Here's what happened last week in state politics:
Following in the footsteps of federal action, GOP Sen. Lindsey Tichenor successfully attached a floor amendment late last week to an otherwise uncontroversial bill that would largely remove the ability of state employees to work remotely.
Kentucky’s attorney general broke with U.S. Supreme Court precedent to issue an opinion that the Ten Commandments can be displayed in public school classrooms and on state Capitol grounds without violating the First Amendment.
Republican Rep. John Hodgson from Fisherville is sponsoring legislation that would continue a moratorium on Louisville zoning code changes for another two years. It would also make it harder to zone high-density developments in areas zoned for single-family homes.
Also, lawmakers are considering legislation to directly compensate student athletes through revenue-sharing agreements, and a bill to protect conversion therapy.
Meanwhile, volunteers are mucking out homes following the floods in eastern Kentucky, President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration that will help survivors receive benefits, and Kristi Noem visited disaster-stricken areas then claimed Trump doesn’t actually want to eliminate disaster relief, though he previously floated the idea of eliminating FEMA.
Kentucky Public Radio reporters Sylvia Goodman and Joe Sonka have been reporting on these and other important updates from this year’s legislative session so far. They sat down to unpack what they’ve learned.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Sonka: First, remind us where we are in this session. We know it's a short, 30-day session this year in the General Assembly that kind of stretches over three months instead of four months. Our state constitution cuts them off at March 30. What's left to do?
Goodman: So it's a more complicated question than you might think. We're now past the last day for filing bills, so the legislature is really busy voting things through committee right now. We have eight days until the legislature goes into the veto period. That's when Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has his chance to look at all the legislation they have passed and decide whether or not he'll sign it. Each bill needs to pass through a committee, be read on the chamber floor three times, and then pass by a full chamber vote, and then they have to repeat that process with each bill in the next chamber. But they find ways, sometimes, to speed up that process or add measures into other further along bills at the last minute. So we usually don't say anything is dead until the clock strikes midnight on sine die. That's the last day of session.
Sonka: Before the session, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said he hopes that there are only 500 bills filed this entire session. He says that in short sessions, they want to be more narrow in their focus. But how many bills were filed before that deadline last week?
Goodman: That would be 1,084 bills combining both House and Senate legislation.
Sonka: So it's safe to say that not everything is going to get a hearing. We know that the top 10 bills in each chamber are generally regarded as the Republicans priority bills in the session. So tell me a little bit about what we've seen on that front.
Goodman: So several of those have already started moving and wending their way through the legislature. And of course, the income tax cut bill has already passed both chambers and was signed into law. That was House Bill 1. We've got a real mishmash of topics happening here. Senate Bill 1 creates the Kentucky Film Office that's to encourage a film industry in the state.
Here's what Senate President Robert Stivers said about that one:
“It's job development, job creation and diversifying our economy, creating a new industry here, which a byproduct of that will be a positive impact on tourism.”
And we have Senate Bill 3, which would allow universities to directly compensate college athletes. House Bill 9, created the Medicaid oversight and advisory board to make recommendations on the state's program. And that's just a few really specific bills. I mean, again, there are, there are 20 priority bills in general. So we heard about all three of those bills just this past week.
Sonka: Walk us through some of the bills that have passed through at least one chamber in the past week. It seems like a few of them have a religious topic to them.
Goodman: More than 120 bills have already passed at least one chamber, and that doesn't include resolutions. But just to name a few, we saw a passage in the Senate this week of bills to expand religious liberties, very specifically, the ability to sue if you believe your religious liberties have been violated in the state, critics like Chris Hartman with the Fairness Campaign says it's so broad as to create grounds for endless lawsuits:
“Senate Bill 60 allows all state and local laws, ordinances, rules, regulations and policies to be subverted by someone asserting religious freedom, including domestic violence laws, property laws, trespass laws, civil rights laws, contract laws, and so many more.”
And then we also had a bill passed to require a moment of silence at the start of the school day, for meditation, for prayer, for whatever. That passed the Senate too. Then in the House, we had passage of a couple really controversial bills, one to make fluoride optional and community water supplies. Dental associations say that that could have some hugely negative impacts on dental health in the state, and that research questioning the safety of fluoride is nascent. It's pretty early stages, and it's also generally studies looking at higher dosages than is in Kentucky water. Another bill that passed after a lot of debate, strips the state's occupational safety and health plan. That would slash our state OSHA plan down to federal minimums. It also put some more requirements on things like filing employer retaliation claims. That one passed with quite a tight vote for a chamber that's very heavily majority Republican. It passed 62 to 33 and there was quite a bit of discussion on it. Here's Democratic Rep. Al Gentry from Louisville. He lost his arm in a workplace accident, an experience he described on the House floor.
“Why would we ban our state from creating a safe workplace in any industry that might be unique to Kentucky, that might require it.”
Sonka: All four of those bills still need to move through the opposite chamber, right?
Goodman: It's unclear what will get taken up by the opposite chamber. We have quite a few highly anticipated bills actually, like one to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, initiatives, offices, et cetera, at higher education. And some of those bills haven't even been taken up at all. They haven't even gotten a committee hearing. but there's definitely still time for a lot more legislating in the coming month.
