http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com Covering Kentucky politics and government Tue, 22 May 2012 21:44:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:03:46 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21618 UPDATED AT 7:20 P.M. By Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — A five-day special legislative session that cost taxpayers more than $300,000 ended late Friday afternoon after Kentucky lawmakers approved a transportation budget and a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse. The contentious session wrapped up quickly after leaders in the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House begrudgingly accepted compromises on both bills, which they had failed to approve in the final hours of the regular legislative session on April 12. The Senate backed off a proposal to restore about $50 million worth of road projects in and near Senate President David Williams’ Southern Kentucky district that Gov. Steve Beshear had vetoed earlier this week. Meanwhile, the House accepted an anti-drug abuse bill that keeps the state’s electronic prescription monitoring system in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services — and out of the hands of law enforcement agencies eager to investigate doctors who over-prescribe addictive medications.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/20/senate-approves-road-budget-bill-with-restoration-of-some-vetoed-road-projects/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:05:05 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21606 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The $50 million in road projects that Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed in or near the Southern Kentucky district of Senate President David Williams are back — for now. In a surprise move Thursday, the fourth day of a special legislative session, the Senate budget committee added the projects to a bill containing the Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget. The panel adopted by voice vote an amendment offered by committee Chairman Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, that restored the projects. The committee then approved the amended House Bill 2 on a 14-0 vote and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to consider it Friday. If the changes become law, which seems unlikely, they would reverse Beshear’s decision on Wednesday to veto the road projects from the state’s two-year road plan. That bill was approved on April 12, the last day of the regular legislative session. Leeper said he introduced the amendment “as a matter of principle” because it was not fair for the governor to direct his vetoes at one legislator.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/19/senate-committee-adds-williams-projects-back-into-road-budget/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:04:37 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21601 By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com Gov. Steve Beshear blamed Senate President David Williams' "greed" last week after Williams added tens of millions of dollars in spending for his district to the state's two-year road plan. Meanwhile, Williams criticized Beshear for not signing the plan into law hours after legislative leaders hammered out a compromise version and delivered it to the governor. A week after the regular legislative session ended in failure because of this impasse, the facts don't entirely support either man. Though Williams, R-Burkesville, did try to fatten short-term road spending in his district, which includes six rural counties along the Tennessee state line, what he awarded himself pales in comparison to the asphalt anticipated by House Democratic leaders, who get first crack at the governor's road plan and share the governor's party affiliation. From 2012 through 2014, the road plan the legislature approved last Thursday would have spent $115 million in Williams' district, or $1,017 per person. Floyd County, home of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, would get $95 million, or $2,411 per person. Elliott County, home of House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, would get $41 million, or $5,259 per person.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/money-for-roads-in-williams-district-pales-in-comparison-to-house-leaders/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:28:50 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21593 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate will approve a $4.5 billion operating budget for the Transportation Cabinet on Friday and end a special legislative session that began Monday, Senate President David Williams said late Wednesday. The announcement came after Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law a two-year road plan, but not before vetoing about $50 million in funding for road projects in or near Senate President David Williams’ Southern Kentucky Senate district. Williams said he was “very pleased” that the governor finally signed the road plan, “and we will proceed now to pass the operating budget” for the Transportation Cabinet. He said Beshear’s vetoes were “vindictive and unconstitutional. But since he just directed them at me, we will proceed.” The Senate GOP leader said per capita spending in the road plan for his district after Beshear’s vetoes is about $700, compared to about $2,400 in House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s district. Williams’ district includes Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne and Whitley counties.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/beshear-vetoes-50-million-in-road-projects-in-williams-district/feed/ 4 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:56:21 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21579 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/18/house-passes-road-bill-pill-mill-bills/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/17/shaughnessy-williams-spar-in-senate/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/17/shaughnessy-williams-spar-in-senate/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:22:14 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21561 Tim Shaughnessy of Louisville and Republican Senate President David Williams of Burkesville participated in a sharp exchange Tuesday morning in the Senate about the agenda of the special legislative session. Shaughnessy arose from his chair during the Senate's proceedings and said he was "confused" about why the Senate is considering bills that don't relate to Gov. Steve Beshear's agenda for the special session. Only the governor can call a special session and set its agenda. The legislature determines when the session ends. Beshear put on the special session's agenda a state road budget bill and a bill to curb prescription drug abuse. Senate Republicans on Monday added to that a new road construction plan in case Beshear vetoes the one the legislature sent him last Friday and a bill to stop the per diem salary for legislators when they do not meet in chambers during a session.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/17/shaughnessy-williams-spar-in-senate/feed/ 2 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-says-special-session-is-a-result-of-williams-greed/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-says-special-session-is-a-result-of-williams-greed/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:04:47 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21517 By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer bmusgrave@herald-leader.com PDF: Read Beshear's call for a special session FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered the Kentucky General Assembly to convene a special law-making session at noon Monday to consider a transportation budget and a bill aimed at battling prescription drug abuse. Beshear’s call for a special legislative session came about 12 hours after lawmakers ended their regular 60-day session just before midnight Thursday without approving the Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget, which funds everything from road building to snow removal. A special session costs taxpayers $60,456.50 a day. It will probably last at least five days — the minimum amount of time needed to move a bill through the legislative process — but could go on for weeks.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-says-special-session-is-a-result-of-williams-greed/feed/ 3 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-plans-to-call-a-special-legislative-session/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-plans-to-call-a-special-legislative-session/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:49:51 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21502 David Williams was responsible for the Senate’s failure to approve a road plan budget bill on the final day of the 60-day regular session. “Without the transportation budget bill, you can’t fund any of the projects in the transportation plan that has been passed,” said the Democratic governor who won re-election last November in a contentious campaign against Williams, R-Burkesville. Beshear also charged that Williams was responsible for the Senate’s inaction Thursday on a bill that would more closely regulate pain management clinics and put the state’s electronic prescription reporting system in the attorney general’s office instead of in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. “We need that bill. We need the transportation budget bill. So I’ll be issuing a call for a special session of the General Assembly,” Beshear said. “They should have and could have been passed by the Senate today.”]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/13/beshear-plans-to-call-a-special-legislative-session/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/29/house-and-senate-leaders-ink-deal-on-19-billion-budget/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/29/house-and-senate-leaders-ink-deal-on-19-billion-budget/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:32:52 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21380 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/29/house-and-senate-leaders-ink-deal-on-19-billion-budget/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/28/house-mulls-senate-proposal-on-budget/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/28/house-mulls-senate-proposal-on-budget/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:14:50 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21368 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/03/28/house-mulls-senate-proposal-on-budget/feed/ 0