session the governor called Friday. Meanwhile, House Bill 4, a bill thought to have widespread support, also got hung up Thursday and its subject is also included in the session call. The measure was designed to get a regulatory handle on the growing and deadly phenomenon of pill mills – the fly-by-night pain clinics that fuel the state’s epidemic of prescription-drug abuse by making powerful pain meds easy for addicts and abusers to get legally. Officials say more Kentuckians die every year from legal-drug overdoses than in highway crashes. The number’s around a thousand, and growing. A key provision of the bill transferred oversight of the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting program -- KASPER, it’s called -- to the attorney general's office. Proponents of that move hoped monitoring and enforcement of questionable prescribing trends would be more aggressive there than is currently the case, in an agency not primarily devoted to law enforcement. Some concern was expressed that the bill might unduly hamstring legitimate practitioners, who are simply prescribing pain meds, in good faith, for real medical need. Discussions continue. Meanwhile, the putative reason lawmakers assembled for one final day was vetoes, and there were lots of them. But this year’s vetoes, while numerous, weren’t sweeping. No full bill was struck down. All 45 were specific line-items in the massive executive-branch budget bill (which runs to 295 pages online). The governor said his objection to the specific provisions he drew a line through involved sections he claimed would ‘add new obligations, limit necessary flexibility, and reduce the (governor’s) ability to manage the budget’ day-to-day as events unfold. Some minor local spending items also felt the sting of his veto pen, on grounds money wasn’t actually appropriated to pay for them. But his vetoes were mostly just nibbles around the edges of a $19.5 billion two-year budget that imposes cuts of 8.4 percent across much of state government, though it spares Medicaid, Corrections and base SEEK funding for schools, and nicks higher education a bit less. And all things considered, this year’s budget is a strikingly cooperative document, bipartisan, bi-chamber and bi-branch. It differs not much from the plan the executive branch sent up to the Legislature in January. As the session wore on, and lawmakers studied the proposal in detail, general agreement emerged: A $740-million gap between revenues and spending, coming atop round after round of previous cuts, made for a budget that almost forcibly wrote itself, assuming that the most basic services had to be kept and ongoing bills had to be paid. There was cash for little else. Thursday evening, it was decided to let the governor’s vetoes stand. The most challenging state budget in memory went quietly into the books. A routine day seemed in grasp. Then Thursday night’s unexpected dramatics brought a surprising end to a session that had been less contentious in its closing days than any in recent memory -- though beset from birth with harsh challenges (like a blood-curdling revenue shortfall and a redistricting bill thrown out by the courts). When the curtain came down, seconds till midnight, the 2012 General Assembly ended with its customary yearly Latin lesson: It adjourned sine die, which means, in Latin, ‘without a day’ to return. And though a day for legislators themselves to return will now be Monday, when they meet it won’t be a continuation of the regular session. The 2012 regular session is done. They’ll meet in a special session, a separate and different animal. Bills don’t carry over. Pill mill and Road Plan spending bills will start over, and begin at the beginning of the process. 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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