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With 13 days of the short session in the books, a little over half of the 30-day session remains. There's still much to be moved along through the pipeline for counties.
ROAD FUND UPDATE
Road Fund stabilization remains very much on the radar and in the hallway chatter at the annex. Senate Bill 29 awaits a committee vote in Transportation, shepherded by Chairman Ernie Harris. Please continue to contact your Senator(s) regularly to let them know your county needs General Assembly action this session, and that they have your support back home. Thanks to all of you who have adopted the Road Fund Stabilization resolution. As of last Friday, we had 50 county resolutions in hand. We need 120! They are receiving attention and we have had legislators ask us if their county has taken action. Please continue to forward those not only to KACo but also to your entire state legislative delegation.
HOUSE ACTION
In parting remarks the first week of February,complaints were voiced over lack of action in the House. Not so this week as House committee and floor votes moved dozens of newsworthy bills throughout the process.
The proposed LIFT amendment to the Kentucky Constitution passed the House Thursday evening that would allow a statewide vote to authorize up to one penny for a local option sales tax (Local Options For Transformatio
n, HB1). A complementary “enabling” bill (HB 344) for LIFT cleared the House as well. KACo was at the table Wednesday with bill sponsor, Rep. Tommy Thompson, and the League of Cities to discuss the compromise language that will guide local governments who choose to pursue this in implementation of the local option process. KACo has supported this legislation since its inception in the 2013 session. Along with Rep. Thompson's work on HB 344, we thank House Speaker Stumbo and Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover for their co-sponsorship of the Constitutional amendment. Our focus now moves to the Senate.
Other notable bills to pass the full House this week included
· HB 8, which would allow dating couples to receive civil protection in the case of domestic violence;
· HB 2, a bill that would raise the minimum wage in KY to $10.10/ hour;
• HB 62, a path forward for certain employers/agencies to voluntarily cease participation in CERS, KERS in response to the Seven Counties Services legal action;
• HB 150, removing the option for unsuccessful primary candidates to mount a write-in campaign for the same office in the general election;
· HB 213, the House version of the bill to address KY’s heroin epidemic; the issue is surely headed to conference committee;
· HB 145, a statewide smoking ban;
· HB 298, authorizing bonds for a cancer research facility at the University of Kentucky.
Several bills also moved out of their committees of jurisdiction and now await action by the full House, including HB 152, the "AT&T" bill; HB 308 to increase KLEPF funding for law enforcement officers and volunteer fire departments; and HB 348 which would exempt one-time grant revenues received by smaller SPGE's (formerly known as special districts) from being used for annual DLG fee calculations, and allowing submission of alternative financial reviews with Auditor approval.
SENATE MOVEMENT
The Senate, too, moved several notable bills out of committee, including the telecommunications bill, SB 3, which mirrors HB 152. The House bill passed out of the House Economic Development Committee last week, but has yet to receive a floor vote in the House.
SB 49 would require the state Supreme Court to analyze and propose redistricting to account for population and caseloads in the same year as legislative redistricting. The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee passed SB 82, a bill related to pediatric cancer research. This is freshman legislator Max Wise’s first bill to pass out of a committee. It is personal to Sen. Wise, who’s child is a survivor of a pediatric cancer.
Friday was the final day to file new Senate bills, and they proposed 208 for this session. The House deadline is Tuesday. Tomorrow, the General Assembly will not meet in observance of President’s Day. They’ll be back in Frankfort for four more days of work afterwards.
The remainder of the session is scheduled as follows, barring weather postponement;
- 13 business days (through March 5th)
- 2 Concurrence days (March 6th & 9th), normally reserved for a yes or no vote on bills in each chamber
- 10 veto days (March 10-20) for the Governor to consider bills sent to him; he can sign or leave alone with no action and the bills become law, or he can choose to veto and send back for possible legislative override
- final two days of session (March 23-24th.)
You can find the complete list of bills we are tracking on our website, here. It is updated weekly after each Legislative Committee meeting.
****REMINDER FOR THURSDAY - INVITE YOUR LEGISLATORS TO ATTEND****
COUNTY OFFICIALS LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 5:00 P.M. - 7:30 P.M.
FRANKFORT CIVIC CENTER