Kentucky
General Assembly

FRANKFORT – A proposed bill to encourage the effective teaching of dyslexic students in public schools was presented to two legislative panels this week.

Called the Kentucky Ready to Read Act 2018, the proposed legislation is related to dyslexia and response to interventions that improve student learning. In education, response to intervention (RTI) is an approach to academic and behavioral intervention used to provide early, systematic and appropriately intensive assistance to children who are underperforming in school.

“You probably wonder if this is an education issue or a healthcare issue,” Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Florence, said while testifying before Wednesday’s meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare and Family Services. “It is both. It’s is diagnosed on the medical side but it manifests itself in school and learning.”

The bill would update the definition of dyslexia and clarify qualified dyslexia screening tools, she said. It would also require the Department of Education to provide best practices for identifying dyslexic students, technical assistance, training and guidance for developing instructional plans for those students.

Wuchner, who co-chairs the committee, also presented the proposed legislation to the Interim Joint Committee on Education on Monday with Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Deputy Secretary Brad Montell.

On Wednesday she was joined by Jessica Fletcher, the executive director of communications for the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, and Aaron Thompson, the executive vice president at The Council on Postsecondary Education.

“Most importantly, not only do poor readers experience worse academic outcomes, but they are also at a disadvantage in the workforce,” Fletcher said. “Ninety-nine percent of the jobs added to the economy in the past six years are held by workers who had some level of education or training after high school. 

She said her cabinet has concluded that many of Kentucky’s students who struggle with reading and writing are dyslexic. Seventy percent to 80 percent of people with poor reading skills are likely dyslexic, according to information provided to the committee. And one in five students, or 15 percent to 20 percent of the population, has a language-based learning disability.

“We need to do everything possible to ensure Kentucky’s students read efficiently and proficiently,” Fletcher said. “With early identification and appropriate teaching methods students with dyslexia can learn as well as other students. And effectively identifying these children who do have dyslexia early in their school careers make it more likely they will be able to read and succeed in the workforce.”

Thompson said he knows there are effective ways of teaching students with dyslexia.

“My daughter is dyslexic,” he said. “I will tell you, as a sophomore in high school, she is getting straight A’s and doing very well on her own. But it took a while. It took some time. It took the level of skill that my wife has ... and the patience.”

Thompson said he was supportive of the proposed legislation because it would allow teachers to gain the skills they need to identify dyslexic students at an early age.

Wuchner, who introduced similar legislation last session, said she and others have their own personal stories of family members with dyslexia.

She also commended Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt for forming a dyslexia task force last year. The task force’s report was also presented at Monday education committee meeting. It identified several legislative initiatives that are included in Wuchner’s proposed bill.

Rep. George Brown Jr., D-Lexington, asked if undiagnosed dyslexics act out in school as a way of hiding their struggles with reading. He wondered whether well-documented achievement gaps in Kentucky’s public schools could be exasperated by children who haven’t been identified as dyslexic.

Thompson said students with dyslexia are generally extremely bright and may come up with ingenious ways of hiding dyslexia. This could include memorizing texts instead of having to read them or using context clues to figure out the words.

Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, said she was committed to getting the proposed legislation passed. Adams, who co-chairs the Health and Welfare and Family Services Committee, said dyslexics require a “completely different method to learn how to read that most schools are not really equipped with.”

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December 6, 2017

Farmers given credit for soil, water improvements

FRANKFORT—Farmers deserve at least some of the credit for reducing pollutants in Kentucky’s water supply, the co-chair of a state legislative committee says. 

Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee Co-Chair Rep. Myron Dossett, R-Pembroke, praised farmers for helping to lower the amount of so-called nutrient pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus in Kentucky’s water following a presentation by the Kentucky Division of Conservation before the committee today.

Dossett pointed to the division’s own statements that less nitrogen and phosphorus is being detected in Kentucky’s waterways. Nitrogen and phosphorus are common ingredients in fertilizer, which is commonly used to grow crops. 

“I see it so many times just in my home area. Our farmers … they don’t work all the way down into the creek banks,” to help prevent pollutants from leaching into creeks and streams, said Dossett. “We owe them a debt of gratitude for helping on that.” 

Division of Conservation Director Kimberly Richardson agreed with Dossett that farmers and landowners play a big role in protecting the state’s soil and water. She said $147.2 million has gone into the agency’s state cost share program to help farmers and landowners improve soil and water quality on Kentucky land since 1994. Of that total, $126.5 million has come from Kentucky’s tobacco settlement agreement funds.

Stream crossings that protect water from equipment and livestock, fencing, and restoration of pasture and hay land—especially in drought years, most recently in 2012—are among projects funded in past years.

“They are the original environmentalists,” Richardson said of Kentucky’s farmers. “They want to pass their land along, they want to pass their waters along, and they want it to be better than when they got it.”

Richardson said 1,845 applications for cost share assistance totaling over $14 million were submitted this fiscal year, with 1,201 of those applications approved.

The Division of Conservation’s state cost share program has received 52,000 applications for assistance from farmers since 1994, she said, with over 17,948 applications approved totaling over $155 million in assistance. 

The agency also provides environmental grants to the state’s 121 conservation districts, she said, and assists landowners who need help complying with state Division of Water protocols. This fiscal year, at least 136 environmental grants were approved, said Richardson.

“Districts are able to come up with unique programs for things such as soil testing, metal recycling—maybe it’s cover crops, river clean-ups, whatever becomes a local issue in your community” using the grants, said Richardson. She emphasized that the grants fund local priorities, not state or federal mandates. 

When asked by Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, about federal funds for state conservation programs, Richardson said her agency expects federal cuts as does the Natural Resources Conservation Service or NRCS, a federal agency that provides technical assistance to her agency. 

“I think we’re going to be in general seeing a decrease,” said Richardson. “We are working toward a couple of different avenues to address that loss of technical assistance” from the NRCS. One solution may come from the National Association of Conservation Districts or NACD, which Richardson said is offering technical assistance grants. 

“We have one application in for that, and that looks to be some guaranteed funding,” said Richardson.

Kentucky has a conservation district for each of the state’s 120 counties, with Logan County divided into two districts. Each district is governed by a local board of supervisors elected by local voters.

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November 29, 2017

Cities, counties share 2018 legislative platforms

FRANKFORT—Kentucky cities and counties need more revenue, their representatives told state lawmakers today. They also want to protect pensions earned by their workers, they say.

Being able to fund pensions and “safe, clean and economically healthy communities” requires more flexibility than cities now have, said Jonathan Steiner, the executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) who told the Interim Joint Committee on Local Government that cities want more autonomy.  

“Local elected officials need a way to mitigate these changes to ensure they can continue to meet their obligation,” said Steiner. “They’re seeking more control over their local pensions, and they’re looking to the legislature to create a culture in the state that helps grow our local workforce.”

“(We) reiterate our pledge to work with the legislature … to further address the pension crisis while also protecting the investment to public service made by our members,” Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo) President and Jefferson County Circuit Clerk David L. Nicholson told the panel.

Cities asked the committee to fully support “home rule”— broad self-governance granted to cities by the Kentucky General Assembly under state law. County organizations that are members of KACo who also presented today asked for more funding options for roads, jails, and a number of other services.

“Jails will always be on our priority list,” said Larue County Judge Executive and Kentucky County Judge Executive Association legislative chairman Tommy Turner. The longtime county official was one of a few local leaders today who hinted at tax reform, with KLC President and Richmond Mayor Jim Barnes advocating expansion of the restaurant tax and Turner mentioning the possibility of a local option sales tax.  Local option sales tax legislation has been proposed but failed to pass the Kentucky legislature in previous years.

Acknowledging the complex needs of local governments was Interim Joint Committee on Local Government Co-Chair Sen. Joe Bowen, R-Owensboro, who said he heard local officials call for both more revenue and pension reform in today’s meeting. Bowen explained that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

“The reform that many of us have been wrestling with over the past six months or so has met opposition from many of you,” Bowen told the officials. And, while he said he understands their position, “without pension reform, we can’t identify those additional funds,” he said.

Calls for tax reform have also been greeted cautiously by Bowen who said tax reform is a long-term fix that will not meet immediate revenue needs at the local level.  

“In order for us to be able to address these critical budgetary needs … we have to get pension reform done,” said Bowen.  

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November 16, 2017

LRC Director's statement: No LRC money used for settlement

FRANKFORT – Kentucky Legislative Research Commission Director David A. Byerman today issued this statement:

“I would like to address the speculation about whether taxpayer dollars were used to settle any sexual harassment claims reportedly made against former Speaker Jeff Hoover and others. No taxpayer dollars have been used to pay any settlement claim in this matter, or in any such matter in my two years as Director of the Legislative Research Commission. Controls are in place that require proper authorization before any disbursements are made from any legislative account. Disbursements to settle legal claims can only be made when authorized by the Speaker and President on their joint authority, pending ratification by the full Legislative Research Commission in an open meeting. No such authorization or ratification has occurred in this matter.”

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November 3, 2017

Marsy’s Law discussion renewed in committee

FRANKFORT—Kentucky crime victims have weaker rights than Kentucky criminals, say victims’ advocates who hope to balance out those rights with the help of Kentucky’s voters.

The proposed remedy is Marsy’s Law, legislation already passed in a handful of states that allows a state’s voters to approve specific, limited constitutional protections—dubbed a “bill of rights”—for crime victims. Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, a co-chair of the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary and sponsor of Marsy’s Law bills in past years, said he plans to sponsor similar legislation next year.

Westerfield said the crime victims’ bill of rights he supports is “largely procedural to ensure that (victims) have a meaningful role in the process, and that’s what Marsy’s Law sets out to do.”

Kentucky would become at least the sixth state to pass Marsy’s Law—named for Californian Marsy Nicholas, who was stalked and killed by an ex-boyfriend in 1983—should Westerfield’s proposal make it through the 2018 General Assembly. Passage of the bill would clear the way for the proposed amendment to go on statewide ballot next fall, leaving the decision of whether certain victims’ rights should be embedded in the state constitution up to the voters.

Of all the proposed victims’ rights, Westerfield said the one that’s needed most is the right of victims to have legal standing, which gives them the ability to fight for their rights in court.

“Right now, even if you were a crime victim and you could assert that you have a right that was violated, you don’t have any recourse. You can’t show up in front of a circuit court judge and demand to be heard. And that’s not right,” Westerfield said.

The senator challenged the idea that giving victims constitutional protections hurts the accused or convicted criminals. Constitutional rights of the accused and convicted “should be protected. This doesn’t disrupt any of those. If it did, I wouldn’t be for it,” said Westerfield.

Instead of taking anything away, Kentucky Executive Director for Marsy’s Law Ashlea Christiansen told the committee that Marsy’s Law balances the rights of victims and defendants. The proposal puts a human face on the rule of law that considers crime to be against the state, not an individual, she said.

“We have to remember it’s the victim who has suffered,” she said.

Senate Majority Caucus Chair Dan Seum, R-Louisville, asked about the process for enforcement should Kentucky amend its constitution to include a crime victims’ bill of rights. Westerfield said the courts could order different remedies for victims, with redoing a defendant’s hearing likely to be the most severe. 

“They can’t get a new trial,” said Westerfield. “They can’t trample on the rights of the accused. Ordinarily it’s a redo of the hearing at the most.”

Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, said she supports the proposal but that more needs to be done for victims. Many struggle with medical costs and other issues tied to their victimization, she said.

“I talked to a victim of sexual assault last week and she talked about the financial problems that came with her victimization” including the cost of ambulance transport and extended HIV testing that the victim was required to have, said Jenkins. “That came out of her pocket and her insurance.”

Marsy’s Law legislation has not yet been filed for consideration during the 2018 Regular Session. Westerfield said he plans to file his legislation in January.

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November 2, 2017

Lawmakers look at cost of solar energy  

FRANKFORT— Solar power means bigger electricity bills for non-solar customers, a group called the Consumer Energy Alliance told a panel of state legislators today.

CEA’s Brydon Ross told the Interim Joint Committee on Natural Resources and Energy that private credits given to solar customers who participate in programs like net metering--which gives retail credit for excess solar energy fed into the electrical grid—allows those customers to avoid paying costs that most consumers on the grid pay.

Kentucky has had a net metering program since 2004.

The issue, said Ross, is that net metering customers in Kentucky are paid a retail rate that is three times the competitive market rate even though they don’t pay many of the costs that other electricity customers do. Current solar energy policies in at least 15 other states have also proven costly, he said.   

“Our analysis found that private solar credits are shifting costs on to less affluent customers,” said Ross. “Those who can’t afford private solar should not subsidize those receiving private solar credits.”

He was quick, however, to emphasize that his organization supports solar energy.

“Advocating for reform in solar does not mean you are anti-solar,” said Ross. “We think the legislature has a real opportunity here to address an issue before it becomes a real problem.”

Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, said that the solar energy movement is just starting to have an impact in Kentucky. She questioned Ross on how the reforms CEA is proposing would affect what she called “transitional costs” as more customers move toward solar.

“Incentive programs have been set up to get this whole business up and moving …. But now you’re saying pull back the incentive programs, is that what you’re asking for?” Flood said.

Competitive rates in the current market is the goal of CEA and its over 250 member companies, which includes the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, LG&E/KU and other CEA associate members in Kentucky, Ross said. 

Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, said solar is not a constant energy source. Other energy sources “base load” the electricity grid “to be there when the intermittent sources are not providing power,” said Gooch, co-chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

“We can flood the grid with power when we don’t need it, but we’re forcing the utility to buy that first,” he said. “There’s a cost involved in ratcheting down base load generation.”

Sen. Jared Carpenter, R-Berea, who also co-chairs the committee, said lawmakers will continue to look at the issue as they consider cost, benefit and ultimately the value of certain energy sources.  

“It’s an important issue. It’s about diversification,” he said.

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October 25, 2017

October 13, 2017

Marijuana’s impact on public safety examined

Local boards are key players in opioid fight, panel told

FRANKFORT—A portion of Kentucky’s tobacco settlement dollars are being used to fight the state’s opioid epidemic where addiction is most visible – at the local level.

Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) Executive Director Van Ingram told the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee today that the Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy’s (KY-ASAP) 79 local boards leverage their funds to “do some really good work” in the 118 counties they cover.

“The opioid epidemic that has got a stranglehold on this nation and this state has hit very hard in many of our Kentucky communities. This funding has allowed them to be organized and to have grassroots efforts…that really help them at the local level,” said Ingram.

KY-ASAP Program Manager Amy Andrews told the committee that the local boards were awarded over $2.5 million in 2017 for their programs including drug court staff training, drug testing in schools, smoking cessation, DUI check points and more. Most of that was annual funding that went toward education and prevention, she said. Other funds were provided per 2015 Senate Bill 192 to communities for what Andrews called “harm reduction” initiatives including syringe exchange programs, drug treatment, and purchases of Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose.

“We continue to be amazed at the local response to the ever-changing substance abuse climate because, as you all know, once we seem to have one issue tackled, another one emerges,” said Andrews. “But our local KY-ASAP boards’ desire to affect positive and long-lasting change—it never wavers.”

Another focus of KY-ASAP is safe prescription drug disposal. Andrews said the state works with the local boards to identify permanent prescription drug disposal locations, which she said have grown from around 11 to 198 in the past six years. 

“We have at least one box in nearly all 120 counties where our citizens can go when they have unused prescription drugs that they can dispose of in a safe manner,” she said.

Rep. Kim King, R-Harrodsburg, mentioned that Kentucky is one of three states that has recently received a $10 million federal grant to tackle drug issues. She asked Ingram, Andrews and ODCP Branch Manager Heather Wainscott if that money is benefiting their agency’s work. Ingram said that is a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) grant that was awarded to the state Division of Behavioral Health for enhanced treatment.

It will help with “moving people from overdose right into treatment. We have a lot of things coming up that are very exciting,” said Ingram.

Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, who has been a key player on several criminal justice bills, complimented Ingram and his agency for its increased advertising presence.

Ingram said that outreach is geared toward reducing the stigma of addiction, which he said may save lives.

“People don’t come to treatment a lot of times because they’re embarrassed and ashamed, and that shouldn’t happen,” he said. “For the folks who already have this disease, treatment and Narcan are all we have to offer. We’ve got to do a better job.”

Committee Co-Chair Rep. Myron Dossett, R-Pembroke, said he served on his local KY-ASAP board many years ago. He was appreciative of KY-ASAP’s work.

“We wish you did not have to be in existence, but thank goodness that we do have you,” Dossett said. “Thank you so much for what you do.” 

KY-ASAP has been in place for 17 years. It was created in 2000 “to develop a strategic plan to reduce the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among youth and adult populations in Kentucky and coordinate efforts among state and local agencies in the area of substance abuse prevention,” according to the ODCP website.

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FRANKFORT – At one Kentucky hospital, people are actually bringing in heroin and shooting up with patients.

That’s one example of the “very desperate situation” the opioid-abuse crisis has created, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Dave Adkisson said while testifying before a panel of state legislators yesterday in the Capitol Annex.

He was among more than 25 people from across the country who testified yesterday about the best policies to attack the crisis at a rare six-hour meeting of both the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare and Family Services, and the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee.

“Today is a snapshot,” meeting co-chair Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Florence, said of the topics on the agenda that included prevention, treatment and criminal justice issues.

Co-chair Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, said the point of combining the two committees’ meetings was to show the complexity of the opioid-abuse crisis and need for a coordinated, long-term strategy to tackle it.

“We know that everything we have heard about the opioid use disorder problem, heroin problem, is real to many families and our communities,” she said, “and it cuts across all demographics. It touches everyone. We know it doesn’t matter where you live. Addiction doesn’t care how smart you are, where you went to school or how much money you make.”

Office of Drug Control Policy Executive Director Van Ingram testified that 1,404 Kentuckians died of a drug overdose last year. He said the introduction of the synthetic opiate fentanyl into the heroin supply was largely driving the death rate. In addition, fentanyl has been present in 53 percent of the drug overdoses recorded in Kentucky so far this year.

He said the Kentucky General Assembly passed a number of measures in the last five or six years to address opioid abuse, but it takes time for the full impact of those laws to be seen 

“People do get better,” Ingram said. “People do recover, although for those people on the front lines, it doesn’t seem that way.”

In what he described as a “rare bright spot, there were 70 million fewer dosage units of opioids prescribed last year in Kentucky than in 2011. (That percentage doesn’t include buprenorphine, a semisynthetic opioid that is used to treat opioid addiction.) There are still about 300 million dosage units of opioids being prescribed in Kentucky.

“This whole problem is the overexposure of opioids to our country and state,” Ingram said. “We are reducing that overexposure.”

He said the passage of House Bill 333 earlier this year would further drive down the number of opioids prescribed. It prevents doctors from prescribing more than a three-day supply of opioid painkillers, with some exceptions allowed. It also increased penalties for trafficking in opioids and authorized the state Office of the Inspector General to investigate trends in drug usage and trafficking.

Department for Medicaid Services Medical Director Dr. Gil Liu testified on the impact of opioid abuse disorder on Kentucky’s Medicaid program.

At the beginning of 2014 Kentucky spent about $56 million in Medicaid money on behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, he said. By the end of 2016, Kentucky was spending about $117 million in Medicaid money on those treatments.

Rep. Danny Bentley, R-Russell, asked what percent of people with substance abuse disorder have a behavioral health disorder, outside of the drug issue 

“Well over half of the people,” Liu said 

Adkisson said the impact of the opioid crisis on Kentucky’s health was staggering.

“Less obvious, however, is the toll that is taken on the state’s economic growth and development,” he said. “In Kentucky the opioid crisis has contributed to a low workforce-participation rate.

“At a time when job openings and investment in Kentucky are reaching record highs, we must provide the healthy productive workforce needed to grow the economy.”

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, asked how the state could fund the mental health, treatment and prevention programs needed after the governor recently proposed cuts of 17 percent for most state agencies in the current fiscal year to make up for an expected budget shortfall.

Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Medical Director Dr. Allen J. Brenzel said grant money is helping to pay for programs to tackle the opioid crisis.

“The good news ... is that resources are coming,” he said. “That is something I don’t often say. We have received funding from the legislature, the governor’s budget and we have received a significant number of grants.”

Kentucky was recently awarded a $10.5 million federal grant to help on programs for opioid overdose victims, pregnant and parenting women, individuals re-entering society upon release from criminal justice settings and adolescents and young adults at risk of addiction.

“Now, what is very critical, is that we use those dollars, and guide those dollars to the most effective evidence-based intervention,” Brenzel said.

Wuchner said the grant money couldn’t come fast enough.

“Opioid addiction is a ravenous beast because its increasing tolerance requires individuals to take higher doses to stave off withdrawal and addiction spiral can happen quickly,” she said. “It fractures families, lives, communities and futures. It fills our headlines daily. It fills our courtrooms, our jails, our hospital ERs, our NICUs (neonatal intensive care unit). It fills our court dockets, and it fills our morgues.”

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September 15, 2017

FRANKFORT – In the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, a rural Kentucky community is creating a unique program that could help solve the nationwide problem of veterans having a hard time getting in to see a doctor.  

“I understand what we are introducing to you today is probably the first of its kind in the whole country,” Rep. Marie Rader, R-McKee, said while testifying yesterday before the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection. “Maybe no other community has this opportunity.”

What Rader introduced is an initiative that will allow veterans to use video communication technology at the Jackson County Public Library to receive medical care from VA doctors, a practice broadly known as clinical video telehealth. 

“I think it will provide incredible access and allow for the VA to enhance our delivery of that health care to our veterans who need it, especially in the rural areas of Kentucky,” said Dr. Tuyen T. Tran of the Lexington VA Medical Center. “It’s FaceTime taken a notch higher.”

The closest VA medical center for the estimated 650 veterans in Jackson County is about 70 miles away, Rader said. There is no hospital of any kind or even a long-term care facility in the county of about 13,000.

Tran described technology that allows doctors to remotely listen to their patients’ hearts and lungs. A high-definition camera can be used to examine ailments such as skin lesions. He said the technology is so good that doctors are able to treat the president with it instead of having to travel with him at all times.

“There is not very much that I can’t do remotely that I have to do in person,” said Tran, who is the medical center’s associate chief of staff specializing in virtual care.

He said patients would still have to come to an outpatient satellite clinic like the one set to open on Oct. 1 at the library in Jackson County.

“But it is still a heck of a lot better than driving all the way to Lexington or Louisville for their care,” Tran said. “The library seems to be a nice place. They can offer us a room in the back so we can have some privacy. Patients and veterans don’t have any anxiety about walking into a library.”

Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, said he likes the idea of the service being offered in libraries.

“The libraries are working very hard to remain relevant with the way things are changing,” Higdon said.

Rep. Rob Rothenburger, R-Shelbyville, suggested offering clinical video telehealth for veterans at local health departments.

“All counties have a health department,” he said.

Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, said he helped craft’s Kentucky telehealth laws years ago.

“Some of us saw the vision you see right now,” he said to Tran. “It is good to see what you are doing.”

Tran said the major obstacle for the VA to implement the program statewide was broadband access. And Rader said her community would not be able to take advantage of clinical video telehealth if it was not for the investment made in broadband by the Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative in McKee 

“If you can do this is a rural county like mine, this can be done anywhere in the state of Kentucky,” Rader said.

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September 14, 2017

Local foods gaining ground in state, university purchasing  

FRANKFORT—Food has made its way from farms to dinner tables in Kentucky for over 200 years, but it’s only been in the last few decades that state agencies and universities have made Kentucky-sourced products a priority.

Consider the Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC) in Louisville, now under renovation, which will feature an in-house garden and messaging that teaches visitors the importance of Kentucky farms when it reopens in 2018, Levy Convention Centers representative Matthew Moss told the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture yesterday. Levy is the concessions and catering operator for KICC, which has been closed for renovations since last year.

Moss told the committee that increased emphasis on catering at KICC will allow more creativity, and more chances to partner with local food producers.

“We’re going to set a target by 2020 to be purchasing 30 percent of all our products locally,” Moss told lawmakers.

At the University of Kentucky, local food purchasing is a key part of the university’s contract with food supplier Aramark. Scott Smith with The Food Connection—a UK agency focused on food sustainability—said the university’s initial contract with Aramark in 2014 had “stringent requirements” that Aramark commit $2 million to purchasing either Kentucky Proud or local food.  The contract was revised to require a $1.65 million commitment beginning this year to purchases with a specific impact on Kentucky food and farm businesses.

If the requirements of the contract aren’t met, Smith said cash penalties can be imposed.

That said, there are some obstacles to purchasing locally, Smith said, including what he called “seasonality” – or the fact that not all Kentucky-grown food is harvested year round. But the committee’s co-chair Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, said there are some work-arounds, depending on the crop.

“There are some foods that do have a good shelf life,” said Hornback. One of those foods, he said, is apples. Washington State, which is a major apple grower, has the infrastructure to store apples for long periods of time, said Hornback.

“If farmers or Piazza (Produce) had the proper infrastructure, you could have apples all during the school year,” he said, adding that it could be a great opportunity for Eastern Kentucky farmers if trees were planted.

“There’s no need to import all the apples that we eat. They could be grown here in the state of Kentucky,” he said.

At Kentucky’s state parks, purchasing and serving Kentucky Proud foods has been a priority since at least 2005, Kentucky State Parks Food Service Director Tom Brown said. Dining rooms at state resort parks and state office building cafeterias run by the Kentucky Department of Parks have bought over $600,000 annually for Kentucky Proud foods in recent years, he said, with Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese in Austin, KY, Purnell’s Sausage in Simpsonville, and Weisenberger Mills in Midway among those purchases. 

Brown said Kentucky-sourced products have historically been more costly than more generic food products, but the cost gap has narrowed. That has made it easier to incorporate more Kentucky food into their menus, he said.

One of the more innovative Kentucky-sourced menu items that has been served in state cafeterias is the hemp dawg, a beef brat infused with hemp that was also a hit at the Kentucky State Fair. The Department of Parks partnered with farmer and marketer David Neville of Shelbyville to offer hemp dawgs in the cafeterias early this year, said Brown.

“We got a lot of publicity with it, and we also got some movement going on that particular product in our cafeterias,” said Brown.

Neville, who also spoke before the committee, pointed out that Kentucky farmers still face obstacles when trying to sell or market to state entities. Changing mindsets about consumer demand, logistics and other business areas could help boost the purchase of local foods, he explained.

“I think we have an opportunity today to get the institutions moving in the right direction,” said Neville. “I think we can be a national leader in the local foods economy if we really get behind this, and quit just talking about it and start doing it.”

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September 11, 2017

FRANKFORT -- The Legislative Research Commission (LRC) is enjoying across-the-board improvements in staff satisfaction and morale, according to a survey conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

LRC employees are increasingly likely to agree that the agency follows consistent hiring practices, provides useful feedback to employees, addresses problems, acknowledges employee excellence and promotes a culture of innovation. 

Those are the findings of a survey NCSL conducted this year with employees of the LRC, which is the research and support staff arm of the Kentucky General Assembly. The survey mirrored one that NCSL conducted with LRC staff members in 2014, providing an opportunity to quantify the growth of employee satisfaction in recent years.

“Our staff deserves a tremendous amount of credit for embracing change and working together in a shared spirit of collaboration and public service,” said LRC Director David Byerman. “By authorizing us to update these survey results, the President and Speaker have given us the ability to objectively document the remarkable progress LRC has made over the last two years. LRC staff remains unified and focused on providing highly professional support to our legislators and the legislative institution.”

The area that showed biggest change between 2014 and 2017 reflected increased confidence that LRC’s hiring practices are consistent for all job openings. On a four-point scale, employee responses on that topic were almost nine-tenths of a point higher in this year’s survey.

Similar improvements in employee satisfaction were found in response to survey questions on whether the LRC uses non-monetary rewards to acknowledge staff performance excellence and whether the agency promotes a culture of employee innovation.

The 2014 and 2017 surveys were identical but for one exception: The 2017 survey added a question on whether employees approve of the way LRC Director David Byerman handles his job. By nearly a three-to-one margin, workers reported approval for the way Byerman, who joined LRC in October, 2015, leads the agency.

A comparison of the 2014 and 2017 surveys show improvements in 49 of the 54 areas in which employee satisfaction was measured. The three areas that showed slight dips and the two where satisfaction levels stayed the same all focused on the agency’s information technology services, where satisfaction levels were already recorded as being high in 2014 and remained high in 2017 

NCSL is a bipartisan organization that provides research, technical assistance and information-sharing opportunities to state legislatures. The organization has headquarters in Denver and offices in Washington, D.C.

Complete quantitative results of the NCSL survey are available here:  http://www.lrc.ky.gov/NCSL Staff Survey Summary.pdf.

--END--

FRANKFORT – Citing the growing number of heroin addicts trying to sell stolen items, a coalition of law enforcement and some pawnbrokers proposed legislation today that would require the daily transaction at pawnshops to be entered into a database accessible to police 

“Unfortunately, the drug epidemic is driving the necessity of people to take things they may or may not own to pawnshops,” Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Coreman said when testifying in support of the proposal before the Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations.

Kelli Neafus, who spoke on behalf of the Kentucky Pawnbrokers Association, testified that she has concerns about specific language in the proposed legislation that would require the Social Security number of all people who have pawned or sold something to be entered into the database.

“I believe that is stepping on privacy issues,” said Neafus, who is also a longtime Louisville pawnbroker.

Sen. Dan “Malano” Seum, R-Fairdale, agreed with Neafus on the Social Security numbers issue.

“I was a small neighborhood businessman myself for 30-something years, and I can’t imagine having one of my customers come into my place and me having to ask for their Social Security number. That seems to me a little over the top and pretty intrusive.”

He said his colleagues must keep in mind that a local pawnshop is the “poor man's bank.”

“It is already tough for some of these people to get financing on certain items and I don’t want us to make it any more intrusive than it is,” Seum said.

He said recording the seller’s driver’s license number, also required in the proposal, should be enough to discourage the sale of stolen items. The proposal would also require pawnbrokers to record the make, model, color, size, manufacturer, vintage and distinguishing marks or characteristics of all merchandise pawned or sold in addition to taking pictures of the item.

Seum also questioned a provision that would require pawnbrokers to hold any item purchased from a customer for 12 days before reselling it. Neafus said some jurisdictions already require a hold period, but it needs to be standardized across the state.

Neafus added that pawnbrokers would also like the proposal to indemnify them of all liability if the database is hacked by identity thieves.

Rep. Jerry T. Miller, R-Louisville, suggested the proposal require the recording of serial numbers into the database.

“If an item has a serial number, I think it should be required because that’s a dead lock,” he said.

Rep. Kim King, R-Harrodsburg, testified in support of the proposed legislation. She introduced a similar measure, called House Bill 23, during the last session.

“We really appreciate your accommodation and your patience with us as we try to write a wonderful bill that’s going to be both a benefit to our law enforcement and all of our law-abiding citizens,” she said.

Committee Co-chair Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, said last session ended before the state Senate could act on House Bill 23. He said his hope similar legislation would be introduced in the upcoming session that addressed the concerns of all involved.

FRANKFORT – Universities across Kentucky are offering classes in distilling, brewing and wine making, but students can't necessarily taste the spirits they're studying in class – even if they're of drinking age.

Rep. James Kay, D-Versailles, said he wanted to address that in testimony today before the Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations. He spoke in favor of proposed legislation that would allow accredited universities to conduct alcoholic beverage sampling for students who are old enough to drink as part of an educational program.

"There is ambiguity in the law right now," said Kay, who has proposed similar legislation in prior sessions. "We want to make it clear that these education programs … are not in violation of the law."

In response to a question by Sen. Dan "Malano" Seum, R-Fairdale, Kay said the proposed legislation is part of a larger effort to raise the reputation of these burgeoning educational programs.

"This isn't a booze fest," Kay said of the education programs. "This isn't so underage kids can drink. This isn't so undergraduates can have a good time at the expense of their parents and their universities."

Kay agreed with Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, that the proposed legislation would also boost workforce development efforts in the state. Kay added that there are also tourism opportunities, citing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and various wine and craft beer trails.

"We have programs developing in universities and colleges all across Kentucky," Kay said. "Those programs have to go outside of their institution to get a third-party vendor to even have alcohol. Some of them are brewing alcohol, distilling bourbon … and doing other things culinarily."

Midway University has a culinary degree program that has included bourbon distilling, said Kay, whose district includes the university. He added the university is now looking at offering degrees for craft brewers and local vintners.

At the University of Kentucky, Professor Seth Debolt directs the wine and brewing programs.

"Those classes serve as a technical foundation for the students to decide whether they would like to seek further education in that space and develop the required knowledge to enter the workforce," he said while testifying before the committee. "It has been successful. We have around 300 to 320 a year in the classes."

Peter Weiss of Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Company testified that his company has partnered with Western Kentucky University to brew a type of beer marketed as College Heights Ale.

"The way we did that was that we actually went down to Bowling Green and built a brewery on the campus of Western Kentucky University," he said. "This is our brewery under our license and it is our brewers brewing the beer. What we do is allow the students that are in the program at Western Kentucky University to come into our brewery and use it basically as their lab class – get hands-on experience with the sciences behind brewing and distilling."

The program also includes classroom studies where students learn how to run a small business, hire people and read the laws behind brewing and distilling.

After the presentation, Committee Co-chair Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, asked Kay to work with Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control officials to draft legislation that could be introduced during the upcoming session.

  --END--

July 14, 2017

Kentucky National Guard well-trained, well-prepared, lawmakers told

FRANKFORT—Kentucky has 197 National Guard personnel currently deployed with the U.S. Army or U.S. Air Force, with future mobilizations planned for later this year and in 2018 and 2019, state lawmakers were told yesterday.

Kentucky Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Hogan, who is the head of the Kentucky Army and Air National Guard and Executive Director of the state Department of Military Affairs, told the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection that most of those now mobilized are soldiers. The 207th Engineers out of Hazard and Jackson have 155 personnel deployed around the world, with 34 more from other groups and divisions also mobilized. Another 160 or more are planned to be mobilized starting this month through April 2019, he said.

But national defense is only part of the agency’s mission, said Hogan. Another part is responding to state needs.

“The citizen aspect of this is just as important as the military aspect of this,” he told lawmakers. That includes readiness for disaster including cyber or general terrorism, earthquake, snow or fire—including wildfires.

Rep. Rob Rothenburger, R-Shelbyville, asked Maj. Gen. Hogan about the Kentucky National Guard’s readiness to assist in time of fire or other natural disasters. Rothenburger recalled wildfires that ripped through areas of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee in recent years.

“Last year, Gatlinburg was extremely devastated by the catastrophe,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Hogan said the response to those fires was air-delivered buckets. His agency is ready to deliver that same response today, he said. Putting trained personnel on the ground, he added, would take 72 hours of preparation.

Ensuring Kentucky National Guard personnel are ready for any eventuality is key, Maj. Gen. Hogan explained. Soldiers must be physically fit and mentally able to confidently serve in the Kentucky National Guard—and they are.

“We are right now as physically adept as our active duty counterparts,” he told lawmakers.

Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, complimented the National Guard’s dedication to training. Burch entered the U.S. Navy when he was 17 years old, and not with the best training, he explained. “We were trained the minute we were met with the conflict,” said Burch.

Today, Maj. Gen. Hogan said, soldiers and air personnel are given much more attention before they go into battle.

“The young soldiers in the active Army and active Air Force and the active force, they were trained on their systems and their apparatus … and how to manage the war fight,” he told Burch.

Maj. Gen. Hogan was awarded the committee’s Distinguished Veteran Award as he concluded his presentation. The committee created the program, said USAF Reserve Col. and the committee’s Co-Chair Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, to recognize that some Kentucky veterans “have risen to the level of being distinguished due to their lifelong commitment of serving both in and out of the military.”

We have made it clear “we stand with and behind those who are serving all of us in any kind of uniform capacity,” said Moore.

The award was presented by fellow committee Co-chair Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, who chaired the meeting today.

--END--

July 7, 2017

FRANKFORT—Laura Sudkamp with the Kentucky State Police crime lab remembers when it took months to process one DNA sample.

“You literally had to stick the film in the freezer for six to eight weeks,” the KSP Central Lab manager told the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary today. Her lab can now generate a profile on a DNA sample in one or two days, she said, but even that’s a bit longer than need be under some new technology.

Enter rapid DNA testing, which allows DNA to be processed and possibly matched to an individual in two hours or less.  The technology was first used by the U.S. military and is now put to use in some labs, with federal plans underway to allow it to be used at booking stations like jails.

Sudkamp wonders if a time will come when the technology is used here in Kentucky, too.

She appeared before the committee with KSP Lt. Col. John Bradley and DNA database supervisor Regina Wells to discuss the idea of DNA collection upon felony arrest—something that 31 states now allow for some or all felony arrests, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Combined with rapid DNA technology, samples collected in Kentucky could produce a match (if there is one) in open cases involving serious offenses in two hours or less, she said.

“It’s a big change in the technology,” she said, adding that rapid DNA testing can also be used to identify mass casualties from plane crashes or other events, and potentially be used in sexual assault cases.

But there is some resistance to DNA collection by law enforcement, something Lt. Col. Bradley admitted but challenged. He called DNA collection “an identification service that’s much more precise than fingerprints” and useful in both exoneration and conviction.

Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said she opposes DNA collection in pre-conviction scenarios. She suggested that lawmakers who are considering approving DNA testing upon arrest also consider taking law enforcement out of the testing scenario.

“We might ought to in the interest of justice, and efficiency sometimes, look at moving it out of the purview of law enforcement and actually letting it be independent,” she told the committee.

Sudkamp tried to assuage some concerns about DNA collection from arrestees. She told lawmakers that a DNA sample from someone who is not convicted or who has their case expunged would have their DNA removed from the DNA database. And she said that her lab has the capability to handle an increase in DNA samples should Kentucky agree to DNA collection upon felony arrest.

“We are right now turning around our convicted offenders within 7 to 9 days,” she said. “We can handle 104,000 samples and we get about 55,000 felony arrests a year.”

The KSP brought a rapid DNA testing kit to the meeting to demonstrate how it works. One lawmaker who volunteered to have his DNA profiled was the committee Co-Chair Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, who is a self-professed advocate for arrestee DNA collection. 

“I was happy to get swabbed … If you didn’t get swabbed you missed your chance,” joked Westerfield.

One thing Westerfield was serious about is ensuring that operators of rapid DNA testing equipment be trained and certified, should the Kentucky General Assembly allow rapid DNA testing to be used at booking stations in the state. Sudkamp assured him that they would be registered, certified and trained.

Rapid DNA is an advancement of an older technology, said Lt. Col Bradley. It is ultimately up to Kentucky’s policy makers, he said, to decide how to proceed.

“I think we can have debate about that and decide the most efficient way, both as an Executive branch and as a General Assembly body,” he said. “The first brick in building that road is to let you all know what’s out there.”

FRANKFORT – More than 100,000 young men from across the United States trained at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville before being shipped overseas to fight in the Great War.

To highlight Kentucky’s contribution World War I, a life-replica of one of the camp’s barracks will be on display at the upcoming Kentucky State Fair, said Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Director Heather French Henry while testifying before yesterday’s meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Projection. The replica will be part of an exhibit covering nearly a quarter acre that will also include a trench made of 480 sandbags, donated by Fort Knox, containing 20 tons of sand.

“There are over 600,000 folks that travel through the state fair,” said French Henry, a member of the Kentucky World War I Centennial Committee. “It is the most excellent way to get the word and message out to the most diverse population that enters into any realm in the state.”

The United States officially entered WWI on April 6, 1917. Seven months later, the sprawling Camp Zachary Taylor training facility opened. It was the largest of 16 camps that dotted the United States and contained more than 2,000 buildings that housed more than 40,000 troops.

“We had a profound effect on the servicemen that were going overseas and really contributed to the great Allied victory of World War I,” French Henry said.

The camp was auctioned off as 1,500 different parcels of land in 1921 and became the Camp Taylor neighborhood. Many of the parcels were bought by the soldiers returning to the area after completing their term of service.

“World War I is largely a forgotten war,” French Henry said. “It’s been over 100 years. We have no living World War I veterans.”

Kentucky’s last WWI veteran was Robley Henry Rex of Louisville.

“Even in his elderly years, he still had a great mind, could recognize faces,” French Henry said of Rex. “And he hugged about as tight as anyone else I have ever hugged in my life. He was a wonderful representative for us. But sadly, sometimes that history … goes by the wayside when they are not among us.”

Rex died four days before his 108th birthday, in April 2009, at the veterans hospital in Louisville, later renamed the Robley Rex V.A. Medical Center.

Kentucky had more than 2,000 casualties during WWI, and French Henry’s department has a casualty list by county.

“It happens that almost every county – all 120 – contributed their sons and daughters to the efforts of the United States in the Great War,” French Henry said. “Even if it is 100 years later, it is never too late to remember someone’s sacrifice and service.”

Committee Co-chair Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, said he was impressed that French Henry could organize such an exhibition since no state money was budgeted for it.

“I can’t tell you how impressed I am,” Moore said of the fair exhibit and other events planned for the centennial. “We expected something to come together, but not the incredible plethora of activities and educational opportunities you have outlined for us today.

In other news, French Henry announced that the Radcliff Veterans Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility, has now started accepting its first residents. Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, said there is a pent-up demand for such a facility in the region.

“I’m starting now to get phone calls all the time,” he said in reference to inquiries from veterans wanting to move there.

French Henry said a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the center is set for July 21.

-- END –

June 8, 2017

Legislative panel warns of tight budgets ahead

COVINGTON – The mainframe computer processing all of Kentucky’s unemployment insurance claims was built a decade before the 1980s-era arcade game Pac-Man.

“Think about that,” Deputy Secretary for Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Brad Montell said while testifying before the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue yesterday at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. “This thing is old. It’s slow. It’s not employer friendly at all. It runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and then it is done. It’s got to rest. It’s got to have time to think. And it will only run five-and-a-half days a week. We got to shut her down for the weekend – literally.”

Montell, who served seven terms in the state House before joining the executive branch in October, proposed upgrading the 1973 technology with a percentage of the employer contribution to the unemployment insurance trust fund. While he didn’t say what percentage would be redirected, the minimum amount needed to update the technology is estimated at $35 million.

After the Great Recession plunged the trust fund into nearly $1 billion in debt by January 2012, its coffers have since been replenished. The fund had a positive cash balance of $425.2 million as of June 1. Montell said federal authorities have advised his cabinet that the state needs about $800 million in positive cash flow for a healthy fund.

“Good things happen when our trust fund is healthy,” he said. “We are reaping the benefits of those good things.”

Benefits have increased while employer contributions continue to fall, Montell said. The next reduction for employer contributions is forecasted to take effect in January.

In addition to upgrading the 44-year-old mainframe, Montell said the state Office of Vocational Rehabilitation needs an additional $3.8 million in state tax dollars in order to receive the total amount of federal matching money earmarked for the state. Montell said Kentucky is losing about $10 million in federal tax dollars because the state doesn’t fully fund its vocational rehabilitation office. He said the lack of money means the office tasked with finding jobs for all Kentuckians with disabilities can only assist persons with the most severe disabilities.

“That is really a shame,” Montell said in reference to Kentuckians with disabilities who are turned away.

After hearing Montell’s testimony, committee Co-chair Christian McDaniel had a warning for state cabinets and advocates of various causes: Any additional tax dollars for capital projects should create enough savings within the budgeting cycle to pay for itself.

“The fact is, absent tax and pension reform, we can expect a double-digit cut in every sector of government,” said McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill. “The pension system has simply gotten into too bad of a state – been neglected far too long. When pension and Medicaid in a decade go from 18 percent to 38 percent of the commonwealth’s budget it’s got to come from somewhere.”

He said justice, social service and education advocates all have an interest in keeping the state pension systems solvent.

“You have skin in the pension game,” McDaniel said. “You’ve had it for a long time, but now a lot of long-term problems have to have very near-term solutions. It is going to be some tight budgeting times.”

In other business, Cabinet for Economic Development Deputy Commissioner John Bevington also testified at yesterday’s meeting that his cabinet hopes to entice more businesses to expand and locate in Kentucky to increase the tax base and ease the budget constraints.

Businesses have announced $5.8 billion in new investment forecasted to create more than 9,500 jobs so far this year, he said. The largest of those investments is $1.3 billion to upgrade and retool of Toyota Motor’s assembly plant in Georgetown, $1.5 billion to locate Amazon’s air freight hub to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron and $1.3 billion for Braidy Industries to build an aluminum rolling mill in Greenup County.

“We want to surpass the highest level of announced capital investment in the state’s history and announce more than 17,000 new jobs, “Bevington said of his cabinet’s goals. “We want to move the commonwealth into the top quartile of business-friendly state rankings.”

-- END --

June 8, 2017

Renewed call for child abuse offender registry aired before committee

COVINGTON—Jennifer Diaz was at work the day before Thanksgiving 2014 when she got a call that something was wrong with her little girl.

The young mother rushed home to find her four-month-old daughter, Sophie, with injuries to her head and face. The babysitter, Desiree Rankin, told Diaz that Sophie had been having seizures. But a criminal investigation would find another reason for Sophie’s injuries: child abuse.

Rankin was charged in the case, took a plea deal and was sentenced to some time in jail.  Diaz, determined to do what she can to prevent other cases of abuse, spends much of her time advocating for stricter child abuse laws.  She and Sophie, now a toddler, appeared together before a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary in Covington yesterday to once again ask lawmakers to consider legislation that would allow the names of convicted child abusers in Kentucky to be made available to the public through a state-maintained online child abuse offender registry.

“Sophie was very fortunate,” Diaz told the committee. “She survived. But I think it is so important to have a registry to protect our children.”

A bill to create the registry passed the Kentucky House last session but did not pass into law before session’s end. That legislation, sponsored by House Health and Family Services Chair Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Florence, and Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, was House Bill 129, dubbed “Kylie Jo’s and Sophie’s Law” after both Sophie and Kylie Jo Sizemore, another little girl allegedly abused by her babysitter when she was only a few months old.

By passing legislation similar to HB 129 next year, Wuchner said Kentucky could become only the second state in the nation to create an online child abuse offender registry for convicted child abusers. The first state to create such a registry? Indiana, which went live with its child abuse offender registry this year.

“We are in the top 10” in child abuse and neglect cases, along with Indiana, Wuchner told the committee. Kentucky and Indiana have led the nation in child abuse and neglect over the years, she said, alternating between first and second place in sheer numbers of child abuse and neglect cases.

While the registry won’t be a cure-all for child abuse and neglect in the Commonwealth, Wuchner said it will help. It would join other child abuse prevention laws passed by the General Assembly in recent years including a law designed to prevent pediatric abusive head trauma (also known as “Shaken Baby Syndrome”) and HB 524 passed last session which clarifies, among other provisions, what constitutes serious physical injury of a child under age 12.

“We can’t make up for what happened to Sophie or other children,” said Wuchner. “But we can try to ensure that others do not have to go through what these parents and children have had to go through.”

How to structure child abuse offender registry legislation for consideration in 2018 drew comments from some committee members. Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, said he’s like to know how long names would remain on the registry, among other things.

 Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, said she hopes the bill stresses the importance of knowing the background of potential hires. Current law requires that specific child care workers, including those in day care and foster care, undergo a state background check before being hired to determine if there are any substantiated abuse or neglect cases against them.

A presentation on the Campbell County Detention Center’s Chemical Dependency Program was also shared before the committee. The relatively new program gives female inmates pathways to addiction treatment while in jail, followed by 18-24 months of outpatient care in the community.

--END--

June 7, 2017

New transportation laws being rolled out

FRANKFORT – Coming to Kentucky roads this year: surplus military Humvees, three-wheeled vehicles dubbed autocycles and maybe even golf carts modified to deliver online purchases.

Legislation addressing these three types of vehicles were among the transportation-related bills passed during this year’s regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly, said Rick Taylor, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Vehicle Regulation. He testified on the progress of implementing these and other transportation-related bills into law during yesterday’s meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation.

One of the first updates state legislators received was on House Bill 410. Known as the REAL ID Bill, HB 410 was written to bring Kentucky into compliance with the federal REAL ID Act by Jan. 1, 2019, and will by far affect more Kentuckians than the other transportation bills discussed at the meeting.

Taylor said he expects to hear by July 10 whether the Department of Homeland Security will extend a waiver allowing Kentucky to remain in noncompliance with the federal act until the new state driver’s licenses are available.

“Everything has been positive,” he said in reference to the extension request. “I don’t have any reason at this time to feel uncomfortable about that.”

Taylor said Kentucky will begin soliciting bids on Sept. 1 from companies able to produce driver’s licenses that meet the federal security requirements. The goal is to have a company selected by Jan. 1, 2018. He added that will allow time for the new licenses to be rolled out across the state’s 120 counties. 

“We will ask you to keep us up-to-date as this progresses because we have all lived through this controversy and the issues,” committee Co-chair Sen. Ernie Harris, R-Prospect, said in reference to a vigorous debate that took place about the best way to bring Kentucky into compliance.

The other transportation-related bills legislators received updates on include:

·         House Bill 192 makes it easier for 16- and 17-year-olds in foster care to apply for driver’s permits and driver’s licenses. State officials have already drafted a nine-page application to ensure a child’s eligibility and a letter for foster parents to give local driver licensing clerks. Transportation officials said it will take a little longer to solicit bids for car insurance to cover children in the state foster-care system but who are not living with foster parents.

·         House Bill 404 creates a commercial low-speed license plate for golf carts and other utility vehicles used for deliveries. It ensures that the vehicles have commercial insurance on file with the state. Transportation officials hope to have the license plates available by the middle of September so delivery companies can have the golf carts ready to deploy during this year’s holiday shopping season.

·         Senate Bill 73 lays out guidelines on how autocycles, a type of three-wheeled vehicle growing in popularity, are to be licensed, taxed and insured. Transportation officials said the guidelines should be finalized by July.

·         Senate Bill 176 allows for Humvees and other demilitarized vehicles to be licensed for use on public roads by the general public. (There is already an exception carved out for law enforcement.) The state began getting requests from civilians for such licenses after the Pentagon started auctioning the camo-covered, husky, troop-transporting High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) to civilians in 2014. Transportation officials said they are on track to begin issuing the license plates for the vehicles on July 1.

-- END –

June 6, 2017

LRC’s John Snyder to receive 2017 Carter/Hellard Award

Award recognizes excellence in staff support to state legislature

FRANKFORT -- A longtime Kentucky transportation policy expert is being recognized as one of the South’s top state legislative staff members with today’s announcement that the Legislative Research Commission’s John Snyder will receive the Southern Legislative Conference’s 2017 Carter/Hellard Legislative Staff Award.

The award is given annually to a legislative staff member from across 15 Southern states who demonstrates a longstanding commitment to a legislative institution, understands the role of legislative staffing in representative government, and approaches legislative work with grace and good humor under pressure.

Snyder said he was “absolutely speechless” upon learning that he would receive the award.

“Public recognition is not something you come to expect as a legislative staffer,” Snyder said. “I am still not quite sure I consider myself worthy of such an honor. Out of the 28 distinguished recipients of this award, I am especially humbled to be joining three other Kentucky recipients with whom I have been immensely proud to work with at LRC: former Deputy Director Peggy Hyland, former Director and award namesake Vic Hellard, who saw something in me 28 years ago when he hired me as a kid fresh out of grad school, and Sheila Mason, my first boss and a woman whom I have been blessed to have as a mentor throughout my career.

“I also appreciate LRC Director David Byerman for submitting my name in nomination, and was deeply touched by the sentiments he expressed in his letter. Being chosen to receive the Carter/Hellard Award is truly one of the highlights of my legislative career.”

The Carter/Hellard Award is named in honor of the late Sam Carter, a former Director of Research of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and the late Vic Hellard, Jr., who served as Director of Kentucky’s Legislative Research Commission for nearly two decades until his 1995 retirement.

Snyder, a University of Louisville graduate, joined LRC as an Analyst and Project Manager for the agency’s Program Review staff in 1989. After serving as an Analyst for the agency’s Transportation Staff from 1997 to 2004, he was promoted to his current position as Committee Staff Administrator for Transportation.

LRC Director David Byerman, who nominated Snyder for the award, wrote in his nomination letter that Snyder is well respected and admired throughout LRC because he is generous in sharing his knowledge and good humor with coworkers.

“John has an encyclopedic knowledge of transportation road projects and transportation funding and he shares his knowledge in an engaging and approachable manner,” Byerman said. “He is an honorable public servant who performs an invaluable role with the highest standards of accuracy and professionalism.”

The 2017 Carter/Hellard Award will be presented at the Legislative Service Agency Director’s Luncheon at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), which runs from July 29 to August 2 in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The SLC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Atlanta that gives state lawmakers from across 15 southern states opportunities to come together to share best practices and speak in a unified voice on issues impacting the region.

It is the largest of four regional legislative groups operating under The Council of State Governments. The 15 SLC member states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

--END--

June 2, 2017

State officials seek lower gas prices in NKY

FRANKFORT – Northern Kentuckians are fond of saying that the river that runs between them and Cincinnati is sometimes as wide as an ocean.

And the saying couldn’t be truer when it comes to gasoline prices.

The average gas price last month in Cincinnati was about 15 cents lower than just across the Ohio River in Covington, said Sean Alteri, head of Kentucky’s Division for Air Quality, during his testimony on Thursday before the Interim Joint Committee on Natural Resources & Energy. He said that gas stations in Cincinnati – despite being separated by a river only 400 yards wide – have gained an unfair economic advantage because they are no longer required to sell a type of low-emissions gas.

That’s why the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet sent a letter to the federal government on April 18 asking that the Northern Kentucky counties of Boone, Campbell and Kenton be exempt from selling more expensive reformulated gas, Alteri said.

Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, asked if switching back to conventional gas would cause Northern Kentucky to be in violation of federal ozone standards. Alteri said Northern Kentucky should still be able to meet those standards. In the 22 years following the adoption of reformulated gas, Alteri said refiners began producing cleaner conventional gas and vehicles started getting more fuel efficient.

“There have been significant improvements in conventional gasoline,” Alteri said. “There is just a marginal difference in between the emissions from reformulated gas and conventional gas. Conventional gas has gotten so much cleaner.”

Flood also asked Alteri if it was likely that the federal government would allow Northern Kentucky to switch back to conventional gas. Alteri said he was “confident” the request would be approved, in part, because similar requests were approved under the prior administration of President Barack Obama for Columbus, Ohio; Charlotte, N.C.; and Memphis, Tenn.

Rep. Jeffery Donohue, D-Fairdale, asked Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles G. Snavely if he also planned to seek an exemption for Jefferson County, another region with reformulated gas.

“We are working with district officials to determine whether it would be an appropriate strategy for them,” Snavely said of the possible switch in Jefferson County.

Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, said reformulated gas is certainly a topic of discussion among Northern Kentucky residents.

“Anything we can do to help you with this application, let us know,” Schickel said in reference his fellow members of the Northern Kentucky Caucus. “At least for the people I represent, they surely want to get rid of this reformulated gas.”

Alteri said he would update legislators when he gets a response to the petition from federal regulators.

-- END--

May 3, 2017

Some funding for hemp processing in Kentucky has come from the state’s share of the national Master Settlement Agreement, a 1998 multi-billion dollar agreement between major tobacco companies and 46 states including Kentucky. Spending of those funds are overseen by the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee.

-END-

March 31, 2017

Kentucky General Assembly’s 2017 session ends

FRANKFORT – The 2017 regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly ended Thursday evening shortly before midnight after months of work that led to passage of over 130 bills that will impact most areas of Kentucky life, from public education to the fight against drug abuse.

Most new laws – those that come from legislation that don’t contain emergency clauses or different specified effective dates – will go into effect in late June.

A partial list of bills approved this year by the General Assembly include measures on the following topics:

Abortion. Senate Bill 5 prohibits abortions in Kentucky at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The prohibition does not apply in cases where an abortion is required to save the life or prevent serious risk of permanent bodily harm to the mother.

Autopsy photos. House Bill 67 will limit distribution of autopsy photos, videos or other autopsy images to law enforcement, attorneys or others with a right to the information. The measure, named Jack’s Law, honors a Kentucky child killed in an accident whose autopsy photos were distributed to the media against his parents’ wishes.

Bible literacy. HB 128 will allow schools to offer an elective social studies course on the Bible that teaches biblical content, characters, poetry and narratives and their impact on today’s world.

Charter schools. HB 520 will allow publicly funded charter schools to operate in Kentucky beginning next school year. Local school boards would be allowed to authorize an unlimited number of the schools, which will be established by contract and governed by independent boards. A local board’s decision regarding charter schools could be overridden by the state school board, although the courts could be called on to review the state board’s action. Also included are provisions requiring that teachers and administrators hired to work at the charter schools be state-certified and that the mayors of Louisville and Lexington be allowed to authorize charter schools in their cities upon request.  

Coal fields. HB 156 establishes the Kentucky Coal Fields Endowment Authority to fund improvements to infrastructure, water, economic development, public health and technological access in the east and west Kentucky coal regions. Improvements will be funded with $7.5 million in state coal severance dollars, and projects will be selected based on their economic development and job creation potential and their ability to be self-sustaining.

Driver’s licenses. HB 410, known as the REAL ID Bill, will create a voluntary travel ID or enhanced driver’s license to board airplanes and enter federal facilities, including military facilities, as of Jan. 1, 2019. The legislation is designed to meet anti-terrorism standards in the federal REAL ID Act passed by Congress in 2005. It also spells out rules for issuing a “standard” driver’s license, permit or state personal ID card.

Education reform. SB 1 will create new rules for how students are taught and tested and how teachers are evaluated in Kentucky public schools. The legislation will require a review of academic standards in the schools beginning next school year and every six years thereafter while implementing a performance-based assessment of student learning and new benchmarks for measuring college and career readiness.

Emergency vehicles. HB 74 will only allow white light to be emitted from motor vehicle (including motorcycle and moped) headlamps, although non-halogen headlamps will be allowed to emit a slight blue tint if they were factory-installed. The intent of the bill is to make it easier for motorists to distinguish emergency vehicles from non-emergency vehicles. Fines will be levied for violations.

Fentanyl and other opioids. HB 333 would create strong penalties for trafficking any amount of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and fentanyl derivatives that are destroying Kentucky lives and families. It would also clarify definitions and requirements for the prescription of controlled substances, define prescribing authority within long-term care facilities, and allow the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Office of Inspector General to investigative patterns of prescribing and report irregularities to appropriate authorities.

Hate Crimes. HB 14 will allow an attack on a first responders, such as police, fire fighters and EMTs, to be considered a hate crime. Current state law considers it a hate crime if an attack is based on the victim’s race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin.

Hemp. SB 218 is designed to improve the state’s industrial hemp production program, first established in 2014. This year marks the Commonwealth’s largest industrial hemp crop under the program with more than 12,000 acres approved for production.

Juvenile offenders. Senate Bill 195 will help some juvenile offenders have their criminal records expunged. Currently, children convicted of a misdemeanor must go through a court process to have their records expunged. Senate Bill 195 will create a process for expungement of felony juvenile records two years after the offender reaches adulthood or is released from commitment. However, anyone who has convictions for felony or public offenses in the two years prior to applying for expungement or who has pending charges would not be eligible for expungement.

Labor unions. SB 6 requires public or private employees (with some exceptions under federal law) to request membership in a labor union in writing before they can be enrolled in that organization. It also specifies that dues or fees paid to labor organizations cannot be withheld from earnings without employee approval. Existing agreements between employers, employees and labor unions made before the legislation takes effect would be exempt.

Medical malpractice. SB 4 requires peer review of medical malpractice complaints by medical review panels before medical malpractice cases could go to court. A complaint can bypass the panel and go directly to court only by agreement of all parties.