2017 WKU Senior Hilltopper Classic
Student Congress Legislation
Room: GRISE HALL 138
Session One: 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Session Two: 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM
A Bill to Outlaw Waste Dumping by Kentucky Mining Companies
BE IT ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION 1. The state government ought to implement a new, state-wide definition for "waste" in correlation to the Clean Water Act; specifically, it must be outlawed to move mountaintop removal waste into water masses.
SECTION 2. The Clean Water Act passed in 1977, banning intentional waste dumping into U.S. waters. In 2002, the Bush administration adjusted the definition of "waste" and allowed for mining waste to be secreted into water masses. This allowed for mining companies across the United States to dump their waste into numerous maritime features. In Kentucky, mining companies significantly damage the natural environment with this loophole.
SECTION 3. The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (KDEP) will oversee the implementation and enforcement of this law.
SECTION 4. This shall take effect on January 1, 2018.
SECTION 5. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.
This law is introduced for debate by Ravenwood High School.
A Bill to Build New Infrastructure to Mitigate the Effects of Tropical Storms
BE ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
Section 1: Government funds will be reallocated to the building of new infrastructure on the east coast and gulf coasts.
Section 2: Infrastructure includes levies, power supplies for buildings, flood warning systems, modifications to residential and commercial properties to withstand tropical storms, protection of natural resources, water containment systems, flood barriers, and etc.
Section 3: Twenty billion dollars will be reallocated from the defense budget to fund this project.
Section 4: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide oversight for this project.
Section 5: The start of this project will be implemented immediately and will continue over a ten year span.
Section 6: All laws in conflict with this legislation will hereby be declared null and void.
Respectfully submitted by,
Ronit Patel, Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Award Financial Incentives to Businesses Hiring Ex-Convicts
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION I: Any business whose workforce is composed of 15% Class D felons will receive 5% off of its total federal income tax.
SECTION II: If the employer fires the employee on the grounds of suspicion of illegal activity, then a report must be filed with the local police station detailing the grounds on which the employee was fired and the identity of the employee.
A. To prevent tax fraud, any business applying for tax incentives must provide a report detailing all of its employees; felons listed in this report must be designated as such, so that the state can validate that 15% of the business’ workforce is comprised of convicted felons.
B. Convicted felons still may not be hired to positions that are currently restricted to them.
C. Any rape or sodomy will be a Class A felony; sexual assault or any other sexual offense will be a Class C felony.
SECTION IV: This bill will take effect January 1st, 2019.
SECTION V: All other laws in conflict with this new policy shall hereby declared null and void.
Respectfully submitted,
Hannah Burt and Cole Rubin,
Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Limit Purchases and Possession of All Guns to Individuals Over 21
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION 1. No person under the age of 21 shall hereafter legally purchase or possess a gun, whether purchased from a licensed or unlicensed seller. Possession includes both open and concealed carries, and any exceptions to possession laws shall be determined by individual states. However, no exception shall cover any individual under the age of 16, nor any juvenile with a criminal record.
SECTION 2. A gun is defined as any variety of firearm, including both handguns and long guns such as rifles and shotguns.
Viable exceptions for possession would include hunting, farming, other occupational needs, etc.
SECTION 3. The change will be overseen by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives within the Department of Justice.
SECTION 4. This bill will be implemented by February 1st, 2018.
SECTION 5. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.
Respectfully submitted by,
Abby Adams-Smith, Bowling Green High
A Bill to Legalize, Regulate, and Tax all Schedule 1-5 drugs,
and Implement a Free Rehab System for Drug Abusers
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION I: All schedule 1-5 drugs are hereby legalized for use by adults 21 or older.
SECTION II: The definition of Schedule 1-5 drugs will be that which the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) defines them as, and ranges from cannabis, to heroin, to relatively non addictive drugs such as robitussin AC.
SECTION III: This bill will be enforced by the Federal Drug Agency (FDA).
A. All drugs legalized through this bill will have an additional 10% sales tax in addition to any preexisting taxes, except in cases when the substance is being prescribed by a doctor for medicinal purposes.
B. All persons addicted to any of these drugs will be afforded free rehabilitation when a medical professional signs a waiver saying that person is indeed addicted to said substance.
C. All workers’ with any STDs must disclose said diseases to any and all customers.
SECTION IV: This legislation will be put into effect on January 1, 2018.
SECTION V: All other legislation in conflict with this shall be considered null and void.
Respectfully submitted,
Stuart Kernohan
Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Ensure Linguistic Competence
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION I: All public elementary schools will be required to teach a foreign language to students beginning in kindergarten.
SECTION II: Foreign languages to be taught may include but are not limited to:
Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic, and German as these are the most used languages in the world aside from English.
SECTION III: The U.S. Department of Education shall oversee enforcement of this legislation.
A. Any school that refuses to act upon this legislation will have its government funding reduced by 10% each year it fails to cooperate.
SECTION IV: This legislation shall take effect in August of 2020, giving schools enough time to establish a foreign language department if needed.
SECTION V: All other laws in conflict with this new legislation shall hereby be declared null and void.
Respectfully submitted by,
Lauren Cravens,
Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Require Licenses for All Drone Pilots
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION I: All commercial and recreational drone pilots are hereby required to be licensed in order to fly a drone.
SECTION II: Drones are an unmanned aircraft or ships guided by remote control or onboard computers.
SECTION III: The Federal Aviation Administration will oversee implementation of this bill.
SECTION IV: This legislation will be put into effect on January 1st 2019.
SECTION V: All other laws in conflict with this new policy shall hereby declared null and
Void.
Respectfully submitted,
Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Ensure Safe Food Choices for School Children
BE IT ENACTED BY THE STUDENT CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION I: School cafeterias will hereby document that 50% or more of the food served on a daily basis is gluten free.
SECTION II: Gluten is the tough, viscid, nitrogenous substance remaining when the flour of wheat or other grain is washed to remove the starch. It is commonly found in breads and other products made from flour.
SECTION III: The US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service will oversee the implementation of this program. Schools that don’t comply with this legislation will lose federal funding for their food programs.
SECTION IV: This bill will go into effect September1, 2019.
SECTION V: All other laws in conflict with this new policy shall hereby declared null and void.
Respectfully Submitted by
Bowling Green High School
A Bill to Expand External Agency Funding
SECTION 1. With the passage of this bill, the government of Kentucky will provide more funding into external agencies in order to reduce crimes in Kentucky.
SECTION 2.
A. External Agency Funding- refer to the money that Metro Government provides to nonprofit organizations; administered through the Department of Community Services and the Department of Economic Development.
SECTION 3. Kentucky’s crime has been on a significant increase in the past couple of years. The police departments in major cities have received almost 25% of the city’s discretionary funds over the last 3 years. However, many of these cities has seen a historic increase in homicides, drug overdoses, and violent crime. Instead of investing more money to lock up people, the government should be taking steps in order to limit the environment that lead people to commit crimes. The police departments even note that we cannot police our way out of this problem.
SECTION 4. Through increasing External Agency Funds, community based programs will receive funding for domestic violence prevention, youth mentoring, drug addiction treatment, etc. These community based solutions address the root causes of crimes to help break the cycle of violence. However, there is very minimal funding to the External Agency Funds. In the city of Louisville, in their $752 million spent only $2.9 million were given through nonprofits through External Agency Funding.
With the expansion of this funding, it will lead to a better community with less violence in the state of Kentucky.
SECTION 5. This shall take effect on January 1, 2018.
SECTION 6. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.
This bill is introduced for debate by Ravenwood High School.
A Bill to Increase the Regulation of Food Stamps
BE IT ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
Section One: The lack of sufficient regulation of food stamps has been abused by recipients of food stamps.
Section Two: Food stamps are defined as the amount of money allotted to households under the SNAP program. The USDA is defined as the United States department of agriculture. The SNAP program is defined as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Agriculture. Cohabitants is defined as anyone who resides in your home more often than not.
Section Three: This legislation will be enforced by the USDA
A. Employer's would be required to record social security numbers and average annual income of employee’s and send a report to the USDA. Employers would be required to send in a report once an employee was no longer employed by their business.
B. Individuals would be required to report any change in number of cohabitants to the USDA.
C. A USDA official would be sent in to confirm the status of the number of cohabitants at random. Upon being flagged for review a USDA official would be sent to confirm the data currently in the USDA database.
D. A computer database would keep track of every individual’s social security number, their food stamp status, average annual household income, and number of cohabitants
E. If there is a discrepancy between an individual’s average annual household income, number of cohabitants, and allotted amount of food stamps then the computer database would flag the individual for review.
F. If the USDA finds that an individual purposefully misreported any information to receive excess food stamps, then upon the first offence the amount of food stamps received will be cut by 10%, then upon the second offence the amount of food stamps received will be cut by 20% and they will be checked in on more frequently, upon the third offence the food stamps will be cut indefinitely and if there are children residing in the household then they will be taken out of the home.
Section Four: If the USDA cannot currently provide sufficient funds, any additional funds needed for this project will be provided by this Congress.
Section Five: This bill will go into effect January 1, 2018.
Section Six: All laws in conflict with this bill will be declared null and void
Respectfully submitted by,
Brendin Flinn
Parkersburg South High School
A RESOLUTION TO FEDERALLY BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS AND BUMP STOCKS FOR CIVILIAN USE
WHEREAS, There have been multiple mass shooting with the use of assault weapons, making it evident that reform is needed; and,
WHEREAS, an assault weapon shall be defined as any automatic or semiautomatic firearm. Bump Stocks shall be defined as a replacement for a rifle’s standard stock, which is the part held against the shoulder. It frees the weapon to slide back and forth rapidly, harnessing the energy from the kickback shooters feel when the weapon fires.
WHEREAS, 1,719 Americans have been killed and 6,510 have been injured in mass shootings since 2013; and,
WHEREAS, In mass shootings between 2009 and 2015, incidents where assault weapons or large capacity ammunition magazines were used resulted in 155% more people shot and 47% more people killed compared to other incidents; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Student Congress here assembled make the following recommendation for solution to the immense amount of gun related deaths; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That assault weapons and bump stocks no longer be available to civilians.
Respectfully Submitted,
Representative Madison Suszek
Parkersburg South High School
A Bill to Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
BE IT ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:
SECTION 1. The United States will formally close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
SECTION 2. Each detainee currently held at the detention camp will either be transferred to a non-military prison within the United States and promptly given a trial with due process or released within the United States or to other countries.
SECTION 3. The Department of Justice and Department of Defense will enforce this legislation.
SECTION 4. Prisoners shall be transferred and the territory shall be returned by December 31,