KACo Legislative Review
Week 9
Tuesday, March 4 – Friday, March 7
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Questions, comments, legislator feedback:
shellie.hampton@kaco.org
A lot took place in this short week, but most eyes are focused on the release and passage of the
House’s version of the budget next week. The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee is scheduled
to meet at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning (Day 42) to hear Budget Review Subcommittee reports. From
there, the budget (HB 235) is expected to be voted out of committee on Tuesday, March 11 (Day 43) and off
the House floor on Wednesday, March 12 (Day 44). Early reports suggest the House plan will generally
reflect what the Governor presented over six weeks ago, which implies that K-12 funding levels and funding
flexibility will remain one of the few bright spots, higher education funding cuts will likely not be restored and
more dollars will probably be “swept” from boards and special funds to balance the budget. House Speaker
Greg Stumbo (D) made public remarks on Friday that explained a few of the differences between the House
and Governor’s plans. According to the Speaker, there will be a provision that taxes “instant racing” – a type
of electronic gaming that the Supreme Court has recently given the state the power to regulate. The road
plan (HB 237) is expected to follow one week later.
LIFT
The Kentucky LIFT (Local Investments for Transformation) local option sales tax proposal (HB 399)
intends to add another tool to the proverbial toolbox by giving local voters the option to assess up to a penny
sales tax locally to pay for specific projects for a set amount of time. KACo supports this initiative. LIFT was
discussed again in a House committee this week and is scheduled for a committee vote on Tuesday, March
11 at 8:00 a.m in the House Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs committee.
The enabling legislation is contained in HB 551, which you can review by clicking here.
GAMING
Speaker Stumbo has been almost apologetic when discussing this budget, lamenting the utter lack of
new revenue. Perhaps to that end, Stumbo filed his own bill that would place expanded gaming on the ballot
this year. HB 584 differs slightly from the other expanded gaming constitutional amendment bill, but would
have the same effect of raising hundreds of millions of dollars in initial license fees and sustained receipts
from the games themselves. Time is of the essence, and the House would need to move the bill within the
next week or so. Kentucky Wins, the broad coalition of pro-gaming supporters, is expected to hold a rally in
support of letting the people decide the issue on Thursday afternoon in the Capitol. Attached you will find the
details of that rally and we encourage you to attend and support this effort. Successful House passage
would put pressure on the Senate to act, and the correlation between a bleak budget and new revenue will
no doubt be made.
NOTEWORTHY FROM THIS WEEK
A House panel passed a measure that will allow Kentucky’s state and local agencies to engage in
public-private partnerships. The “P3 bill” is numbered HB 407. If passed, the bill would open up funding
options for public works projects large and small, from wastewater treatment plants to major bridges. The bill
now moves to the House floor.
HB 145 passed the House on Thursday by the wide margin of 86-7. The “MOST” bill (Medical Order
for Scope of Treatment), as it is more commonly known, establishes a standard, transportable medical
directive in Kentucky statutes that allows terminally diagnosed patients to consult with their family and
physicians to determine the patient’s treatment level as their condition deteriorates. The effort was
championed by hospices and physicians across the state, who have seen firsthand the confusion that takes
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place when the desires of dying patients are unclear and cannot be communicated. An attempt to gut the bill
with an unfriendly amendment about feeding tube removal was thwarted by a bipartisan vote, heavily
influenced by a legislator who had just recently experienced the death of his mother. HB 145 now goes to the
Senate, where it has stalled in past sessions.
The sponsor of the statewide public smoking ban (HB 173) announced that the effort is dead this
year. Lexington Democrat Susan Westrom put the blame at the feet of her own House Leadership, citing
their representation of rural districts whose constituents generally don’t support the bill and the reality of
election-year politics. The issue of electronic cigarettes still lingers as the Senate overwhelmingly passed a
bill off the floor that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. While the issue of prohibiting sales
to minors is non-controversial among the vast majority of members, defining these vapor devices as
“tobacco” products may lead to a policy debate over the remaining days of the session.
The political news this week has centered on Attorney General Jack Conway’s (D) choosing not to
appeal Judge John Heyburn’s decision to recognize same-sex marriages from other states in Kentucky.
Governor Steve Beshear (D) announced that he would appeal the decision, but will do so with outside
counsel. Both Beshear and Conway are term-limited, although Conway is a potential 2015 Democrat
gubernatorial candidate. About the same time the Governor and AG made their first public statements on the
same-sex marriage ruling, the first slate of GOP candidates announced their intention to run for Governor in
2015. Louisville developer Hal Heiner has officially thrown his name in the hat for the Republican nomination,
and he has named former Lexington Councilwoman K.C. Crosbie as his running mate. Heiner narrowly lost
to Greg Fischer in Louisville’s last mayoral race. The Heiner/Crosby ticket will likely face current KY
Agriculture Commission James Comer, among others, in the May 2015 primary.
Politics and policy came to a head on Thursday afternoon. State Auditor Adam Edelen (D), whom
many expect will also seek the Democrat’s nomination for Governor in 2015, held a press conference in
which he accused Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer (R) of playing politics with Edelen’s cybersecurity legislation, HB 5. The bill would require the state and some local agencies to notify citizens in the
event of a data breech, and Thayer admittedly referred to it as the “Adam Edelen for Governor Bill” in a
recent public appearance. Calling Thayer the Senate’s “chief obstructionist,” Edelen noted that the bill
passed the House unanimously over a month ago, yet still hasn’t had a Senate committee hearing. Thayer
responded that the bill would not become effective law until January 1, 2015 regardless of whether it passes
immediate or on the last day of session. It is unlikely that the public sparring will motivate the bill toward
faster passage, but it did provide some high drama in a relatively slow legislative week.
Nearly the entire Commonwealth was in the path of the latest – and hopefully last – winter storm of
the season. The mix of snow and ice that began in Western Kentucky early Sunday and moved across the
state throughout the day on Monday, prompting the Senate President and House Speaker to cancel
Monday’s session, thus compressing the work week to only four days. There has not yet been a decision as
to whether a Saturday legislative day will be added, the calendar will be revised to give up a veto or
concurrence day, or if the session will last just 59 days. The session must end by midnight, April 15, and the
relatively late start this year took a lot of the slack out of the calendar.
The weather pushed back the filing deadline in each chamber by one legislative day. The House
deadline passed Tuesday, March 4, and the Senate followed suit on Thursday, March 6. As expected, there
were a flurry of filings, and many members filed “shell” bills that may be substituted in committee with
complete legislative proposals at a later date. The House tally is 584 bills, and the Senate clocked in at 240.
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Members may continue to file resolutions and amendments for the remainder of the session. A bill introduced
on the last day of Senate filings may offer some insight into the 2016 U.S. Presidential race. SB 205 (Sen.
Thayer-R) would allow U.S. Senator Rand Paul to have his name appear twice on the same ballot – once to
defend his Senate seat and the other to run for President. A non-scientific poll of legislators and lobbyists
show that the two most popular bills filed this week are a House proposal to eliminate Kentucky’s prohibition
on racing a horse on highways (HB 519) and the Senate President’s proposal (SB 195) to cut Kentucky’s
short sessions to a five-day organizational session and our long sessions from 60 down to 45 days.
Click here to view the latest bill tracking list from the KACo legislative committee. We meet next on
Monday, March 10.
Upcoming Key Dates:
March 28 and 31-Concurrence Only
April 1 through 11-Veto days
April 15-SINE DIE (Day 60)