Projects that would qualify for Alternative Fuel and Renewable Energy funds under the bill would include energy storage and energy efficiency or conservation technology projects. Facilities qualifying under the IEIA would include facilities with a minimum capital investment of $25 million that are involved in the manufacture of components, energy storage or energy efficiency or conservation technology.

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January 20, 2012

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT – If the poet was right when he said, ‘In my beginning is my end,’ the 2012 legislative session began this winter with intimations of a difficult end in spring, forced by hard reality to adjourn in mid-April with  a budget leaving deep scars across the face of state government.

That prospect was outlined in two sobering early-session speeches by a governor who used language striking enough to give pause.

In his State of the Commonwealth Address to a joint session of the House and Senate on the session’s second night, Gov. Steve Beshear called Kentucky’s budget situation (unspecifically but vividly) ‘wretched.’

This week’s follow-up Budget Address was more specific. It was the message of a governor whose budget writers – after 10 previous rounds of cuts since 2007, with some agencies seeing cuts totaling 38 percent -- have run out of rabbits to pull from their hat.

Basically, Beshear was passing that empty hat to lawmakers. It felt like a night of reckoning.

He outlined shortfalls so vast in the cumulative scheme of recent years, with cumulative cutting now so deep, that the budget he proposed was, he said, ‘inadequate for the needs of our people.’ It was another sobering phrase. Newspapers headlined it.

Kentucky’s two-year, $19.5 billion General Fund budget is once again back to basics. Federal stimulus money, which flowed so generously the past two years, is gone to come no more. Fund transfers, the obvious cutting of fat, the easy efficiencies and economies, accounting tricks like delayed debt payments -- those are mostly used up, or even worse, as in the latter instance, coming back around and coming due.

In the deep trough of the Great Recession, they were just patches. They combined in recent years to account for about $3 billion in non-recurring dollars. That string, though, has about run out.

Three one-time moves involving big money were still left to the administration, and all three are played in the budget proposal. Some $103 million is taken from the state’s $122-million Rainy Day Fund. A tax amnesty program is proposed that could, with any luck, bring in $61 million. And a budget summary handed out later shows $245 million in proposed fund transfers. The summary posits a $742 million gap, all told, between ongoing revenues and base spending.

Bottom line: Even with those one-time millions, it’s a budget that comes up $286 million short, and envisions new cuts of 8.4 percent across much of state government, with some few exceptions.

Taking the full hit would be the governor’s office along with all other constitutional officers, plus the cabinets of Economic Development, Finance, Energy and Environment, Labor, Public Protection and Tourism.

Some legislative leaders said, given revenues and needs, they saw little room for much change in the overall stringency of the administration’s plan. Still, legislative spending priorities will almost certainly prove somewhat different than the administration’s. The question is, how much and what way?

Only the Legislature can pass a state budget. It will be the Legislature, over the next three months that writes the line-by-line particulars of the budget. The governor can only propose. And while what he proposed for much of state government was pain, it wasn’t all bad news and cuts.

The administration did find money for a few spending increases, including $21 million to reduce the backbreaking caseload of social workers, an issue much in the headlines lately. The money would enable 300 new social-services workers to be hired, at least 100 of them frontline door-knockers.

Another recent page-one concern – the struggle against prescription drug abuse – would get new money too, with $4 million to expand the state’s tracking program to fight it. Substance-abuse treatment for adults and teenagers in the Medicaid program would get $8 million. That’s new.

Such treatment is not now available in the state-federal health-coverage plan for low-income Kentuckians.

Some key areas would be spared the full 8.4-percent cuts. State universities would be cut by ‘only’ 6.4 percent next year, and Kentucky State Police and most public safety agencies by 2.2 percent.

Some few areas – albeit admittedly among the state’s most costly -- would escape the knife altogether. Exempted from cuts would be Medicaid, basic SEEK funding for grades K-12, preschool programs, Corrections, veterans' affairs, child and adult protection, mental health, public defenders, student financial aid, mine permitting, and strip-mine reclamation.

While all would be spared actual cuts, in most cases inflation and rising costs would inevitably take their toll. Most notably: While SEEK funding for elementary and secondary education wouldn’t be reduced, it is essentially frozen at its current level – so anticipated increases in student population mean per-pupil expenditures would in fact drop back to 2008 levels.

Other education-related programs do face actual cuts. Key support programs like after-school initiatives and family resource and youth-service centers would be cut by 4.5 percent.

But in positive news, the stand-alone state Road Fund is doing well, riding the back of higher gas prices. Several major road projects (paid for specifically from that fund) will, the governor says, proceed. His proposed budget includes $100 million for Louisville’s Ohio River bridges project in the next two years, plus $236 million in previously approved bonds for that project. The bonds would be paid off later out of the Road Fund.

The budget also sets aside $143 million to continue widening a dangerous stretch of Interstate 65 north of Bowling Green, where major wrecks seem almost daily and too often deadly.

Other light in the tunnel: General Fund revenue is growing again, too, as Kentucky’s economy continues its slow but steady recovery. 

That welcome growth is projected to increase modestly throughout the two-year budget. But even the most optimistic hoped-for growth falls far short of replacing the one-time federal stimulus funds that shored up the state budget during the worst of the recession.

The absence of stimulus money explains a widespread public disconnect out there, with folks wondering: Why do we hear about revenues improving, yet also that deep cuts are needed? The answer is ‘structural imbalance’ – using one-time money to plug revenue gaps to meet ongoing expenses.

Along those lines – and to address that situation --the governor used his Budget Address to once again pitch his signature issue, expanded gambling in Kentucky. He called on the House and Senate to pass and send to the voters a constitutional amendment to allow casinos in Kentucky. He 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.

So far, no expanded gambling proposal in recent years has gained sufficient legislative traction to even approach two-chamber passage. How – or even if – the issue unfolds this session remains unknowable, and unknown. But legislative response so far has been muted, at best.

Meanwhile, the other immediately compelling issue of the session’s first month – state, federal and judicial redistricting – proceeded on pace, with the Senate signing off on a reapportionment plan the House passed for itself earlier, while adding its own for itself.

The two chambers had jointly unfurled white flags on drawing new district lines, agreeing not to interfere in the other body’s determination of its own makeup.

As in the House plan passed last week, where majority Democrats drew districts that in several cases pit incumbent Republicans against each other and create electoral difficulties – if not impossibilities -- for other minority Republicans, so did majority Republicans in the Senate draw lines that in several cases pit incumbent Democrats against each other and create electoral difficulties – if not impossibilities -- for other minority Democrats. Such is the nature of redistricting, always the most bruising, political, and personal process any legislative body undertakes.

With no prior gentlemen’s agreement, however, Congressional redistricting is up in the air. The chambers passed substantially different plans that will need a conference committee to resolve. Work on that was scheduled to resume Friday, at this writing.

Redistricting of House, Senate and Congressional districts is a once-a-decade Constitutional requirement. States must adjust district lines to account for population changes or shifts identified by the most recent U.S. Census. It’s a legally and technically tough job, easy to find fault with, and certain to caused bruised feelings. But it’s ultimately central to good representative government, necessary under our system -- and something every Legislature is glad to see in its rearview mirror.

For more information, contact scott.payton@lrc.ky.gov 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The General Assembly and its administrative arm the Legislative Research Commission encourage citizen involvement in the workings of their branch of government, and maintain several means for them to do so.

The Legislature’s website -- www.lrc.ky.gov – includes comprehensive information about legislators, the legislative process, and the progress of work during the session. Contact numbers, daily meeting schedules, bill summaries and full texts, bill status information, and other information to get you involved are all posted there.

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January 13, 2012

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT – Nearly two weeks in, the 2012 General Assembly seemed slow coming together. Its first and most immediate challenge – state-level redistricting – was reported bogged down in predictable political concerns. Deeply ominous but deeply vague early warnings from the Beshear administration about the budget situation left lawmakers pensive, waiting for specifics in the governor’s Budget Address. Anything but speculation on the much-trumpeted casino-gambling proposal was hard to come by.

The big engine of a full 60-day Legislature idled.

But the session suddenly lit up in near late-session mode this week when a House committee -- and quickly, the next day, the full House -- passed a reapportionment plan for itself that would (among other surprises) force at least a half-dozen Republican incumbents to run against each other, should they all survey the redrawn electoral landscape and seek re-election.

The House plan would also create seven open seats, and pit a second-term Republican incumbent against the Democratic Majority Floor Leader (a 25-year veteran) in a redrawn home-district reelection battle.

Republican House leaders protested. Democrat House leaders pled demographic necessity. A court challenge – not uncommon in redistricting disputes – was immediately mentioned, and is now being explored. But the proposal passed 63-34, on a mostly party-line vote. Five Republicans voted for it. No Democrat voted against it.

The bill went on to the Senate, where passage at this point seems likely under a House-Senate white flag, an agreement to not tinker with each other’s reapportionment maps.

Redistricting of House, Senate and Congressional districts is a once-a-decade Constitutional requirement. States must adjust district lines to account for population changes or shifts identified by the most recent U.S. Census.

Redistricting, always, is a blistering process for any legislature, anywhere. Political futures are on the line and sometimes ended, old district friendships and allegiances are riven, long-term lawmaker-constituent relationships are torn asunder. There’s rarely if ever a painless reapportionment. And it’s not simply party-vs.-party strife. Even within majority caucuses who control the process, members can be deeply divided when the knife falls on home turf.

All this is especially true in the Kentucky House. Its districts, being much the state’s smallest, (with only about 42,000 people as opposed to well over twice that in a Senate district and over 723,000 in a Congressional district) tend to be the most interpersonally connected.

But large district or small, there’s one axiomatic truth. If, as Tip O’Neill said, ‘All politics is local,’ you could add a close corollary: ‘All redistricting is personal.’

Nor is it easy to meet the strict legal requirements for successful remapping. Not infrequently, court challenges are filed, legal problems are found, and plans must be redone. It’s gritty, unpleasant and plain hard work. But it’s also central to good representative government.

The end goal is to draw cohesive and population-balanced districts so every Kentuckian has equal representation in Frankfort and in Washington. True North in the process is, always, the insistent, longstanding Supreme Court mantra: One person, one vote.

Coming into the session, there was a felt need to accomplish redistricting quickly, before the filing deadline for the November elections at the end of this month -- although that’s a practical and political concern, not a legal one. The Senate is expected to take up its own redistricting plan shortly, and, as mentioned, there seems to be agreement between chambers to accept each other’s new self-drawn maps without objection.

The same can’t be said about a Congressional reapportionment plan passed by the House earlier this week that generated no detectable enthusiasm among Senate leaders. Therein might lie the most bruising redistricting struggle of this year’s session. News yet to come on that front.

Meanwhile, the ‘wretched’ budget situation outlined glumly but in no real detail by the governor in his State of the Commonwealth speech last week means almost any action needing money is on hold till the governor submits his budget proposal next week.

At that time, with all cards turned up and all chips on the table, the Legislature’s budget-writing subcommittees can begin work in earnest, and the session will gear down to its core winter’s work. Writing a two-year state spending plan is the central chore of a 60-day session.

Speaking of which, there was a bit of good money news last week. This year’s state revenues are up over last year, and on track to meet projections. It seems likely the Legislature will avoid the double whammy of dealing with a current budget shortfall while looking down the barrel of major shortfalls in the budget it’s writing for the next two years.

Kentucky’s general fund grew by 6.9 percent last month over December a year ago, the state Budget Director reported. This was seen as a nice turnaround after two consecutive anemic-growth months for state revenues.

Through the first six months of the current fiscal year, general fund revenues have grown by 3.1 percent over the same period last year. Revenues must grow by 2.8 percent over the full 12 months to meet revenues assumed in the current state budget. That means incoming receipts need to grow by 2.6 percent in the remaining six months to pay for what’s budgeted, a number that now seems doable.

Also in December, revenues into the state Road Fund grew by 13.3 percent compared to the same period last year. This in part reflects higher gasoline prices, but it’s good news nonetheless. Anything on the plus side is, as digging out of the Great Recession continues.

The General Assembly and its administrative arm the Legislative Research Commission encourage citizen involvement in the workings of their branch of government, and maintain several means for them to do so.

The Legislature’s website -- www.lrc.ky.gov – includes comprehensive information about legislators, the legislative process, and the progress of work during the session. Contact numbers, daily meeting schedules, bill summaries and full texts, bill status information, and other information to get you involved are all posted there.

If you’d prefer phone contact, here are several toll-free numbers you might find useful:

To leave a message for any legislator: 1-800-372-7181

To check the status of a bill: 1-866-840-2835

To check meeting schedules: 1-800-633-9650

The LRC Public Information Office also sends out news releases on a regular basis, and you can receive those on your home computer. By going to PI’s eNews page at www.lrc.ky.gov/pubinfo/listserv.htm, you can subscribe to frequent e-mail updates on what’s happening at the Capitol.  In addition, the office provides regular news updates, Capitol Notes, at www.lrc.ky.gov/pubinfo/capitol_notes.htm

For further information, contact scott.payton@lrc.ky.gov

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January 10, 2012

Teacher evaluation bill clears House Education panel

FRANKFORT—A bill that would require the state to create a uniform teacher evaluation system for Kentucky’s 174 school districts for implementation during the 2014-2015 school year has cleared the House Education Committee.

Currently, each school district in the state has its own evaluation system for certified personnel, according to House Education Committee Chairman and House Bill 40 sponsor Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway. By creating one system of teacher evaluation, Rollins said HB 40 would “promote continuous professional growth of our teachers so that they can become better.”

“It’s one-size-fits-all, but it should be,” Rollins said.

“In most districts, you have a principal observation that may last an hour once every three years if you have tenure and once every year--at least once a year--if you don’t have tenure. That’s very subjective,” said Rollins. “I think it would be much better if a peer (a certified employee who teaches the same subject matter) evaluated that teacher once every three years to help determine that teacher’s content knowledge.”

Multiple measures, including principal observation, parent and student feedback, would likely be part of the new evaluation system, he said.

School districts that already have a multiple measure system of evaluation could apply to the state Department of Education to have the requirements in HB 40 waived, Rollins said.

The Department of Education would work with professional school and teacher organizations to develop the system prior to the 2014-2015 school year, according to the bill.

HB 40 is similar to HB 120, also sponsored by Rollins, which passed the House during the 2011 Regular Session but stalled in the Senate. The bill now goes to the full House for a vote.

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January 6, 2012

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT – When the 2012 General Assembly convened here Tuesday, three major issues – redistricting, the budget, and a gubernatorial push for expanded gambling – dominated early-session conversations.

Other near-certain issues (prescription-drug abuse, raising the high-school dropout age, child protection in the face of recent deaths, nascent moves toward comprehensive tax reform, among others) had their mentions in the Capitol hallways too, as everyone settled in for a long winter.

They were the focus. But sure as sunrise, some unheralded bill or bills will catch sudden fire and blaze across the headlines and airwaves as this year’s 60 working days unfold. That’s the nervous charm of a young session – wondering about the unexpected, awaiting the unknown.

But for this week at least, the main focus was on the known, and a lot of what seems known sounds troubling.

Virtually all things governmental flow from the state budget. And when the governor delivered his State of the Commonwealth Address to a joint session in the House Chamber Wednesday night, he served fair warning that the budget he’ll submit with his Budget Address Jan. 17 will come as a slapped-down, sobering challenge to the Legislature’s best budget minds, with deep cuts on the table.

By some reports, state agencies have been asked to prepare budget requests between 7 percent and 9 percent below current funding levels.

Those jarring reductions would come on top of no fewer than 10 rounds of budget cutting in the past four years, some $1.3 billion all told. But here’s a more startling and telling figure: Close to $3 billion in federal stimulus money was infused into Kentucky’s budget over the past three years. That money is gone. In all probability, nothing approaching it will come this way again.

That partially explains something some might find puzzling: Why the budget situation yet again looks desperate, despite reports all year that state revenues were on a nice uptick after bottoming out scarily in the Great Recession. The down-and-dirty explanation is, with no federal help, Kentucky is on its own again. And once again this year, the word ‘shortfall’ is in the air, to the tune of more than $300 million – with some recent estimates as high as $461 million-plus.

That’s not to mention the serious concerns that remain -- and grow -- about Kentucky’s unemployment-insurance fund and the state-employee pension fund. Those two elephants in the room compound the overall sour fiscal outlook outlined by the governor in his speech. And pension-fund woes, specifically, aren’t measured in hundreds of millions of dollars – they’re measured in billions, by some estimates somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 billion or even more.

Those billions aren’t all due tomorrow or next year, but they represent a massive unfunded long-term liability that underscores the dire straits Kentucky finds itself in fiscally, and the hard job the Legislature faces in navigating the Commonwealth out.

To help shore up future state finances, the governor urged upon lawmaker a two-flank attack. He proposed they submit to voters a constitutional amendment to authorize casino gambling — at as many as nine casinos statewide, by some reports — to generate revenues not only for the state Treasury but also to help Kentucky’s troubled horse-racing industry.

Beyond that, he proposed they establish a mechanism for arriving at some consensus on comprehensive tax-code reform, with the substantive work on that effort most likely beginning after this session ends.

Tax reform is an idea that has gained legislative traction in recent years, with some lawmakers saying Kentucky’s tax code is antiquated and unreflective of 21^st Century economic reality. The last top-to-bottom reform came in the 1950s. It’s been patchwork since.

But casino-gambling legislation has had a uniformly tough go in the Legislature, never coming anywhere close to passing both chambers, though the governor featured expanded gaming as a main plank in his election campaign of 2007. 

Key lawmakers say they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude this time around, until they get a look at the details and proposed wording of whatever amendment the governor sends up to them. Under the constitutional-amendment approach, once passed and if passed by the Legislature, voters themselves would have the final yay-or-nay on casinos at the ballot box, in a statewide referendum on Election Day this coming November.

More immediately, however, the Legislature is diving right into work on one of the first items on its agenda: Redistricting of House, Senate and Congressional districts. States must adjust district lines every decade to account for population changes or shifts identified by the most recent Census.

Redistricting can be – and frequently is -- a highly charged political and personal issue for lawmakers, especially those who have served certain folks for years only to see lines redrawn so they lose that longstanding personal connection. Inevitably, when lines are redrawn every 10 years, some lawmakers and constituents feel that pain.

The end goal (a strict legal requirement) is to draw cohesive and population-balanced districts so every Kentuckian has equal representation in Frankfort and in Washington. In a perfect world, this needs to be accomplished quickly, before the filing deadline for the November elections, at the end of this month.

The General Assembly and its administrative arm the Legislative Research Commission encourage citizen involvement in the workings of their branch of government, and offer several means for them to do so.

The Legislature’s website -- www.lrc.ky.gov – includes comprehensive information about legislators, the legislative process, and the progress of work during the session. Contact numbers, daily meeting schedules, bill summaries and full texts, bill status information, and other useful links to get you involved are all posted there.

If you’d prefer phone contact, here are several toll-free numbers for citizen use:

To leave a message for any legislator: 1-800-372-7181

To check the status of a bill: 1-866-840-2835

To check meeting schedules: 1-800-633-9650

The LRC Public Information Office also sends out news releases and blog postings on a regular basis, and you can receive those on your home computer. By going to PI’s eNews page at www.lrc.ky.gov/pubinfo/listserv.htm, you can subscribe to frequent e-mail updates on what’s happening at the Capitol.  In addition, the office offers Capitol Notes, regularly updated news briefs at www.lrc.ky.gov/pubinfo/capitol_notes.htm

For further information, contact scott.payton@lrc.ky.gov

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January 5, 2011

Senate, House leaders to hold weekly press conferences

FRANKFORT -- Senate President David L. Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo will hold Friday morning press conferences throughout the 2012 legislative session.
 
The press conferences will start at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays in room 327 of the State Capitol. The first one will be next week, on Friday, January 13.

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December 16, 2011

Charles Siler named 2011 Hellard Award Recipient

FRANKFORT -- Former State Rep. Charles Siler, who served two notable stints in the Kentucky General Assembly before retiring in 2010 as one of Frankfort's most respected  lawmakers, has been named recipient of the 2011 Vic Hellard Jr. Award for excellence in public service.

The Hellard Award, the highest honor the Legislature can bestow, has been given annually since 1997. Siler -- known to all as Charlie -- was chosen for this year's honor by the 16-member legislative leadership that comprises the Legislative Research Commission.

The award's namesake, Vic Hellard Jr., was executive director of the LRC staff for 19 years. The honor goes each year to someone who embodies the values that Hellard brought to his long career: A public servant of vision, appreciating history while finding new ways to do things, someone who champions the equality and dignity of all, nurtures the processes of a democratic society and promotes public dialogue while educating and fostering civic engagement, approaching that work with commitment, caring, generosity, and humor.

In announcing Siler's selection, LRC co-chairs David L. Williams, President of the Senate, and Greg Stumbo, Speaker of the House, noted that he met all those criteria perfectly.

They remembered Siler as a quietly passionate voice for the people of his beloved Laurel and Whitley counties, and a leader of vision, heart  and good humor who made life better for all Kentuckians, whether they knew his name or not.

'I'm honored, I'm touched, and I accept this award humbly,' Siler said. 'Vic Hellard was a special man, and this is a special award, even more so since it's given to me by my respected colleagues.'

Siler's civic career was historically remarkable, spanning national and even world history. His military career alone traced the narrative arc of the last half if the 20th Century. It began with the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. He served in occupied Japan. He served in the Korean War. He was with the troops protecting Dr. Martin Luther King's Civil Rights march on Montgomery in the 1960s.

When his long military career ended, he returned to Kentucky, and ran for office to help shape his home state's history.

As a representative from District 82 and a Republican, he was a voice for veterans and a voice for labor, but his greatest passion was education. He voted for the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 though he knew the tax increase to pay for it would likely get him beat next election -- and did

But four years later, Siler's district sent him back to Frankfort, where he served till he retired in 2010.

His tenure in the House was called by one observer a study in thoughtful, courageous representation. When he came back from his years out of office, Siler voted for 1997's higher education reform, another politically difficult vote on principle.

But he said it was critical for community colleges to better prepare Kentuckians for the new 21st Century workplace, and for universities to answer the call for citizens of exceptional preparation to prosper in a complex world.

Siler is the 15th recipient of the Vic Hellard Jr. award, and only the third former legislator (Romano Mazzoli, a former state Senator and Congressman, won in 2009, and former state Sen. Walter Baker in 2003).

Hellard himself died in 1996, a year after his retirement from the LRC. The award in his name has been given annually since.

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November 9, 2011

"Issues Confronting the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly" book available

FRANKFORT – A book containing issue briefs on topics likely to confront lawmakers during the Kentucky General Assembly's 2012 session is now available in print and online.

"Issues Confronting the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly" contains 47 issue briefs prepared by members of the Legislative Research Commission staff. The book is not meant as an exhaustive list of issues that lawmakers will consider, but reflects a balanced look at some of the main topics that have been discussed in legislative committee meetings.

The publication can be viewed online at: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/IB236.pdf.

Printed copies can also be picked up at the LRC Publications Office in the State Capitol, Rm. 83.

The Kentucky General Assembly’s 2012 session begins on Jan. 3 and is scheduled to adjourn on April 9.

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October 26, 2011

Benefits of solar power shared with state lawmakers

FRANKFORT—Kentucky has more sunny days than you might think, say the state’s solar power advocates.

Arizona—ranked as the sunniest state in the nation by the National Weather Service—only has 44 percent more solar radiation than the Bluegrass State, according to Denis Oudard of Kentucky based Solar Energy Solutions. Even places like Germany that are not typically considered sunny use solar as a hot water and electric energy source.

In short, solar energy appears to work almost anywhere, Oudard said.

“You don’t have to be a Mark Spitz to swim,” Oudard said before the Interim Joint Committee on Local Government today.

With billions of tons of coal reserves in the ground, Kentucky is known for being primarily a coal state. The state also has large natural gas reserves. But Oudard and his colleague, Andy McDonald of the Kentucky Solar Partnership, said solar is already at work at some Kentucky schools, homes and businesses, and is worth the investment—despite Kentucky’s somewhat unpredictable weather.

Solar panels for thermal or electric use can be found on roofs of Kentucky homes, on hybrid buses run by public transportation systems, on some public buildings – including the new Capitol Education Center – and atop a handful of public schools, like Richardsville Elementary in Bowling Green.

McDonald said the 72,000 square foot school, which opened in 2010, is designed to use 75 percent less energy than a typical school in the state. “This is the first net-zero energy school in the U.S.,” he said, “and it was built at less cost than a conventional school.”

Kentucky now has solar product manufacturers and distributors contributing to the state’s economy, said Committee Co-Chair Rep. Steve Riggs, D-Jeffersontown. Nationally, employment in the solar energy industry has increased 6.8 percent since Aug. 2010, said Oudard, and more growth is expected over the next year. In fact, Oudard said “solar electric investment creates jobs at a faster rate than any other type of energy.”

An article in the Oct. 17 issue of U.S. News & World Report says almost 50 percent of the nation’s 2,100 solar firms expect to add jobs in the next 12 months.

Solar energy, at a cost of about 20 cents a kilowatt hour, is more costly than the current 5.5 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt hour that Kentuckians now pay on average for electricity, McDonald said. Still, investment in solar energy may become more popular as Kentucky’s power plants age, he said.

“Solar may be more expensive than current power, but may be on par with—or cheaper than—building new plants in the future,” he said.  

In response to a question by Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, Oudard said it is more economical for solar to be installed on a new structure than an existing structure since retrofitting is required on existing buildings.

Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said more investment in solar energy like that in place at Richardsville Elementary will improve affordability.

“As more schools and public buildings come on board, that will come down,” he said. Just last summer, Richards said that Richardsville Elementary actually sold solar power back to the Tennessee Valley Authority because it was not able to use the energy it had harnessed with school out of session. 

Committee Co-Chair Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said he supports alternative forms of energy. But he also pointed out that the U.S. has 200 years of coal reserves and a lot of oil reserves at our disposal, “…if we were just allowed to go get it; and I think you know the places we are talking about.”

The committee also received testimony from Kentucky League of Cities’ officials who presented the organization’s legislative platform for the upcoming 2012 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Issues presented by Lyndon Mayor Susan Barton and Midway Mayor Tom Bozarth on behalf of the organization included retirement reform for city governments, addressing the cost of drug abuse in cities and towns, revenue issues and elimination of most city classifications, and a 9-1-1 funding shortfall.

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September 16, 2011

Calendar set for 2012 legislative session

FRANKFORT – The 2012 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly is scheduled to begin on Jan. 3 and will last 60 days, the maximum number allowed by the state constitution.

The session will conclude on April 9, according to the schedule that has been approved by Senate President David L. Williams and House Speaker Greg Stumbo. The schedule is pending ratification of the full 16-member Legislative Research Commission, which Williams and Stumbo co-chair.

Legislators will not meet in session on Jan. 16 in honor or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day or on Feb. 20 in observance of Presidents’ Day.

The veto recess – the period of time when lawmakers commonly return to their home districts to see which bills, if any, the governor chooses to veto – will run from March 28 through April 7.

The 2012 session calendar can be viewed online at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/sch_vist/12RS_calendar.pdf.

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September 8, 2011

Nominations now accepted for 2011 Vic Hellard Jr. Award

FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission is now accepting nominations for the 2011 Vic Hellard Jr. Award.

The award, given annually in memory and recognition of Mr. Hellard’s contributions to an independent legislative institution and devoted service to the Commonwealth, recognizes a person who has advanced the interests of citizens of the Commonwealth by example and leadership.

Letters of nomination should be submitted by Oct. 31, 2011 and should explain how the candidate: 1) Demonstrates vision, considering the long-term implications for the public good; 2) Demonstrates innovation, finding new approaches while appreciating history; 3) Champions the equality and dignity of all; 4) Enhances the processes of a democratic society, promoting public dialogue, educating citizens and decision makers, and fostering civic engagement, and; 5) Approaches work with commitment, caring, generosity and humor.

Please submit nominations to: Hellard Award Selection Committee, Legislative Research Commission, Attn: Ben Payne, 702 Capitol Avenue, Room 101, Frankfort, KY 40601, or online at www.lrc.ky.gov/HellardAward.htm.

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August 19, 2011

Energy research at UK earning awards, lawmakers told

FRANKFORT—The Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky is raking in federal grants for everything from work in synthetic fuels for NASA to improving the cost and efficiency of carbon capture at coal-fired power plants.

A $14.5 million grant awarded to the university by the Department of Energy (DOE) last Monday will help the Center develop a system that uses a plant’s waste heat to improve  efficiency and hold down electricity costs created by carbon capture’s use, the legislative Special Subcommittee on Energy heard today. Researchers hope the project will remove at least 90 percent of generated carbon dioxide emitted by the plant while holding down increased electricity costs to 35 percent or less, according to a DOE release.

The project will be carried out at the LG&E/KU Brown power plant in Mercer County.

CAER Director Dr. Rodney Andrews said the project is part of the Center’s goal to find cost-effective technologies that can reduce carbon dioxide emissions related to coal-fired power plants. The testing of solvents for processes like corrosion will also be part of the project, he said.

Other projects underway at the CAER include the creation of synthetic aviation fuels for NASA, using algae to capture carbon dioxide, and using algae in the production of biofuel.

Algae has become another “possibility” for carbon capture, although Andrews said its use is not dramatically cheaper than using what are called chemical “scrubbers” to remove carbon.

“The biggest issue with algae is the amount of land it takes,” he said. “We don’t know the answer yet of whether it is going to be practical.”

Energy Co-Chair Rep. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, praised the work of CAER and the university.

“I’m very proud of the fact that UK…is addressing those issues and concepts,” Hall said.

The CAER is also set to open a new 36,000 square foot laboratory for biomass and biofuel research, research and development for Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing’s lithium-ion product, state-of-the-art transportation fuels and work in solar energy. Andrews said the lab, built at an approximate cost of $20 million, will free up significant space at CAER’s current 43,000 square foot facility and nearly double current lab space.

The lab should be in operation by next February, he said.

Andrews credits legislation passed by the 2007 General Assembly for giving UK the ability to pursue construction of the lab building. Most federal grants require the state to provide some money to share in the cost of a project, he explained.

“Without the money we received directly from the university…we would be limited in the number of awards we could go after,” said Andrews.

Some lawmakers on the committee took time at the beginning of the meeting to voice their strong support for the coal industry and the state’s Eastern and Western Kentucky regions that have been affected by holds on new coal-fired power plant permits and EPA regulatory practices. Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said regulation also played a role in a 17 percent increase in electricity rates for many Eastern Kentuckians in 2010.

House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said another round of EPA regulations would “have a devastating impact on the rates that the people in the Commonwealth have to pay for electricity.” Right now, he said, Kentucky produces some of the least expensive energy in the U.S.

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July 15, 2011

State energy policies reviewed by legislative panel

FRANKFORT—Kentucky’s energy policies have created what state officials say is the largest investment in energy efficiency in the state’s history.

Kentucky Deputy Commissioner of Energy Development and Independence John Davies told the Special Subcommittee on Energy that policies born from legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly over the past several years have led to substantial investment in energy efficiency in public schools and state buildings, including over $27 million for energy management in public schools statewide.

In 2008, only 17 schools in the state were certified by Energy Star—a federal program that distinguishes a building as highly energy efficient, Davies said. Today, 105 schools are Energy Star certified.

 “It’s by no mistake that energy efficiency is the first strategy in the governor’s (energy) plan,” Davies said. The energy plan, unveiled in 2008, focuses on seven strategies: improving energy efficiency; fostering renewable energy; sustainably increasing production of biofuels; developing a coal-to-liquid industry; increasing natural gas supplies; initiating carbon capture and sequestration projects; and examining the use of nuclear power to generate electricity in Kentucky.

Another show of Kentucky’s energy efficiency policy’s success is the Commonwealth’s distinction of being the only state with two near net-zero energy user schools: Turkey Foot Middle School in Kenton County and Richardsville Elementary in Warren County. Davies said Turkey Foot’s kilowatt usage for May-June was a negative 2,000 kilowatt hours.

State buildings are being made more energy efficient through assistance by the Green Bank of Kentucky, a state program that provides low interest revolving loans for energy efficiency projects and contracts. Davies said $14 million in federal Recovery Act funds provided capital for the revolving loan fund.

“As these loans are repaid, the funds will be recycled to support new energy saving performance contracts in state facilities,” said Davies.

Another success story is the Energy Star appliance rebate program of 2010, which Davies said provided over $3.4 million in rebates to over 34,000 Kentuckians on $51 million in appliance sales. The sales generated $3 million in sales tax revenue, with clothes washers and refrigerators being the most popular purchases.

Having a more diverse energy portfolio—or more diverse ways to generate power—could also benefit the state, which Davies said now relies on coal-fired power for 94 percent of electricity generation. “In the future, primarily relying on one power of electricity may not be prudent,” he said, adding that regulatory and other pressures will place new demands on the coal industry and the coal it exports to other states.

Kentucky exported around 74 percent of total coal produced here to other states in 2009, he said. Most of those states were in the Southeast. “These are the same states that will be affected by the federal EPA regulations that may damper their demand for imported coal,” said Davies, who then explained how biomass, biofuels, clean coal technologies and other energy sources are being used to benefit the state.

“We have made a strong start, but there is much more to do,” he said.

Several lawmakers asked officials from the state Energy and Environment Cabinet what the Executive Branch’s position is on federal regulatory changes affecting Kentucky’s coal industry. Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the coal industry’s economic impact on Kentucky is at least three times greater than the impact of the horse industry, which is known as Kentucky’s signature industry.

“Last time I looked at the statistics on coal we had over $5.5 billion in sales, which is greater than the total economic impact of the horse industry, so if you do an equivalent multiplier, we probably have close to a $15 billion impact in this state and I would suggest it is probably higher than that,” Stivers said.

Karen Wilson of the Energy and Environment Cabinet said the administration has sent letters, testified before Congress and sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to show “displeasure” with its policies, including a lawsuit filed last year on the EPA’s permitting policies affecting coal mining.

“We would like to see some sensible time frames for the various regulations that are either coming out now or are going to be coming out,” said Wilson, including regulations concerning greenhouse gases and coal ash.

Some lawmakers voiced concern that non-elected officials at a federal agency—namely the EPA—are effecting environmental policy on coal, which remains a dominant energy source nationwide. “I think many of us believe and are concerned…they are legislating on their own,” said subcommittee Co-Chair Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard.

“It’s a problem when an agency snubs its nose at Congress…,” said House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook. “It’s not their job to make the law.” Adkins said “common sense” regulations are needed, not regulations that will negatively impact the economy and jobs.

Senate President Pro Tem Katie Stine, R-Southgate, asked Cabinet officials about progress toward meeting the goals of 2010 Senate Bill 132, a bill filed by Sen. Stine and passed into law that supports construction of energy efficient schools. “I would hope that you would take this legislation seriously, and that you would seek to work with (the Department of Education) to implement it, and also find private entities or federal funds, if there are any…to help in the funding mechanism in that legislation in order to move these schools forward.”

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July 14, 2011

Legislators hear plans for ‘11/11/11’ initiative

FRANKFORT — State legislators were brought up to speed today on the planning for months of programs and activities for Kentucky’s veterans and their sacrifices, a project known as the “11/11/11” initiative.

The program, unveiled by Gov. Steve Beshear on Memorial Day, will include a series of events culminating in a celebration at the State Capitol on Veterans Day  — 11/11/11 — to honor the 339,000 Kentucky men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Over the next four months, programs will be conducted in conjunction with USA Cares, schools, the business community, and volunteer organizations, among others.

Plans are being made to make sure the Capitol finale event does not conflict with programs run by the Kentucky Historical Society or veterans groups. “We don’t want to interfere with anything that been going on historically,” Larry Bond, Beshear’s Deputy Chief of Staff, told members of the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection.

Ken Lucas, Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, noted that there will also be special efforts coordinated with the chambers of commerce in Louisville and Lexington to hold job fairs targeted at veterans. “This thing is being fleshed out as we go,” Lucas said, inviting lawmakers to take part in the planning of the many activities.

The KFC Yum! Center in Louisville will host a USO concert on July 26 as well. “It’s unusual to have a USO show here,” Lucas said. Veterans services organizations have been given tickets for distribution to military and their families.”

“Any way we can call attention to the needs of our veterans and call attention to their service and have an opportunity to thank them, we want to participate in that,” said Committee Co-Chair Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore.

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June 6, 2011

New laws set to take effect June 8

FRANKFORT — Higher dollar amounts for small claims court cases and the approval of wellness rewards for health insurance plans are among the dozens of new laws set to take effect this week.

Under the state constitution, most new laws take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session. Laws passed during the 2011 Regular Session, which ended March 9, will become effective on June 8, except for those with emergency clauses or with specific effective dates contained within the bills themselves.

Among the issues affected by legislation taking effect on June 8 are the following:

African-American Heritage. Senate Bill 64 creates the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage and outlines its board membership.

Carbon dioxide. SB 50 includes pipelines for captured carbon dioxide in the eminent domain process, allowing such a pipeline to be constructed through Western Kentucky.

Courts. SB 108 increases the jurisdiction of district courts in civil cases from $4,000 to $5,000 and the jurisdiction of small claims courts from $1,500 to $2,500.

Diabetes. SB 63 creates a collaborative group to identify goals and plans to reduce incidences of diabetes and improve diabetes care. SB 71 creates a licensing process for diabetes educators.

Doctoral programs. SB 130 allows the state’s six comprehensive universities to offer certain advanced practice doctoral programs within limits.

Education. HB 425 allows out-of-state veterans to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

Eye care. SB 110 allows optometrists to perform certain types of laser surgery, including treatments for glaucoma and cataracts.

Firearms. HB 308 establishes a program for people who have been banned from purchasing a firearm due to mental illness to recover that right.

Flu shots. SB 40 allows pharmacists to give flu shots to children ages 9-13.

Government publications. HB 33 bans state agencies from mailing most publications to the public unless they are requested by the recipient.

Homelessness. SB 26 reduces the fee for ID cards for the homeless from $12 to $4.

Occupational and physical therapy. SB 112 limits health insurance co-pays on occupational and physical therapy sessions to no higher than that of regular doctor’s visits.

Prescriptions. HB 311 allows Schedule II prescriptions, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to be transmitted electronically or by fax. The bill also allows Schedule III-V drugs to be transmitted by fax; those can already be transmitted electronically.

School personnel. SB 12 authorizes local school superintendents to chair the school council when selecting a new principal. Previous practice allowed the school council to select from a list submitted by the superintendent.

School board elections. HB 228 increases the contribution limits for school board candidates to $200 for individuals and $1,000 for organizations.

Traffic laws. HB 289 adds fines for driving over the 70 miles-per-hour speed limit and clarifies that vehicle-integrated GPS units are exempt from the state’s ban on texting or using other communications devices while driving.

Voter registration. HB 192 requires high schools to provide seniors information on how to register to vote and related information.

Wellness programs. SB 114 allows private health insurance plans to offer incentives and awards for wellness programs.

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March 25, 2011

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- The second week of the special legislative session on Medicaid funding saw two proposals passed in bill form-- first in House Bill 1, then in a very different HB 1 as amended and passed in the Senate. And toward week’s end the chambers were back near square one, still locked in a familiar dance, once again looking to be consigned to a fruitless conference committee, still butting heads over their fundamentally different approaches to solving the problem that brought them there.

Then, late Thursday, a ghostly third bill emerged. Actually it was the Senate version of HB 1, but soon-to-be transmuted back to something resembling its original House form through the pen strokes of promised gubernatorial line-item vetoes. And on that promise the House passed HB 1 as amended by the Senate though it contained spending cuts it found unacceptable, adjourned, and waited for the true outlines of the new/old final bill to emerge from the veto process.

So ended the ninth working day of a special session called by the governor immediately after the 2011 regular session adjourned on March 9. So ended the long impasse over how to plug a troublesome hole in Medicaid, and the threat of forced cuts in Medicaid services April 1 if the hole wasn’t patched.

It was a fittingly surprising turn in a legislative season ripe with surprises.

The special session itself was a bit of a surprise, quick-called by a governor invoking the urgency of closing a $139-million shortfall in Medicaid before April 1 to avoid 35-percent cuts in provider reimbursements to doctors, hospitals and others for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Providers themselves (some in testimony at legislative hearings) warned that any such cuts could have catastrophic consequences. They raised the specter of some small rural hospitals and clinics even shuttering.

Medicaid is the state-federal program that provides health coverage for about 800,000 low-income and disabled Kentuckians, and is state government’s fastest-growing expense.

The special-session back story is familiar to anyone who follows the news. The governor early in this winter’s regular session proposed, and the House passed, a plan to bring forward enough money from next year’s Medicaid budget to bridge this year’s gap (the larger $166-million figure usually cited includes some additional state money to capture significant additional federal matching funds). Under the original House Bill 305, the shifted money would be made up next year through new ‘managed care’ initiatives designed to save money in the program. The idea was to confine the Medicaid problem to Medicaid, and let the governor manage the program to solvency.

The Senate strongly questioned that approach and its underlying assumptions. Senate leaders said no way could the administration recoup that much money in such short-term managed-care savings. The chamber amended House Bill 305 to fill the budget gap by cutting state spending more-or-less equally across the board. Education would share the pain, albeit its share would be somewhat less than the rest of state government. But House leaders of both parties objected to any education cuts whatsoever, and so set the stage for a showdown.

The regular session ended with the two chambers at a sticking point similar to this week’s. The chambers’ two formal proposals during the special session, House Bill 1 and its Senate-amended version, inched toward a middle ground, but still failed to resemble anything close to consensus.

Early in the week, the House passed its new bill, with solid bipartisan support in that chamber. It attempted to address Senate concerns that cost-savings alone could not, in so short a time frame, cover the shortfall.

It did so by imposing a catch: If the governor cannot certify to lawmakers by Aug. 15—after managed-care contracts are signed—that the plan and other actions authorized by the General Assembly will achieve savings sufficient to fill the hole in fiscal year 2012, specified cuts would be triggered across state government on Oct. 1.

Exempted from cuts -- and this was all along the House line drawn in the sand -- was education. That included basic per-pupil SEEK funding for grades K-12, and public universities.

The amended Senate plan moved toward compromise by accepting the notion that the administration might achieve half the savings it says can come from managed care. But it still required spending cuts, pared-back ones of 0.355 percent in the current fiscal year for nearly all state programs, other than base public school funding and postsecondary education. And it made cuts of 1.74 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year, beginning July 1, to all areas other than public schools, which would have been cut by 0.812 percent.

However, the bill provided that the education cuts be delayed until Jan. 30, 2012. This would allow the 2012 General Assembly to rescind them if the administration could show it had in fact achieved its target for savings through managed-care efficiencies.

Adding to Frankfort’s sense of déjà vu all over again, the bill was poised to go to a conference committee of leaders from both chambers to try to finally, this time, iron out a compromise agreement. A similar conference committee, you will recall, met six times at the end of the regular session before adjourning without agreement, with negotiators arguing from substantially similar positions then as later.

While a casual observer might think the two chambers’ differences at this point were a narrow creek to bridge, the apparent small gap between them was in fact a genuine rift, philosophical, political and profound. In this most nuanced legislative season in memory, no issue and no dispute had been more nuanced than this.

So as another weary weekend approached, Frankfort waited to see if the pressure of April 1 and what that day’s sunrise might bring would connect the dots on a agreement that had so far proven itself to be just plain slippery.

Then Thursday evening, the session uncorked one last surprise, as the electric and unexpected news spread that the House was prepared to approve the amended Senate version of HB 1, on the governor’s written promise that he would use his line-item veto authority to basically return the bill to something approaching its original House form, specifically eliminating spending cuts inserted by the Senate.

After House leaders explained this unconventional move -- which asked members to vote on faith for a bill they didn’t like on the promise they’d end up with a law they did -- the chamber voted 86-2 to go along. The House then voted to adjourn, effectively removing any possibility of veto overrides, which require both chambers.

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March 24, 2011

Lawmakers give final passage to HB 1, send bill to governor

FRANKFORT—A bill aimed at plugging a $139 million Medicaid shortfall this fiscal year is on its way to the governor.

House Bill 1, sponsored by House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chair Rick Rand, D-Bedford, received final passage by an 86-2 vote tonight in the House after passing the Senate by a 22-15 vote earlier in the day. House leaders said before tonight’s House vote that the governor will line-item veto potential education cuts and certain other provisions that were included in the final version of the legislation.

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March 24, 2011

Senate approves own plan for Medicaid budget fix

FRANKFORT — The Senate approved a plan for cuts across state government and requirements for other cost savings as part of a Medicaid budget bill today, setting the stage for a likely conference committee of legislative leaders to iron out a final compromise plan.

The Senate’s version, a substitute to House Bill 1, would enact immediate cuts to most state government programs of 0.355 percent. The next fiscal year, which begins July 1, would see 1.74 percent cuts. The cuts are intended to offset a shortfall in the current year’s Medicaid budget. They are smaller than the cuts proposed by the Senate during the special session. In turn, the new proposal assumes that the governor will achieve half of the $139 million savings he set forth in his original plan.

State colleges and universities, as well as SEEK funding to local school districts, would be spared until January 30, 2012, but would then be included in spending reductions. If the governor achieves $115 million in Medicaid savings by that point -- 82 percent of his target -- the education cuts could be rescinded by the General Assembly, which will be in session next January. 

"Education will be held harmless until we can verify" the Medicaid savings, said Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville. "This is the most responsible way to address the Medicaid shortfall."

Some dedicated funds, including coal severance and assistance to local governments, would be exempt from the cuts entirely. The legislative and judicial branches are included in the cuts, however. 

The Senate version is in contrast to the House’s plan, which calls on the governor to certify by mid-August the amount of Medicaid savings expected in the next fiscal year. Only if the expected Medicaid savings aren’t certified as being on track would spending cuts be triggered.

The Senate plan authorizes an independent evaluation of those managed care savings by an outside accounting firm in coordination with the state's Consensus Forecasting Group. 

The proposal also restores language in last year’s budget bill — later vetoed by the governor — requiring targeted savings in state contracts, political non-merit appointees, and other operational efficiencies. The new Senate plan also forbids furloughs of state workers immediately.  

"It is entirely fair and the right thing to do for state employees," said Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown. 

Finally, the bill requires lawmakers to forgo their daily pay for any veto period following the special session. The language would allow lawmakers to override any gubernatorial line-item vetoes without much of the added cost of days when the General Assembly doesn't physically meet. 

HB 1 passed the Senate on a 22-15 vote. If the two chambers cannot agree on one version or the other, as is expected, a conference committee will be appointed to produce a final plan.

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March 21, 2011

Medicaid bill passes House, goes to Senate

FRANKFORT — The House voted 94-4 tonight to allow the governor to fill a $139 million state Medicaid shortfall through expanded Medicaid managed care programs.

House Bill 1, sponsored by House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Rick Rand, D-Bedford, would allow the $139 million to be drawn from $166 million that the Executive Branch would be allowed to move from the fiscal year 2012 Medicaid budget to meet this fiscal year’s obligations. Medicaid expenses for fiscal year 2012 would be met through managed care efficiencies, according to the legislation. The governor would also be allowed to use $23.1 million freed up through government transfers, if necessary, to meet next year’s Medicaid budget.

HB 1 also includes a provision that Rand said would allow the governor to “take full advantage” of an enhanced federal Medicaid match, saving the state around $12 million.

If the governor cannot certify to lawmakers by August 15 of this year—after state Medicaid managed care contracts are signed—that he can meet the fiscal year 2012 obligations through managed care savings and other authorized actions, he would have until Oct. 1 “to demonstrate to us the cuts that would need to be made in order to balance the budget for the remainder of the year,” Rand said. Lawmakers have said those cuts, if necessary, would be made across state government with few exceptions including, but not limited to, K-12 education and state universities.

 “We have every confidence that the governor can make (the managed care approach) work,” Rand said. “It’s working in other states.”

Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, said he understands that HB 1 would create a roughly $420 million hole in Medicaid that would have to be filled in fiscal year 2012. Rand said that is “roughly accurate,” adding that the governor assures lawmakers that he can handle fiscal year 2012 obligations through expanded managed care.

Rand explained the House’s intent to allow the governor to manage Medicaid, as has been the custom in the Commonwealth.

“We have always let the Chief Executive in this state manage the Medicaid budget, and that is what we are doing now,” he said.

HB 1 also limits the governor’s debt restructuring this budget cycle, requires the governor to meet $169 million in already-required efficiency savings next fiscal year through contract reductions and non-merit employee reductions, and orders any surplus state revenue be placed into the state’s “rainy day fund”—or  budget reserve trust fund—among other things.

A provision that moves $18.9 million in postsecondary education funding from fiscal year 2012 to fiscal year 2011 is also found in the bill.

HB 1 now goes to the Senate for its consideration.

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March 18, 2011

This week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- Here’s this week, simple as it gets: The Kentucky Legislature met in special session to plug a hole in Medicaid funding. It reached no agreement. The special session will continue next week.

But within those three plain, declarative sentences lies a whole universe of complex public policy, competing personal dynamics, and colliding political storm fronts that have made this winter’s legislative season one of the more nuanced in memory.

The 30-day short session began with one chamber breaking tradition and passing 12 major bills during its first, organizational week. It ended abruptly, without taking a customary veto recess. And it went into overtime immediately, called back into special session by a governor who may now be more deeply engaged with this Legislature than he‘s ever been.

This winter has not seen normal order of business in the Capitol, for sure.

But even setting politics and personalities aside, the Legislature finds itself in something of a pickle, with a serious policy challenge to resolve in not much time: Finding a way to shore up Medicaid to the tune of $166 million by April 1, when the governor has said 35-percent reimbursement cuts to providers will have to be imposed to balance this year‘s budget.

Such cuts, he and providers themselves warned, could have drastic consequences, including closure of some rural hospitals and clinics.

Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for about 800,000 low-income Kentuckians, is the fastest-running drain on our chronically overburdened state budget. In this, Kentucky is not unique. State governments nationwide are in fiscal crisis. In many if not most of those, you can peel to the core of the problem and find a spinning black hole of Medicaid costs sucking money from the state Treasury.

The governor early on proposed, and the House endorsed, a plan to bring forward enough money from next year’s Medicaid budget to bridge this year’s gap (the $166-million figure includes some additional state money to capture significant additional federal funds). Under the original House Bill 305, the shifted money would be made up next year through new ‘managed care’ initiatives designed to save money in the program. The idea was to confine the problem to its source. Medicaid money would fix Medicaid.

The Senate strongly questioned that assumption from the beginning. Senate leaders said savings of such scope were highly unlikely, given a tight time frame and the failure of other promised ‘savings‘ to bear fruit in other short-money budget agreements

They warned that failure of the governor’s proposal would lead to crippling shortfalls -- even a felt need by some to raise taxes -- in future budgets. Better to stop the bleeding now, they said.

The Senate amended House Bill 305 to fill the budget gap next year by cutting state spending more-or-less equally across the board. The Senate has tended to favor this share-the-pain-fairly strategy in past budget showdowns.

The House refused to go along with the Senate amendments. House leaders of both parties objected particularly to education cuts that were included in the Senate plan. The general House sentiment was that cuts in school funding should be a last option, not a first. Leaders insisted the governor’s cost-containment approach deserved at least a chance to succeed before more cuts are imposed on schools and state agencies, who have suffered eight rounds of cuts in the last three years. School districts around the state said further cuts could lead to layoffs.

A House-Senate conference committee tried and failed in six attempts to find compromise, and before sundown on the regular session’s last day, with the Senate not even formally adjourned, the governor announced the special session -- which convened Monday, took up where the conference-committee impasse left off, and hasn’t publicly moved the ball much downfield at this writing.

Still, talk of compromise continued. Proposals were floated, some said to be carried over from the failed conference committee negotiations. Some nibbled around the edges of the actual percentages the across-the-board cuts might be, or the total amount of managed-care savings that might reasonably be accepted as predictive enough to write a sound budget bill on. There’ve been trial balloons about returning money cut from school funding back to schools if the managed-care savings do approach or meet the governor‘s expectations. Conversely, another plan envisions specified contingent cuts that would kick in if the savings promised in the Medicaid program fall short.

At week’s end, House leaders were putting the final touches on a formal compromise plan they may introduce in bill form early next week. The Senate, meanwhile, was asking the House to expedite its work, since the session’s daily tab was ticking along with nothing concrete accomplished.

But at least so far, no proposal has truly resonated with both sides, let alone one that satisfactorily addresses the House-drawn line in the sand: No cuts to education. So the special session ended its first week with no breakthrough.-- a breakthrough that seems necessary if the threatened dire consequences apparently in store for April 1 can be avoided, fourteen days from today.

The Legislature encourages citizen involvement in its work. Its website -- www.lrc.ky.gov -- is a comprehensive resource for legislative information, including meeting schedules and bill status. It’s updated daily during sessions.

Anyone who wants to leave a message for a legislator can call toll-free, 1-800-372-7181.

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March 16, 2011

Dropout bill heads to Senate

FRANKFORT—A bill aimed at encouraging more students to graduate by increasing the state’s school dropout age to 18 by the 2016 school year passed the House by an 87-13 vote today.

House Bill 2, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, would raise the dropout age to 17 in July 2015 and 18 in July 2016. Greer said this fall’s freshman class will be the first high school class affected by the new dropout age requirements.

The bill would also clarify the General Assembly’s commitment to career and technical education and improve Kentucky’s alternative education programs by centralizing the alternative education system at the state level, requiring better data collection in alternative ed programs and prohibiting teachers or staff facing disciplinary action and first-year teachers from leading alternative education classes.

Greer said the bill could also help decrease the number of Kentuckians on public assistance, adding that 8 percent of the state’s Medicaid budget is used to provide medical care for high school dropouts.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, a supporter of the bill, said current law allowing students to drop out of school at age 16 was passed in the 1920s.

“It’s time to change,” he said in a House floor speech.

Some House members doubted that HB 2 would benefit students, or their schools. Rep. David Floyd, R-Bardstown, asserted that “there’s nothing to convince that keeping students in school against their will benefits them.”

But Stumbo—who compared students who need encouragement to stay in school to starfish on dry sand that need to be picked up and put back in the ocean where they can thrive—had a different view.

HB 2 now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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March 15, 2011

Dropout bill clears House committee

FRANKFORT – Legislation passed by the Kentucky House during the 2011 Regular Session that would have changed the state’s dropout age from 16 to 18 was revived by the House Education Committee today.

House Bill 2, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, would work just like 2011 HB 225—sponsored by Greer and passed by the House in regular session last month—by raising the dropout age to 17 in July 2015 and 18 in July 2016 and improving the state’s alternative education programs. HB 2, like HB 225, would also clarify the General Assembly’s intent relative to career and technical education.

Greer said supporters of HB 2 “realize (the bill) gives a young man and a young lady a better opportunity to succeed in life.”

Students with a high school diploma earn considerably more than those without, Greer explained to the committee. High school dropouts earn about $6,800 less per year than workers with a diploma, he said.

HB 2 now returns to the full House for consideration.

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March 11, 2011

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- Each session has its surprises. And this session, at the end, had a couple of doozies.

Each session also has its object lessons. The abruptly ended 2011 regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly had at least three:

How splendidly the process can work to write and pass a far-reaching bill of considerable depth and complexity, a bill that shows wisdom and deep sanity in how it treats a hard problem. How profoundly the process can seem to break down when honest philosophical differences between parties and chambers enter a difficult discussion, and time and the simple will to find common ground run short. And how both extremes -- cooperation and conflict -- are just fine, democracy writ large, the Founders‘ vision at work two centuries later.

It’s become almost customary in recent years to see lawmakers head home for their 10-day veto recess with at least one huge bill hung up in conference committee, nowhere near resolved and with both sides looking entrenched and determined. Not infrequently, that bill is the budget.

This session, that issue was only one part of the budget -- the part that funds Medicaid.

The hang-up was, how to plug a nasty little $166-million funding shortfall in the state-federal program that provides health coverage for about 800,000 low-income Kentuckians.

But the usual session’s end scenario took an unexpected turn this year: There is no veto recess. The General Assembly used all 30 allotted days The Senate convened March 9, using the last day, even though the House had already adjourned for the veto recess. Since any day on which either chamber convenes is counted as a legislative day, the Senate move ended the session.

You could almost see most of this coming, if you‘d been listening closely. But the true dimensions of the House-Senate impasse didn’t become clear till the short session entered its final few days last week.

The House had earlier passed a plan proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear that would bring forward enough money from next year’s Medicaid budget to bridge this year’s gap. Under the original House Bill 305, the money brought forward would be made up for next year through new ‘managed care’ initiatives designed to save money in Medicaid, state government‘s fastest-growing expense. Medicaid money would fix Medicaid.

The Senate strongly questioned that assumption from the beginning. Leaders said savings of that magnitude in such a short time-frame were pie-in-the sky, highly unlikely to materialize. They said the failure of the governor’s proposal would lead to crippling shortfalls in future budgets.

The only question was: What would they propose instead?

Last week, we found out. The Senate amended House Bill 305 to fill the budget hole next year with a share-the-pain-fairly strategy it has endorsed in past budget showdowns. It cut state spending more-or-less equally across the board.

The Senate plan started with a cut of 0.525 percent in the final quarter of this fiscal year and a cut of about 2.26 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Basic public-school funding (the so-called SEEK formula) and postsecondary education would be exempt from the cuts in the last quarter of this fiscal year, but would face reductions in the second year, including a cut of about 1.3 percent for K-12 education.

The House refused to go along with the Senate amendments. House leaders objected particularly to the education cuts. They said cuts in school funding should be a last option, not a first. They insisted the governor’s cost-containment approach deserved at least a chance to succeed before more cuts are imposed on state agencies and schools, who have suffered round after round of cuts in recent recessionary years. School districts around the state said further cuts could lead to layoffs.

The two chambers thus went into conference committee to negotiate an agreement far apart in their basic approach, with three short days left in the session, and only two to pass a veto-proof bill before the 10-day recess built into the session calendar for that purpose.

Few expected a swift agreement. There was none. Through two days and six meetings, conferees re-stated their positions, floated compromises the other side showed no interest in, sat in silence for long minutes, and in the end broke down in an impasse that looked unbreakable anytime soon.

It was the session’s 29^th day, its next-to-last day. The House adjoined, as is customary, for a ten-day recess giving the governor his Constitutional days to ponder vetoing bills he found vexing but preserving a day for the Legislature to override.

The Senate, however, had a surprise -- a move it had warned was coming, but historically unusual nonetheless. It convened the next day, the 30^th day, and effectively brought the 2011 session to an end, since any day on which at least one chamber meets is counted in the tally of legislative days.

The Senate said it saw no key bills under threat of veto, wanted to give the House one more day to resolve the Medicaid impasse quickly, and saw no reason to spend nearly $800,000 of taxpayers’ money by letting the session tab run for another 12 days.

The Senate said it preferred that the two chambers’ leaders keep working toward consensus informally, then have the governor call a quick special session, for likely the minimum five paid days, when a solid agreement had been reached.

But the governor immediately uncorked the session’s second surprise: Wednesday afternoon, with the Senate still in session, he announced plans to call an extraordinary session dealing with Medicaid for this coming Monday.

The governor said he was obliged to call a special session almost immediately because failing to resolve the issue by April 1 would require the state to slash reimbursement fees drastically -- 30 percent, he said -- for hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and others on that date. He raised the specter of rural hospitals being forced to close.

Senate leaders warned that, with no agreement in place, such a special session would likely prove unnecessarily long, costly and unproductive.

Given the robust tenor of the public discussion on both sides that followed the Senate adjournment and the governor’s session call, next week’s special session may well see a few surprises of its own. It will certainly bear watching, as this continuing debate unfolds.

All this messy democracy at work in Medicaid -- with stormy contending ideas and divergent approaches in play -- is certainly a far cry from the signature legislative achievement of the 2011 session: The quiet, near-unanimous passage of the Corrections Reform Act of 2011, a visionary piece of legislation that will rein in budget-busting Corrections costs while taking a more sensible approach to how we deal with low-level, non-violent drug offenders who now clog Kentucky’s prisons expensively and, many now concede, needlessly. The bill passed with little notice and absolutely no drama.

But both bills -- prisons and Medicaid -- are at polar extremes of one unified process: settled consensus and lively contention, brought forward into the middle arena of people’s self government. In that sense, the real legacy of the 2011 session may boil down to one simple thing: Not the bills it passed or didn‘t pass, but the American civics lessons it taught.

The Kentucky Legislature encourages citizen involvement in its work. Its website -- www.lrc.ky.gov -- is a comprehensive resource for legislative information, including meeting schedules and bill status. It’s updated daily during sessions.

Anyone who wants to leave a message for a legislator can call toll-free, 1-800-372-7181.

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March 11, 2011

2011 legislative session adjourns

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky General Assembly's 2011 regular session came to a close Wednesday as the 30^th and final day permitted by the state constitution expired.

The session ended without an agreement on changes to the state budget to make up a $166.5 million shortfall in the state’s Medicaid fund. The governor has called a special session to begin Monday on the issue.

More than 650 bills were filed during the session, ranging from comprehensive criminal code reform to government transparency. In all, 100 bills and a handful of substantive resolutions were sent to the governor’s desk for his signature or veto. Because the chambers will not re-convene, any gubernatorial vetoes will stand and cannot be overridden.

In addition, lawmakers sent a constitutional amendment to the November 2012 ballot. If approved by a majority of voters, the right to hunt and fish would be included in the commonwealth’s bedrock document.

Among the issues addressed by legislation awaiting the governor’s signature are the following:

African-American Heritage. Senate Bill 64 creates the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage and outlines its board membership.

Businesses. SB 8 creates a one-stop online portal for businesses to conduct their transactions with state agencies and gather information on potential economic development incentives. An advisory committee will issue recommendations on the portal’s operations by the end of the year.

Carbon dioxide. SB 50 includes pipelines for captured carbon dioxide in the eminent domain process, allowing such a pipeline to be constructed through Western Kentucky.

Consumer protection. House Bill 382 prohibits businesses and attorneys from soliciting car accident victims as clients until 30 days following the accident.

Courts. SB 108 increases the jurisdiction of district courts in civil cases from $4,000 to $5,000 and the jurisdiction of small claims courts from $1,500 to $2,500.

Criminal code. HB 463 alters the state’s drug laws, putting an emphasis on treatment, community supervision, and other diversion programs for those convicted of simple possession and eliminating harsher penalties for repeat offenders of those crimes. The bill also requires treatment and other anti-recidivism programs to show evidence they work before being adopted by the state.

Diabetes. SB 63 creates a collaborative group to identify goals and plans to reduce incidences of diabetes and improve diabetes care. SB 71 creates a licensing process for diabetes educators.

Doctoral programs. SB 130 allows the state’s six comprehensive universities to offer certain advanced practice doctoral programs within limits.

Drugs. HB 121 bans possession and sale of a new class of street drug sold over the counter and marketed as bath salts, plant food, and other everyday items.

Economic development. House Joint Resolution 5 creates a study of the state’s economic development programs and their effectiveness.

Education. HB 425 allows out-of-state veterans to qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

Elder abuse. HB 52 prohibits anyone convicted of abusing, neglecting, or exploiting an elderly or vulnerable adult from being placed in a position of trust such as guardian or power of attorney. The bill also prohibits such people from inheriting or otherwise benefiting from the person they abused.

Eye care. SB 110 allows optometrists to perform certain types of laser surgery, including treatments for glaucoma and cataracts.

Firearms. HB 308 establishes a program for people who have been banned from purchasing a firearm due to mental illness to recover that right. HB 302 allows military reenactments to include swords and firearms.

Fireworks. HB 333 expands the types of fireworks that can be sold in the state, including bottle rockets and Roman candles.

Flu shots. SB 40 allows pharmacists to give flu shots to children ages 9-13.

Government publications. HB 33 bans state agencies from mailing most publications to the public unless they are requested by the recipient.

Government transparency. SB 7 requires the three branches of state government to put all available spending records in a searchable online database with public access.

Homelessness. SB 26 reduces the fee for ID cards for the homeless from $12 to $4.

Homestead exemption. HB 244 allows certain disabled people to document their disability when they apply for a homestead exemption on their property taxes and not have to re-file for the exemption annually.

Horse racing. SB 24 makes Kentucky the first state to join an interstate horse racing compact that would develop joint rules for horse racing and wagering. State officials would reserve the right to opt out of any rules adopted by the compact. Kentucky will become the first state to join the compact, which takes effect once six states sign on. HB 387 allows the state to track out-of-state wagering on Kentucky races so incentive funds can get their proper share.

Hunting and fishing. HB 1 places a constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot to place protections on hunting and fishing. HB 173 exempts active-duty military from having to obtain a license to hunt or fish on state-owned military property.

License plates. HB 187 creates an “I Support Veterans” license plate.

Occupational and physical therapy. SB 112 limits health insurance co-pays on occupational and physical therapy sessions to no higher than that of regular doctor’s visits.

Prescriptions. HB 311 allows Schedule II prescriptions, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to be transmitted electronically or by fax. The bill also allows Schedule III-V drugs to be transmitted by fax; those can already be transmitted electronically.

School board elections. HB 228 increases the contribution limits for school board candidates to $200 for individuals and $1,000 for organizations.

Traffic laws. HB 289 adds fines for driving over the 70 miles-per-hour speed limit and clarifies that vehicle-integrated GPS units are exempt from the state’s ban on texting or using other communications devices while driving.

Voter registration. HB 192 requires high schools to provide seniors information on how to register to vote and related information.

Wellness programs. SB 114 allows private health insurance plans to offer incentives and awards for wellness programs.

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March 8, 2011

Study on 911 emergency communication funding approved

FRANKFORT -- Legislation that will direct a legislative committee to study funding for 911 emergency communications in the state is on its way to the governor's desk.

The Senate voted this evening to concur with changes the House made to the legislation earlier in the day.

“Believe it or not, all the various elements have come together and agreed on this bill. It’s a miraculous thing,” said Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, who presented the bill on the House floor.

SB 119, sponsored by Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, would direct a legislative study using information gathered by the state Commercial Mobile Radio Service Emergency Telecommunications Board, communications providers among others. The study would be reported to the Legislative Research Commission by Dec. 1.  

The bill would also require that data collected by the CMRS Board be reported to the General Assembly’s Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection yearly no  later than Aug. 1.

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March 8, 2011

Transparency legislation awaits governor's signature

FRANKFORT -- Details of all government spending would be available online under legislation headed to the governor for his signature.

Senate Bill 7, sponsored by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, requires all three branches of government to update the online database monthly with links to actual bills, purchase orders, and other documentation when possible. Information in the state's online accounting system would be updated weekly.

Most state offices already post the information online, Thayer said, but SB 7 will be binding on future officials rather than relying on their goodwill.

The Senate unanimously concurred in slight House changes to the bill earlier in the day, which sends the bill to the governor’s desk.

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March 4, 2011

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- Some bills strut and fret their hour on the stage, full of sound and fury, but in the end signify little. Others come through on cat’s feet, quietly, plain in their presentation but historically transformative in what they plan to do.

This week, a true ‘change’ bill of the latter sort passed the General Assembly, quickly and with little fanfare, a strikingly bipartisan bill that rethinks a fundamental but ever-more-costly function of state government: Corrections.

House Bill 463 takes a long look at the drift toward harsh and punitive sentencing in the so-called War on Drugs, and admits the unproductive drag such sentencing of non-violent offenders has become on the state budget.

Kentucky has about 20,500 prison inmates and spends about $440 million a year on Corrections -- closing in fast on a billion dollars a biennium. As recently as 2008, the Pew Research Center reported Kentucky had the fastest growing prison population in the nation. Incarceration costs nearly $22,000 per inmate, per year -- money many have come to see as pure waste if all it accomplishes is simple punishment of low-level, non-violent drug offenders.

The reform bill changes the way we think. It’s designed to keep such offenders out of prisons and in treatment, under community supervision. The goal is to return no-threat offenders to productive lives as taxpaying, contributing citizens, not wasting away behind bars, becoming hopeless, hardened criminals on the taxpayers’ tab.

The legislation arose from months of work by a blue ribbon task force of prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, police, lawmakers, corrections officials and others. The Pew Center, a national resource in helping states cope with exploding Corrections costs even as recidivism rates worsen, helped the task force in its work.

Kentucky’s penal code has not had a comprehensive review and revision since 1975. In subsequent years, as the state bought into the premises of the nationwide War on Drugs, penalties grew like Topsy in patchwork fashion. Corrections costs flew high, right along with the number of incarcerations -- incarcerations overwhelmingly drug-related and too often imposed on non-violent offenders arguably more in need of treatment and job training than a locked metal door and three squares a day from state kitchens.

Compounding the fiscal problem is that, by its very nature, Corrections is relatively immune to the budget cuts that have stripped most of state government bare in recent years, though eight rounds of cuts over three years. Prison buildings must be maintained, guards must be paid to watch the inmates, the inmates must be fed. Prison costs are resistant to cuts and always referred to in the newspapers as ‘soaring.‘

But with passage of this bill, the dollar signs will finally fly in reverse. It’s estimated the bill will net $147 million in clear savings over the next decade from reduced jail and court costs, even after paying for treatment programs and probation and parole monitoring. Total savings including money plowed back into treatment, could reach $420 million. And that doesn’t include the clear benefits -- financial and otherwise -- of having non-violent offenders working, producing, and paying taxes in the community.

The measure ultimately came within one vote of unanimous General Assembly approval. The final agreed-upon version passed the House with only a single dissenting vote, the Senate with none, and it was sent to the governor for his signature Monday only days after it was brought up for its first discussion.

The Corrections Reform Bill of 2011 promises to be the signature achievement of this year’s session, and has been hailed by veteran legislators and others as one of the landmark legislative accomplishments of recent decades.

Meanwhile, as usually happens, the session’s major budget issue has waited till the 11^th hour to fully emerge. The issue is Medicaid -- fittingly, the only government expense growing faster than Corrections -- and the dispute is how to deal with an anticipated $166-million shortfall in this year’s Medicaid budget.

The House earlier endorsed a plan proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear that would bring forward enough money from next year’s Medicaid budget to plug this year’s hole.

Under House Bill 305 as passed in that chamber, the money brought forward would be made up for next year through new ‘managed care’ initiatives that will save money in Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage for low-income Kentuckians.

The Senate, however, questioned that assumption, saying savings of that magnitude in such a short timeframe are highly unlikely. Instead, the Senate amended the bill to fill the budget hole next year with a share-the-pain-fairly strategy of cutting state spending across the board. The Senate plan starts with a cut of 0.525 percent in the final quarter of this fiscal year and a cut of about 2.26 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Basic public-school funding (the SEEK formula) and postsecondary education would be exempt from the cuts in the last quarter of this fiscal year. year but would face reductions in the second year, including a cut of about 1.3 percent for K-12 education.

The House voted Thursday to refuse to go along with the Senate amendments. House leaders objected particularly to the education cuts, saying they should be a last option, not a first, and that the governor’s cost-containment approach deserves a chance to succeed before more cuts are imposed on state agencies and schools.

The two chambers thus go into conference committee to negotiate a final agreement far apart in their basic approach. Only three working days remain in the session, although the Legislature can delay using its last day and adjourning sine die until March 30. But however you parse it out, the session's almost over, the issues in play push a lot of buttons both govermentally and politically, and a lot of ground must be covered to close the gap in very little time.

The Kentucky Legislature encourages citizen involvement in its work. Its website -- www.lrc.ky.gov -- is a comprehensive resource for legislative information, including meeting schedules and bill status. It’s updated daily during sessions.

Anyone who wants to leave a message for a legislator can call toll-free, 1-800-372-7181.

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March 4, 2011

Elder abuse, synthetic drug bills clear Senate

FRANKFORT — Bills to crack down on abuse of the elderly and other vulnerable adults and to ban a new wave of synthetic drugs were among those that passed the Senate today.

House Bill 52, sponsored by Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, would ban people convicted of abusing, neglecting, or exploiting vulnerable adults from being granted guardianship, power of attorney, or similar positions for others. Those convicted could also not inherit from their victims.

HB 52 also contains provisions tripling damages for those convicted of stealing from vulnerable adults if timely restitution is not made.

House Bill 121, sponsored by Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, is aimed at new street drugs marketed as bath salts or other common household items. In fact, the drugs are commonly snorted or smoked, leading to hallucinations that result in horror stories of self-mutilation and other dangerous results.

The Senate made changes to the bill to bring it into conformity with the penal code reform plan signed into law earlier in the week.

Both bills passed unanimously as part of the Senate consent calendar. Because changes were made to each, they now return to the House for its concurrence in the Senate versions.

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March 3, 2011

Business center bill amended by House, returns to Senate

Businesses could apply for licenses, pay taxes and file all paperwork required to operate in Kentucky electronically through one convenient web portal under a bill amended and passed today by the House.

Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, and amended and passed 99-0 in the House, would create a one-stop portal where businesses could set up electronic accounts to track official state paperwork, state tax and fee payments and other required dealings with the state.

“They will only need to fill in their vital information once, rather than multiple times on myriad forms,” said Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, who presented SB 8 on the House floor.

The House took out an $150,000 appropriation that had been included in the bill by the Senate  for both research and an end-of-year report on portal issues. Several state agencies and an advisory group to work with those agencies on the portal’s creation were also added  by the House.

SB 8 now returns to the Senate for consideration of the House changes.

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March 2, 2011

Senate approves Medicaid budget plan

FRANKFORT — The Senate approved its own plan to stabilize the state Medicaid budget today, a vastly different version from the House’s that points toward a possible conference committee to work out a compromise in the legislative session’s waning days.

House Bill 305, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, is aimed at plugging a $166.5 million hole in the Medicaid budget for the current fiscal year. The original House plan would move that money forward from FY 2012, with next year’s budget being reduced thanks to anticipated cost savings, including managed care.

The Senate plan, in contrast, would make broad-based cuts across state government for the rest of the biennium to make up the Medicaid shortfall.

Under the Senate version, 0.525 percent cuts would be made to most state programs, except for K-12 and higher education, for the rest of the current fiscal year. Schools and colleges would be included in statewide cuts of 2.26 percent for FY 2012, which begins July 1. Base SEEK funding for local school districts would be cut 1.33 percent. 

Local school districts would be allowed more flexibility in implementing some state regulations to make up for the reduction in SEEK funding, said budget committee chair Sen. Bob Leeper, I-Paducah. Some dedicated funds, including coal severance, would also be spared cuts. 

The Senate plan also includes language prohibiting the governor from furloughing state workers until other targeted savings on state contracts, non-merit employees and operating efficiencies are met. 

"In my opinion, this is a more responsible strategy," Leeper said.  

HB 305, which passed the Senate on a 24-12 vote, now returns to the House for its consideration of the Senate changes. If the two chambers cannot agree on one plan or the other, a conference committee will be appointed to iron out a final version.

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March 2, 2011

Hunting, fishing protections one step from Nov. 2012 ballot

FRANKFORT — Voters could get their say on constitutional protections for hunting and fishing in November 2012 under a bill headed back to the House for final passage. 

"This is a long-respected right of the citizens of this great Commonwealth," said Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown. 

House Bill 1, sponsored by Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville, and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, would include those protections in the state constitution, making it more difficult to impose restrictions. 

A simple majority of voters in the 2012 General Election would be necessary for its inclusion in the constitution. 

The Senate, which approved the legislation on a 33-2 vote, added clarifying language to the legislation, sending it back to the House for its concurrence. 

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March 2, 2011

House votes 48-46 to create task force to study PSC issues

FRANKFORT—A legislative task force would study alternative ways to select members of the Public Service Commission and other factors involved in utility rate increases approved by the PSC under changes to a Senate bill passed today by the House.

Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, as amended passed the House 48-46 and now returns to the Senate for consideration.

“Eastern Kentuckians have had two power bill increases in four years,” said Rep. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, who presented SB 151 on the House floor. Hall said the increases “don’t pass the smell test.”

Rep. Fitz Steele, D-Hazard, said the PSC needs to be more representative of the ratepayers, many of whom struggle to pay high energy bills.

“The people who live in this Commonwealth should have a say on what goes on in this Commonwealth,” Steele said.

The task force sought by the House would include three members of the House, three members of the Senate and the House and Senate co-chairs of the Special Subcommittee on Energy. The panel would be required to report its findings to the Legislative Research Commission by Dec. 15.

House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, said the task force should be more inclusive. Having members of citizens groups like the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on the task force as well as lawmakers, he said, would create inclusiveness. Hall said he would be amenable to expanding the task force.

Issues that would be studied by the task force would include finding ways to increase citizen input into the ratemaking process, protections for vulnerable ratepayers, cost of capital and access to capital by utilities, and whether municipal utilities should be regulated by the PSC. 

SB 151 as passed by the Senate, would have made the PSC an elected rather than appointed commission and expanded the panel from three to seven members.

The PSC is the state body responsible for regulating utility and approving utility rate increases in the Commonwealth.

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March 1, 2011

CO₂ pipeline bill heads to governor’s desk

FRANKFORT—A bill that would help build carbon dioxide pipelines in Kentucky through state incentives and eminent domain rights received final passage by an 80-17 vote today in the House.

Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, would add carbon dioxide pipelines to the short list of pipelines currently built by eminent domain in Kentucky, including natural gas and oil pipelines. House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said carbon dioxide pipeline projects eligible for incentives under SB 50 would have to have a minimum investment of $50 million.

Adkins, the primary sponsor of the 2007 Kentucky Incentives for Energy Independence Act, said SB 50 is necessary tie future energy technologies to carbon capture and storage as required by the 2007 law.

“If we want to capture carbon dioxide, we have to have an infrastructure of pipelines to capture carbon dioxide,” said Adkins, adding that carbon dioxide is already being stored and used to recover oil from old wells in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Around 20 percent of West Texas oil is recovered with the help of carbon dioxide technology, he said.

Carbon dioxide pipelines created under SB 50 could move carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to oil recovery sites in-state and elsewhere, among other uses. Pipelines would also allow the gas to be transported for storage in deep underground natural reservoirs.

Rep. Steven Rudy, R-West Paducah, said he supports SB 50 but that the state’s energy plan is missing a key ingredient: nuclear power. He asked his colleagues for support of SB 34, a bill that would pave the way for nuclear power facilities to locate in Kentucky. The bill passed the Senate 31-5 on Feb. 8 and is awaiting a vote in the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee.

“I think a large piece of the puzzle is missing before we can be truly (energy) independent,” Rudy said. “I think there is still time to get that bill through.”

SB 50 now goes to the governor for his signature.

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February 28, 2011

Penal code reform bill awaits governor’s signature

FRANKFORT — State taxpayers could save as much as $147 million over the next decade under an overhaul of the state’s penal code passed unanimously by the Senate today and now headed to the governor’s desk for his signature.

“This is one the best days in the 26 years I’ve been up here,” said Senate President David Williams, the longest-serving member in the chamber.

House Bill 463, sponsored by Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, is the result of a multi-year task force that examined the state’s anti-crime efforts in collaboration with the Pew Center on the States. The reform package is the first comprehensive examination of the state’s criminal laws since 1974.

The intent is to protect public safety by reducing the number of repeat offenders, said Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London. The plan achieves that end by taking a new tack on drugs while putting a renewed emphasis on non-incarceration options that are proven to work.

The bill will continue to severely punish violent crimes and drug trafficking but reduces the punishment for simple drug possession in two ways. While remaining a Class D Felony, possession of small amounts will result in up to three years in prison, down from the current maximum of five, and repeat offenses will remain Class D Felonies rather than being Class C Felonies punishable by up to 10 years behind bars.

Drug crimes are the reason for about 40 percent of all state prisoners, Jensen said. Initial savings estimates were set at $422 million over the next decade, but half would be reinvested in drug abuse and mental illness treatment. An additional $61 million would go toward probation and parole services, which will be focused on the greater number of would-be inmates who will undergo community supervision or be fitted with GPS ankle monitors.  Those who violate their probation or parole in minor ways could also face “intermediate sanctions” rather than mandatory return to prison, Jensen said, which often results in longer sentences than originally intended. Inmates will also receive credit for time served for their treatment and education programs.

A third component of the reform plan is a focus on evidence-based or data-driven programs that clearly work, said Senate Majority Floor Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester. Such an approach will drive out “profiteers” who cost the state significant money but don’t help reduce recidivism, he said.

Since the last reform package, many laws have been passed to tackle particular crimes, resulting in laws that were “tough on crime” but not cost-efficient or particularly effective at reducing recidivism, Jensen said. As a result, corrections costs have grown 45 percent in the last decade as opposed to the 13 percent national average. “We can’t expect to fight crime the way we always have and get different results,” he said.

“We came up with an irrational code” because of the piecemeal changes, said Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville. “This is a step toward rationality.”

The bill also retains the existence of the original task force, which will continue to examine the best ways to protect Kentuckians in a cost-effective way. “We still have work to do on this matter,” Jensen said.

Neal, who sponsored the original legislation to form the task force, concurred. “This first step is significant,” he said, while saying he thought there was much more to do. “This is the right direction.”

The Senate approved a handful of changes to the original House plan, including setting the minimum amount of heroin to qualify as trafficking at 2 grams, equal to the qualifying amount of meth. The Senate also expanded the number of instances where police could make arrests in misdemeanor cases, including for DUI stops and resisting arrest.

Later in the day, the House approved the Senate version of the bill 96-1, putting it one step closer to becoming state law.

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February 25, 2011

This week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- Kentucky’s new U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican with strong Tea Party credentials, bolstered his reputation for non-traditional thinking in Frankfort this week, pitching a federal balanced-budget amendment via the never-done Constitutional convention route to the state Senate -- a proposal endorsed by the chamber later that day.

Paul’s trip to Kentucky came as a season of discontent over state government spending -- and the human consequences of resulting efforts to contain that spending -- spread across states in the Rust Belt to our north. Budget issues at all levels, local, state and federal, are the topic of the day in political/governmental circles, and the stakes are enormous.

Budget showdowns have seen minority lawmakers flee their home states to deny quorums and block floor votes in such states as Wisconsin and Indiana, and brought thousands of protesters into the streets of state capitals.

At this point, Kentucky is not among the states in turmoil. The state budget is not up for a general re-opening in this winter’s short session. Revenue projections for the two-year General Fund and Road Fund budgets the General Assembly passed last Spring have held up remarkably well. Except for a troublesome hole in state-federal Medicaid funding, state finances seem, for now, sound.

But this is the first session in years that Kentucky hasn’t faced major shortfalls. And the problem nationwide is deep and widespread. By some estimates, the states face combined deficits that may total as much as $125 billion in the next fiscal year. Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey are trying to weaken collective-bargaining agreements and increase worker contributions for budget-draining employee health care and pensions. Opponents called the moves simple union-busting. Labor, beleaguered for years but strong with public employees, geared for a fight.

The simmering situation exploded onto the front pages in the last week -- a surprise to many, who didn’t anticipate its ferocity -- with positions already established, sharply divided, and both sides digging in for a long struggle of what looks like trench warfare.

One observer looked at the hardened divisions and the emotional determination to prevail shown by both sides, and said the old ‘culture wars’ of the past few decades, centered on social issues, have been replaced by ‘economics wars’ of the current day.

The issues in play are not unfamiliar to Kentuckians: Spending that outstrips revenues here on a regular basis, causing round after round of budget cuts -- including nearly $1 billion last year -- and growing demand to help get spending under control by curbing what some call overly-generous state-employee benefits, have all been part of the Commonwealth’s public dialogue in recent months and years.

The most controversial proposal in Wisconsin involves largely eliminating public employees’ collective bargaining rights, which is not an issue for state workers here, as they are non-union. But also up in the air are state pension plans that many say are unsustainable in their current configuration, given actuarial realities.

Kentucky is certainly familiar with the pension issue. The state-employees pension plan here carries about $25 billion in unfunded liabilities, a staggering amount. One bill dealing with the threat -- SB 2 -- has passed the Senate this session. Its approach is basically to close the current defined-benefits retirement plan to new state hires and replace it with a 401(k)-type plan, a much less expensive approach that has become standard in the private sector.

The pension-reform bill passed the Senate earlier this month and was sent to the House, where it has remained undiscussed since its referral to the House State Government Committee on Feb. 15, its fate there highly uncertain.

Meanwhile, the theme of budget stresses and saving money continued elsewhere in the session, as a largely unremarked bill some say could represent one of the most significant reforms of recent decades passed the House late last week, received Senate committee approval Thursday, and was poised to pass that chamber, perhaps as soon as Monday.

House Bill 463 is the product of a blue-ribbon task force study by judges, attorneys, public officials and legal experts, all focused on making the criminal justice system work more effectively and efficiently. It addresses explosive growth in one of the costliest segments of the state budget: Corrections. The main target: Non-violent drug offenders. The goal: Lower exploding Corrections costs by getting non-violent, non-dangerous offenders out of jail, into treatment, back to work, and off the taxpayers’ dime.

As penalties against drug crimes -- including simple possession -- have risen in patchwork fashion in recent years, so has the state’s prison population exploded. The bill codifies the types and amounts of different drugs that define serious trafficking versus simple possession, and sets out alternatives to re-incarceration for parole or probation violations.

The goal is to keep the bad guys in prison, but treat lesser no-threat offenders in a manner commensurate with their crimes, including penalties other than imprisonment, and treatment and help in leading productive lives.

The payoff: Experts estimate the changes proposed in the measure could save the state corrections budget as much as $422 million over the next decade.

Meanwhile this week, great attention accompanied Sen. Rand Paul’s visit to the Senate, especially in light of recent events. During his day in Frankfort, he testified to a Senate committee and spoke to the full chamber on his proposal for a Constitutional convention to consider a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Article 5 of that document spells out two ways the Constitution can be amended. Amendments may be proposed by either two-thirds of both house of Congress -- the way it’s always been done -- or by a national convention, commonly called an ‘Article 5 convention,‘ frequently attempted but never successfully. Such a convention requires that at least two-thirds (34) of the Legislatures of the 50 states request it.

Over the years, there have been fears, both supported and refuted by strong legal minds, that such a convention could not be confined to a limited agenda, and could in fact open up the entire Constitution for rewrite. Regardless of who‘s correct (and until it’s really tested, no one will know) that fear alone has been a pretty effective roadblock to past efforts to convene one, although it could also be said that the political threat of a convention forced Congress‘ hand into proposing an amendment itself. Proponents of this amendment, including Paul himself, say they hope and expect that to happen this time too.

Proposed amendments of either type -- drafted by Congress or drafted by convention --must then be finally ratified either by approval of the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the states. Congress has say over which method of ratification will be used.

After Paul‘s appearance, the Senate passed SCR 134 requesting an Article 5 balanced-budget convention from Congress, and forwarded it to the House, where its fate too is uncertain.

The Kentucky General Assembly encourages citizen participation in its work. Its website --- www.lrc.ky.gov -- contains a wealth of information about the Legislature in general, and the ongoing 2011 session in particular. It is updated continuously.

To leave a message for a legislator, the toll-free Message Line is 1-800-372-7181.

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February 23, 2011

Kentucky House asks governor to do away with furloughs

FRANKFORT—The Kentucky House today asked the governor to halt his state employee furlough plan.

House Resolution 147, sponsored by Rep. Rick Nelson, D-Middlesboro, and approved by a vote of 89-0, urges Gov. Steve Beshear to do away with the three furlough days remaining in the governor’s furlough plan this fiscal year.  Thousands of state employees have been furloughed three days since last July, with another three furlough days expected by the end of June.  The next furlough day is scheduled for March.

Nelson said the economic toll that furlough days have had on many employees, combined with the state’s hiring of over 1,000 employees since last summer, are reasons to do away with the furlough plan.  Other lawmakers, including Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, and Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, agreed that the time to quash state employee furloughs has come.

“I think it’s time for it to end,” said Rollins. “The whole purpose of furloughs was to keep from firing people; if we’re hiring people, it’s time for furloughs to end.”

Graham said few communities have been as affected by the furloughs as much as Frankfort and Franklin County, where Graham said around 50 percent of the workforce are employed by the state.

“Not only are state employees affected by (the drop) in their salaries, but those six days are also impacting their retirement,” he said. “We need to show them that we support their efforts.”

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February 23, 2011

Bills dealing with elk explosion go to Senate

FRANKFORT—Two bills that would offer relief to Kentuckians negatively affected by the release of elk in their region passed the House today.

House Bill 353, sponsored by Rep. Rick Nelson, D-Middlesboro, and HB 348, sponsored by Rep. John Short, D-Hindman, passed 93-5 and 98-0 respectively and now go to the Senate for consideration.

Nelson’s bill would prohibit the state Fish and Wildlife department from releasing an animal in any county that weighs 500 pounds or more at adulthood.

Short’s bill would allow more elk to be hunted by those living in the 16-county elk restoration area throughout Eastern Kentucky via a postseason elk quota hunt held in regular elk quota hunt years. The postseason hunt would be held on public and private hunting areas in the Knott County or Stoney Fork elk management units of Eastern Kentucky.

“The reason for this legislation is to level the playing field for folks in counties who don’t get our fair share of elk hunting tags,” Short said of HB 348. “We have to put up with the negative effects of a growing elk population as they trample our fields, break down our fences, and cause car wrecks. But we are only awarded (a few elk) hunting tags each year.”

Nelson told the House that there have been over 100 auto accidents in the past four or five years due to collisions with elk, which were reintroduced to Kentucky in 1997.  

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife estimates that the state’s elk herd has reached 5,000.

“In the rural areas, we’re having a terrible problem with them,” Nelson said.

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February 22, 2011

Consumer protection bill goes to Senate

FRANKFORT— It would be a crime in Kentucky to immediately solicit someone involved in a motor vehicle accident for business related to the wreck under a bill passed by the House today.

Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, the prime sponsor of House Bill 382 which passed the House 95-1, said the bill is meant to protect consumers who are already covered by at least $10,000 in no fault personal injury insurance required by the state. Gooch said the policy funds help pay medical expenses, loss of wages and other costs no matter who caused the accident—funds that could be lost to unscrupulous solicitors

“There are people soliciting people through runners to certain clinics…doing things that aren’t needed,” said Gooch.

HB 382 would make it a Class A misdemeanor to solicit those involved in an accident within 30 days of the wreck. A Class A misdemeanor can carry up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.

Advertising to the general public, communication from emergency responders or communication from insurers, their agents and adjusters would not be considered solicitation under HB 382. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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February 22, 2011

Senate OKs proposal for federal balanced budget amendment

FRANKFORT — All but one U.S. state is required to balance its budget, and it’s time to require the same of the federal government, the Senate voted today.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 134, sponsored by Senate President David Williams, would make Kentucky the first state to petition Congress with specific proposals as part of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment.

The proposed 28^th Amendment would not only limit federal spending to annual revenues, but would also prohibit tax increases or unfunded mandates on states. Those limits could be waived by a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress. The plan also allows flexibility in times of war or military conflict.

If passed by the House, the call would be forwarded to leaders of the U.S. Senate and House as well as legislative leaders in statehouses across the nation, requesting their participation.

“When the state legislatures rise up, the United States Congress has always responded,” said Williams, R-Burkesville. “The U.S. Congress must act if we tell it to act.”

It would take 33 other states — for a total of two-thirds of all states — making similar requests before Congress would be forced to call a constitutional convention, but Williams said he expects action sooner than that.

“On several other occasions, when faced with the probability, possibility, or the imminency of a constitutional convention, the United States Congress has relented and passed a constitutional amendment through both houses and submitted it to the people through their legislatures,” Williams said. “We believe that this will be the ultimate result.”

Once the convention is called and the exact language is drafted, it would take ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, 38 in all, to add it to the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul spoke to the chamber before the floor debate, urging state lawmakers to take action to rein in the federal debt. “The deficits we are mounting in Washington are a bipartisan problem,” he said, noting that the federal debt is projected to increase by $11-13 trillion over the next decade regardless of which party’s budget is adopted. “We need some restraints. We need something like a straitjacket.”

The resolution was adopted on a 22-16 vote and now awaits action by the House.

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February 18, 2011

Senators sign off on elected utilities regulators

FRANKFORT — The state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates the state’s utility providers and must approve all rate increases, would be an elected rather than appointed body under legislation approved by the Senate today.

Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, would convert the panel, whose three current members are appointed by the governor, into a seven-member body elected by the people. One member would be elected from each of the state’s six congressional districts, with the seventh elected statewide. Terms would be for four years.

If passed by the House and signed into law by the governor, the first elections would be held in 2012 and the new panel would take office on January 1, 2013.

The impetus for the bill is recent double-digit rate increases that were approved by the appointed PSC, Jones said. “Electing the members of this body would give the people the direct voice in those decisions,” he said.

One utility provider raised rates 17 percent last year with PSC approval, Jones said. “I don’t know of any constituent in my district who saw a 17 percent increase in their Social Security checks, their pension checks, or their paychecks,” he said.

The rate increases also affect the region’s economic competitiveness, Jones said, with higher electric rates driving manufacturers away or reducing their ability to hire and pay employees.

The bill, which passed on a 29-5 vote, now awaits action in the House.

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February 18, 2011

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- It’s said all prayers are answered, but sometimes the answer is no. Similarly, in a legislative session, all bills are successful, but sometimes they just don’t pass.

This is said against the backdrop of what some might think a striking number -- the number of bills that have passed both chambers this year. That number, as of sundown on Thursday, the 17^th day of a 30 day session, was zero. The first bill to pass both chambers finally got House approval this morning, the 18^th day.

But even if bills die a quick death, or stall and bog down terminally later in the process, they succeed in small or large measure by bringing forward public issues -- sometimes urgent ones -- and crystallizing them for broader discussion. And sometimes democracy hears a bill, like God hearing a prayer, and says no. At least for now.

A surprising truth: The success of a legislative session can’t be measured simply in the number of bills it passes.

Obviously, it’s premature to declare any bill dead in this winter’s Legislature, or speculate which or how many might finally pass. It hasn’t been unusual, in the past decade, to go deep into an off-year session before bills start clicking. And some bills have more lives than a cat. Beaten and bloody, they rise again and again.

Others explode suddenly like supernovae, and power through the process on surprising, strong sentiment. Just in the last week, what’s being called the Optometrists Bill had just such a jet-propelled ride, despite formidable opposition from the medical establishment.

The bill would let optometrists, who are not medical doctors, perform a specific surgical laser procedure to correct problems that sometimes follow cataract surgery -- a significant expansion of their charter -- and to administer certain new medications. It would give the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners more authority to define the scope of optometric practice.

The Senate bill sped through its home chamber in four days last week, then got quick committee approval in the House earlier this week. It passed the full House un-amended Friday, and became not only the first two-chamber passed bill of the session, but the first sent to the governor for his signature.

But that bill is, so far, the exception this session. A number of measures that have received wide attention face what looks like tough sledding on their bumpy journey toward law, as the session runs ever shorter on days.

One issue that emerged dramatically and with powerful support among legislative leaders and law enforcement would require a doctor’s prescription for certain cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a precursor ingredient used to cook methamphetamine. ‘Meth’ is a growing problem in rural Kentucky, a powerful drug of abuse with devastating personal and social consequences.

But Senate Bill 46 ran into a buzzsaw of equally powerful and well-heeled opposition from business groups, who questioned why law-abiding Kentucky families with sniffles should pay in added medical expense and inconvenience to combat meth abuse. They pointed out that the current electronic tracking system for monitoring and regulating over-the-counter decongestant sales would be lost.

The bill was passed by a Senate committee, but has not been called from the board for a vote in the full chamber. Presumably, a whip-count shows not yet enough votes to pass it. So that bill’s fate remains up in the air in its chamber of origin, even as time is running short to get it through the House after that.

Still, even if it ultimately fails to pass, the bill has already succeeded in the overall grand scheme of self-government, by giving rise to a broad discussion about best approaches to combating meth abuse -- an undisputed scourge and a war all parties agree must be fought.

The same could be said of other major bills this session. The House and Senate have each passed competing bills dealing with illegal immigration. The chambers have widely divergent approaches to the problem. Neither has seemed much inclined to accept the other’s.

But like meth, it’s a problem that won’t go away, and a vigorous debate has surrounded the two immigration bills, their different approaches, and the issue generally. It‘s certainly conceivable neither bill (nor a compromise melding of the two) will pass this session. But regardless of the outcome, each succeeded in shaping public thinking about the overall problem, and moving the debate down the road toward eventual consensus and resolution.

Sometimes, issues just don’t seem ‘ripe.’ One chamber sees a clear necessity, while the other is dubious. In such cases, public discussion may be far less lively because it hits a brick wall.

The House passed a bill earlier this month raising, in steps, the dropout age in Kentucky schools to 18. This was really the only public-policy priority the Governor had this session But the Senate, unenthusiastic, sent the House bill to its Education Committee, where it remains undiscussed.

Similarly, the Senate in the session’s first week sent the House a bill that would make Kentucky the 40^th state to allow what’s called charter schools, allowing certain schools, under school district supervision, to be exempt from a number of regulations and restrictions so teachers can focus on teaching. SB 3 also stipulates that children could attend the school closest to their home rather than be bused long distances. But the House, also unenthusiastic, sent the bill to its own Education Committee, where it too remains undiscussed.

Even bills on life support can succeed in a larger public policy sense by focusing civic attention on their ideas, however fleetingly, and schooling their advocates -- who are many, and not going away -- on the need to sharpen their arguments, marshal public support, and do a better job in future sessions of convincing skeptical legislators that their issue‘s time has come.

In that regard, every session, and every bill in it, is or can be a successful lesson in civics -- win, lose or draw. And fight another day,.

The Kentucky General Assembly encourages citizen participation in its work. Its website --- www.lrc.ky.gov -- contains a wealth of information about the Legislature in general, and the ongoing 2011 session in particular. It is updated continuously.

To leave a message for a legislator, the toll-free Message Line is 1-800-372-7181.

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February 17, 2011

Penal code overhaul passes House by large majority

FRANKFORT -- A massive overhaul of the state’s penal code system that is expected to net $147 million in savings over 10 years by reducing penalties for lesser drug crimes while remaining tough on serious offenders has passed the House 97-2.

House Bill 463, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chair John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, puts several provisions in place to improve public safety while lowering Correctional costs and the state crime rate.

“Our drug convictions have skyrocketed,” said Tilley, adding that approximately 25 percent of all current prison inmates in the state are held for drug offenses. HB 463 will replace imprisonment or jail time for many of these offenders with supervised treatment “…leaving (jail and prison) beds for serious offenders,” he said.

Highlights of HB 463 includes scaled drug penalties with serious drug traffickers, manufacturers of meth, those convicted of first degree drug possession of cocaine and other top-scheduled narcotics continuing to face felony penalties while penalties for many lesser crimes, including simple possession of small quantities of drugs, would be reduced to misdemeanors.  Parolees would earn credits for time served, and many offenders would be sent to local jails toward the end of their sentence.

The bill also would also encourage drug treatment over incarceration for low-level non-violent offenders—who can be treated at Comp Care centers for around $3,000 as opposed to the taxpayer cost of $21,700 a year cost to incarcerate a prisoner in Kentucky, said Tilley—and institute “presumptive probation” for many low-level offenders unless the court finds “substantial and compelling reasons” why community supervision is not an acceptable option.   GPS monitoring of offenders would be expanded, an online database to keep victims informed of an offender’s whereabouts would be created, and an emergency provision—that would take effect the moment the bill becomes law—would ensure better tracking of sex offenders who violate upon their release.

A last-minute compromise between local governments and hospitals would help pay cost of hospitalization of prisoners out of a state catastrophic loss fund that is available, Tilley said.

Fellow lawmakers, including House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, praised Tilley for his work on the bill before the vote.

“Only those with private insurance or other means are able to get help most of the time (in treatment),” said Hoover. “This will help many more people. This is a step in the right direction,” although Hoover said he still has some concerns with the bill.

The majority of the provisions in HB 463 were recommended by the state Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act that met for over six months last year to recommend updates to the penal code, which was last revised in the mid-1970s.

The outdated code is believed by many to be a primary cause for a 45 percent jump in the state’s prison population since 2000.  The rate of incarceration has only gone up 13 percent nationally over the same period

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February, 16, 2011

Bill to enhance energy incentives passes House

FRANKFORT -- Energy incentives for manufacturers of components used in renewable or alternative energy facilities and other technologies in Kentucky would be created by a bill approved today by the House.

House Bill 340, sponsored by House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, passed the House 96-0. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Should the bill become law, manufacturers that invest a minimum of $25 million in components for renewable, alternative or gasification energy projects, energy storage and energy efficiency or conservation technologies would be eligible for state tax and financial incentives.  The minimum investment would be $100 million for alternative fuel or gasification plants that use oil shale, tar sand or coal as a primary feedstock.

With the presence of GE’s Appliance Park in Louisville and other energy projects throughout the state, Adkins said Kentucky is in a “good position” to attract more investment through enhanced incentives.

“This legislation is to ensure that Kentucky continues to be the energy leader, not just (here) but all over the world,” said Adkins.

Alternative fuel and renewable energy incentives in place now are expected to add billions of dollars to the state’s economy, he added.

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February 15, 2011

Senate approves early graduation bill

FRANKFORT — High school students across the state would have a consistent program to graduate early and start college early under legislation approved by the Senate today.

Senate Bill 69, sponsored by Sen. Ken Winters, R-Murray, would require 18 credits in core academic areas for graduation under the program, including two college-level courses through the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs.

“The basis of this bill is the effort to eliminate the ‘lost senior year’” in which students coast through the final year of school without being challenged, Winters said.

Students emerging from the program would also have to achieve baseline ACT scores, benchmark scores on statewide end-of-year exams, and a 3.2 GPA. In return, they would be able to use the state money their school district receives for their attendance  — in the range of $2500 annually — and apply that toward their tuition and fees at Kentucky two- and four-year colleges.

KEES money the student earns based on their high school grades would be recalculated to reflect four years of grades rather than their actual time spent in high school, Winters noted.

“What we’re trying to do is create a system that will allow students to move at an accelerated rate,” Winters said.

The bill, which passed 35-1, now moves to the House for its consideration.

The Senate also approved legislation to boost the prospects of a carbon-capture pipeline. SB 50, sponsored by Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, would allow such pipelines, which carry stored carbon dioxide, to use the same eminent domain laws used by other utilities. The law, Jensen said, is crucial to creation of an Illinois-to-Louisiana pipeline, built through western Kentucky, which would help boost U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly one thousand construction jobs would be created, he said.

SB passed on a 37-0 vote and now awaits action in the House.

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February 15, 2011

Bill to allow commercial ads on school buses passes House

FRANKFORT—Commercial advertising would be allowed on the outside of school buses in Kentucky with local school board approval under a bill that cleared the House 61-35 today.

House Bill 67, sponsored by Rep. Terry Mills, D-Lebanon, would let school boards decide whether to allow the advertising, Mills said. Political or campaign ads and ads for alcohol or tobacco products would be prohibited.

Mills said HB 67 will help bring money to school districts in dire need of funding.

“There’s not sufficient funding to meet needs,” Mills said he has heard repeatedly since serving in the state House over the past year. “Nowhere have I heard this more than from our educators.”

“I believe this bill is good for education, and I believe it’s good for business in Kentucky,” he added.

Mills said a similar law in Texas is allowing the Dallas school system to reap over $1 million in revenue this school year.

Advertising allowed on school buses under HB 67 could only be placed on the exterior of the bus below the windows from behind the front wheel to the front of the back wheel, and behind the back wheel to the end of the bus, according to the bill. No ads could be placed on the front or rear of the bus, or interfere with the vehicle’s reflective or warning equipment.

HB 67 would also prohibit school districts from excluding advertisers deemed by the local school board as appropriate.

The bill now goes to the Senate for its consideration.

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February 11, 2011

This Week in Frankfort

FRANKFORT -- Some issues seem homegrown. Kentucky’s meth problem, like its epidemic of prescription-painkiller abuse, feels woven from the fabric of the Commonwealth’s more troubled history. Other issues, though, seep across the state’s borders, slowly at first, echoes of ‘other people‘s troubles,’ barely on our radar. Until, of a sudden, they rise to center stage and the Legislature is compelled to deal with them.