The 2nd meeting of the Program Review and Investigations Committee was held on Thursday, July 11, 2002, at<MeetTime> 10:00 AM, in Room 131 of the Capitol Annex. Representative Gippy Graham, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Representative Gippy Graham, Chair; Senator Katie Stine, Co-Chair; Senators Charlie Borders, Brett Guthrie, Ernie Harris, Paul Herron Jr., Vernie McGaha, Dan Seum, and Johnny Ray Turner; Representatives Adrian Arnold, Sheldon Baugh, Dwight Butler, Jack Coleman, Charlie Hoffman, Ruth Ann Palumbo, and Dottie Sims.
LRC Staff: Ginny Wilson, Ph.D., Committee Staff Administrator, Lowell Atchley, Judy Fritz, Greg Hager, Ph.D., Tom Hewlett, Alice Hobson, Joseph Hood, Margaret Hurst, CPA, Dan Jacovitch, Cindy Upton, CPA, Erin McNees, Lynn Aubrey, Barry Boardman, Ph.D., Mike Clark, Ph.D., Kevin Mason, Perry Nutt, and Susan Spoonamore, Committee Assistant.
Minutes of the June 17, 2002 meeting were approved by voice vote upon motion made by Rep. Coleman and seconded by Rep. Hoffman.
Dr. Wilson introduced staff and noted that staff would be receiving an Excellence in Research Methods award, a Certificate of Recognition of Impact, and a 2002 Notable Documents award at the National Conference of State Legislators.
The 2002-2003 Committee Operations Manual was adopted by voice vote upon motion made by Sen. McGaha and seconded by Sen. Harris.
It was decided to move the August meeting of Program Review to Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 1:00 p.m. in order to accommodate committee members who plan to attend a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council conference during the second week in August.
Rep. Graham explained the procedure for voting on the twelve study topics that had been selected by him and the Co-Chair. He noted that it would take nine votes to initiate a study, and that no more than five study topics would be selected. He asked Dr. Wilson for a brief explanation of the twelve topics, and mentioned that staff was already working on two other studies, the East/West Corporations, and SEEK which could be presented at the October and November meetings of the Committee.
Rep. Graham requested that each member go through the list of topics and discuss those of importance to them. After lengthy discussion, members agreed that each of the twelve topics was important.
Rep. Coleman asked Dr. Wilson to repeat staff’s position on making recommendations regarding public financing of gubernatorial elections.
Dr. Wilson stated that staff could provide an informational report, which would include descriptions based on the experiences of other states with public financing of gubernatorial elections. She explained that staff would be unable to make any recommendations regarding whether or not the state should have public financing of campaigns because that is a policy issue. She also stated that staff understood the heightened sensitivity to the issue, and would provide impartial descriptive information obtained from other states.
Rep. Coleman stated that he felt that several of the study topics being requested were born out of frustration over not getting bills passed or from not having committee meetings. He also stated that some of the study topics listed had no business being done as a Program Review and Investigations study, and that they needed to be heard by the appropriate standing or interim committee.
Sen. Stine stated that she had been told by the Director of the LRC that support staff would be provided to the Program Review and Investigations Committee for any study that the committee decided to undertake. She also stated that if members of the legislature requested studies, then the Program Review Committee should not be hindered from doing those studies because of inadequate staff. She also stated that if the members of the committee felt a desire to have a study topic studied, then members should be allowed to request and vote on as many study topics as they felt necessary. Sen. Stine agreed that the interim had not been busy, but she stated that it was beginning to look like the process would open up soon. As to public financing of gubernatorial elections, Sen. Stine stated that staff had always shown expertise and non-partisanship when conducting any study, and she felt confident that they could navigate the political waters.
Sen. Stine made a motion that public financing of gubernatorial elections be one of the five study topics. Chairman Graham refrained from entertaining a second on the motion until further discussion.
Sen. McGaha stated that selecting five studies was not enough, and since the other committees were not meeting, the staffs of those committees could assist the Program Review staff in conducting more studies.
Sen. Guthrie requested that the Auditor of Public Accounts come before the Program Review Committee upon completion of its review of the Transportation Cabinet to report the findings.
Rep. Palumbo stated that she would like to see a review of the failing schools and dropout rates included in the study of grading of CATS portfolios.
Rep. Graham stated that he would like to invite representatives from the Council on Post-Secondary Education and officials from Kentucky State University to the Program Review meeting in September to discuss issues surrounding Kentucky State University.
Rep. Graham talked about limiting the study topics to five. He stated that the committee would be working all through the year and next year, and that the committee could always come back and vote on more study topics as it deemed necessary.
The study of public financing of gubernatorial elections was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Sen. Stine and seconded by Sen. Harris.
Rep. Coleman made a motion to consider Kentucky State University as a study for Program Review. Sen. Borders asked to amend the motion to include the post-secondary education study topic with Kentucky State University study.
Rep. Coleman asked Dr. Wilson if it would be feasible to combine Kentucky State University and post-secondary education studies as one.
Dr. Wilson stated that staff would consider the governance issue as a general topic, and at every stage of the research, staff would use KSU as an example of the issues that were crosscutting for the Council on Post-Secondary Education. She also told committee members that the Committee could gather information on its own by having hearings, and working independently from staff.
The study of Kentucky State University, combined with post-secondary education, was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Sen. Borders and seconded by Rep. Coleman.
The study of medical malpractice insurance was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Sen. McGaha and seconded by Rep. Baugh.
The study of enterprise zones was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Rep. Palumbo and seconded by Sen. Borders.
A motion made by Rep. Sims and seconded by Sen. Stine to approve a study of state materials procurement failed upon roll call vote.
The study of grading CATS portfolios was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Rep. Hoffman and seconded by Sen. McGaha.
The study of grading CATS portfolios as amended to include failing schools and dropout rates was approved by roll call vote upon motion made by Rep. Palumbo and seconded by Sen. McGaha.
Rep. Arnold stated that it was his understanding that if the interim committees started to meet again, then the Program Review Committee could relinquish study topics to the proper committee for its review and evaluation.
Meeting adjourned at 12:15.