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/2012/05/11/beshear-appoints-linda-breathitt-to-public-service-commission/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/11/beshear-appoints-linda-breathitt-to-public-service-commission/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 15:30:17 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21699 By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear appointed longtime energy regulator Linda Breathitt on Friday to the state Public Service Commission. Breathitt, of Lexington, has worked in the energy sector for years in state and federal positions. She replaces Charlie Borders, who resigned in December from the agency that oversees utilities in the state. Her term will begin May 21. “Linda has a broad range of experience in the energy sector that few can match,” Beshear said in a statement. “Her vision and expertise in this field will serve our entire state well.”]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/11/beshear-appoints-linda-breathitt-to-public-service-commission/feed/ 3 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/03/beshear-waits-on-issuing-order-for-state-health-insuranceexchange/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/03/beshear-waits-on-issuing-order-for-state-health-insuranceexchange/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 16:57:41 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21659 By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT – Gov. Steve Beshear will wait until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act before issuing an executive order to set up a Kentucky health benefit exchange. The exchange is envisioned as an online marketplace where consumers can shop for competing health insurance plans. It is intended to reduce coverage costs for individuals, small businesses and local governments, and would operate like Travelocity or Orbitz. Each state must have an exchange by 2014 under the federal health reform act enacted by Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide in late June on the constitutionality of the federal act. If it is upheld, the state will have until the end of this year to demonstrate its readiness to run a health insurance exchange or the federal government will take responsibility for it.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/05/03/beshear-waits-on-issuing-order-for-state-health-insuranceexchange/feed/ 3 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/30/beshear-will-talk-with-conway-before-deciding-whether-to-move-kasper/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/30/beshear-will-talk-with-conway-before-deciding-whether-to-move-kasper/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:36:35 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21641 FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday he will meet with Attorney General Jack Conway before deciding whether to move by executive order the state's electronic monitoring system for prescription to his office. The system, known as KASPER, is now in the Cabinet for Families and Health Services. Some legislators this year wanted to move it to Conway's office to make it a law-enforcement tool but that provision was not included in a final bill to curb prescription drug abuse. "The thing that the attorney general stresses, which I agree with him on, is his need for access so his investigators can proceed when they need to pursue these doctors who are pushing drugs," Beshear said. Beshear noted that the new law does not take effect until mid-July. He said he will be discussing it with Conway before then. --Jack Brammer ]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/30/beshear-will-talk-with-conway-before-deciding-whether-to-move-kasper/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/23/prescription-drug-drop-off-slated-for-saturday/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/23/prescription-drug-drop-off-slated-for-saturday/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:44:04 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=21634 http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html. A recent survey showed that 70 percent of teens acquired a prescription drug through a relative or friend, compared to five percent who said they received prescription drugs from a drug dealer, said Secretary for Justice and Public Safety J. Michael Brown.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/04/23/prescription-drug-drop-off-slated-for-saturday/feed/ 0 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/2012/04/13/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