On the verge of the last full week of action, the pressure is mounting to resolve many issues pending in the waning days of this legislative session. Two of the biggest issues are in the hands of the State Senate: the budget and the road plan. Senate President Robert Stivers
(R) plans to pass its version of the budget out of committee and out of the Senate today , setting up conference committee negotiations. Although the Senate has not released the details of its budget plan, they have made no secret
– from the Governor
’ s Budget Address to today
– that the debt load is a major point of contention. Regarding timeline, the session must end by midnight on April 15. The legislative calendar reserves the final two working days (April 14 and
15) to override any gubernatorial vetoes; it is not uncommon for the General Assembly to shift at least one of those days forward to give them more time to hammer out a compromise. There have been no such calendar adjustments to this point, but like everything else in Frankfort this time of year, the situation is fluid.
In marquee legislative action last week, the House passed the road plan on Wednesday.
Whereas Kentucky
’ s general fund has struggled, the separately funded transportation account has been relatively flush. The road plan divides up that ample fund for road construction, repairs, and bridges in Kentucky. The process is quite political, as blacktop and broad roads are high-priorities in every community. The Governor
’ s proposed road plan was over programmed by more than 80%, which perhaps made it easier for House leadership to strip projects from legislators who did not vote to raise the gas tax floor the previous week. One high-profile policy consideration led to a House change. Anticipated tolling funds dedicated to the I-75 bridge connecting Northern Kentucky to Cincinnati were removed after a Northern Kentucky legislator amended the public-private-partnership bill to exclude tolling for bridges between Kentucky and
Ohio.
On Thursday, Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo (D) lent his vocal support for the
Local Investments for Transformation (LIFT) Constitutional amendment bill. HB 399 would give
Kentucky voters the right to vote on a Constitutional amendment that, if passed, would enable cities and counties to levy up to a penny sales tax following a local referendum. Stumbo and
Governor Beshear (D) came to the conclusion that this local revenue flexibility tool could fund many of the projects that local officials and legislators currently beg the legislature to fund. The measure may come to the House floor for a vote as early as today . Senate leaders are noncommittal on their support, but have indicated it would receive a fair hearing.
Expanded gaming remains an option for this session, although both chambers expect the other to move first. Speaker Stumbo has blamed the Senate for not advancing their own gaming bill, but has publicly pledged to assign the coveted
“
HB 1
” bill number to casino legislation if it doesn
’ t pass this year and he retains his Speakership.

SB 200, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Whitney Westerfield (R-Christian,
Logan, Todd), begins the process of reforming Kentucky
’ s juvenile statutes. It passed the
Senate on Thursday. The nearly two-year reform effort now moves to the House, where it finds a receptive Judiciary Chairman, Rep. John Tilley (D-Christian, Trigg) who was critical in shepherding the 2011 reform of Kentucky
’ s penal code.
HB 31 passed the House on Friday morning. The much-discussed and heavily amended bill takes aim at the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline by forbidding the use of eminent domain to seize land for pipelines containing natural gas liquids. The bill managed to unite left-wing environmentalists and right-wing property protectors and passed the House by a wide margin.
The bill also managed to unite the Commonwealth
’ s existing and future oil and gas companies in opposition. The scope of the bill evolved as it moved through the process, and if it were ultimately passed by the Senate, could choke investment in a growing sector of Kentucky
’ s economy.
SB 5 is known as the
“ heroin bill,
” and it still waits House action. The priority bill of the
Attorney General Jack Conway (D) and Senate President Pro-Tem Katie Stine (R-Bracken,
Campbell, Pendleton) has tremendous public support, but will have to wait for considerable
House action before passage. Conversely, the Senate did pass an amended version of HB 5, the cyber security bill championed by State Auditor Adam Edelen (D).That bill, and many others, will receive a
“ concurrence/non-concurrence
” vote by the originating chamber before perhaps going to a conference committee.
Lastly, the Senate moved a Constitutional amendment bill that would considerably shorten the length of Kentucky
’ s legislative sessions-SB 195 sponsored by President Stivers (R-
Clay, Knox, Lee, Owsley, Whitley, Wolfe). It is doubtful that the House would pass the bill as currently written, although there is general agreement that the calendar is not conducive to having both a private career and being a legislator.
Again, this is the last full week of the session. That being said, you can expect several legislative alerts asking you to contact your legislators. We appreciate all your help this year and will thank you in advance for all the requests that are sure to come from us all week, as bills start to move and get amended in a flurry of activity. As always, you can click here to view the latest action on bills being tracked by the KACo legislative committee.
As of this writing, the following days are scheduled; the only one NOT subject to change is the final day of the session, which must end at midnight on Tuesday, April 15th.
March 24-27: Legislative Days 53-56
March 28 & 31: Concurrence Only, meaning the chambers can technically only vote to agree or oppose changes made to a bill by the other chamber (but not unheard of to continue moving other bills out of committees and off the floor)
April 1-11: Governor's Veto Days
April 14 & 15: Legislative Days 59 & 60, and veto override days, if needed.
LEGISLATIVE MESSAGE LINE, aka GREEN SLIP MESSAGE LINE: (800) 372-7181.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK THIS SESSION. KEEP IT UP!