All Entries in the "KY General Assembly" Category

House set to vote Wednesday on road budget, pain pill bills

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The House is set to vote Wednesday on a more than $4.5 billion transportation budget bill and a measure aimed at curbing prescription pain pill abuse after the proposals cleared separate committees on Tuesday.

House Bill 2, the transportation operating budget, and House Bill 1, the prescription drug measure, are the sole pieces of legislation to be considered in the special legislative session that started Monday. The session is costing taxpayers about $60,000 a day.

Gov. Steve Beshear called the special session after the legislature failed to pass a transportation budget and a measure designed to better regulate doctors who prescribe addictive medications on Thursday, the last day of the 60-day regular session.

It’s unclear how long the special session will last. Beshear can call the session and set its agenda, but lawmakers will decide when to conclude their business.

Shaughnessy, Williams spar in Senate

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Democratic Sen. 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.

Special sessions persist despite annual law-making sessions

Herald-Leader Frankfort Bureau

FRANKFORT – When Kentucky voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2000 to allow state lawmakers to meet every year instead of every two years, advocates predicted that it would spell the end of special legislative sessions.

It didn’t.

Since annual sessions became part of the state Constitution 12 years ago, there have been 10 special sessions, including the one that began Monday at a cost of about $60,000 a day.

In the 1990s, when the legislature met every two years in regular session, Kentucky had 13 special sessions.

Only the governor can call a special session and set its agenda. Lawmakers determine when they end.

These are the special sessions held since the state approved annual legislative sessions and their agendas:

House starts special legislative session

By Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The state House gaveled into a special session shortly after noon Monday that will cost taxpayers about $60,000 a day.

The House on Monday introduced bills to provide a transportation budget and curb prescription drug abuse, the two tasks Gov. Steve Beshear put on the agenda of the special legislative session.

Committees will act on the bills on Tuesday, and the full House will vote on them and send them to the Senate by noon Wednesday, said House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

Stumbo said he did not know what will happen in the special session after that.

The Senate is set to convene at 4 p.m. Monday.

Legislators slim down during session with weight loss challenge

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Voters in Marion County elected two of the “biggest losers” in the General Assembly.

Rep. Terry Mills, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon — both from Lebanon — took top honors for cutting the most fat during the 2012 General Assembly as part of a weight-loss contest legislators began at the beginning of the session.

Mills was the top loser overall, shedding 40 pounds from January to the end of March. Higdon lost 36 pounds during the same time.

“Now, the real challenge is keeping the weight off,” Mills said recently.

The weight-loss challenge was the brainchild of Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, and Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville. The two started to talk about Kentucky’s burgeoning childhood-obesity problem after a legislative meeting last summer where it was discussed.

Pseudoephedrine bill among those that passed the 2012 General Assembly

The House and Senate approved a two-year, $19 billion General Fund budget and more than 200 bills in the 60-day legislative session. Some of the measures that passed this legislative session include:

■ Meth: Senate Bill 3 further limits the amount of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine that people can buy. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in methamphetamine.

■ Amish: Senate Bill 75 allows Amish or other religious sects to use white reflective tape instead of an orange triangle on slow-moving vehicles.

■ Dental care: House Bill 510 creates a pilot program to improve dental care in the state’s nursing homes.

■ School age: Senate Bill 24 requires a child to be five years of age by August 1 rather than October 1 to enter a public school. The provision does not take effect until 2017-2018.

‘Cooper’s Law’ among bills that died in the 2012 General Assembly

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

These high-profile proposals did not pass the 2012 General Assembly, which ended Thursday:

■ Cooper’s Law: House Bill 160 would have nullified deed restrictions on small outdoor structures deemed medically necessary for children 12 and younger. The bill was named after a Lexington boy whose parents were at odds with the Andover Forest Home Owners Association. Cooper Veloudis uses an outdoor playhouse as part of his treatment for cerebral palsey, his parents said. The association said the play house violated deed restrictions for all homes in the neighborhood. The bill passed a House committee but was never called for a vote on the House floor.

■ Human trafficking: House Bill 350 would have given law enforcement more training and more tools to crack down on human trafficking. It passed the full House and a Senate committee but was never called for a vote on the Senate floor.

■ Child abuse: House Bill 200 would have created an independent panel of experts to review deaths caused by child abuse and an ombudsmen’s office to investigate complaints about child protection. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate.

Beshear calls special session; blames Williams’ ‘greed’

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.

Beshear says he will recall lawmakers to Frankfort on Monday

By Beth Musgrave, Jack Brammer and John Cheves
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
jbrammer@herald-leader.com
jcheves@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – Gov. Steve Beshear said he will call a special legislative session for Monday after lawmakers ended the 2012 General Assembly at 11:59 p.m. Thursday without approving funding for a $4.5 billion road-building plan and a measure to curb prescription drug abuse.

Beshear, after meeting with House Democratic leaders in his Capitol office, said at about 12:45 a.m. Friday that Senate President 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.”

Legislature passes $4.5 billion, two-year road plan

By John Cheves and Jack Brammer – jcheves@herald-leader, jbrammer@herald-leader

FRANKFORT — The General Assembly approved a state road plan Thursday that spends $4.5 billion on Kentucky highways and bridges over the next two fiscal years, including money to widen Leestown Road and advance the Newtown Pike extension in Lexington.

The road plan, which had been a final sticking point between the Democratic-led House and the Republican-led Senate, goes to Gov. Steve Beshear for his signature or veto. The legislature passed it on the 60th and final day of its session, so it cannot override any vetoes.

Some House Republicans objected to the plan because they said several road projects were tucked into the bill at the last minute by legislative leaders. The conference committee that was supposed to iron out differences between the original House and Senate plans never actually met, and under legislative rules, no projects were supposed to be added at this stage, said House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown.