Sunday, February 9, 2014

Day Twenty-Two & Twenty Three of KY's 2014 Session In Review

HB335, Speaker Stumbo’s False Claims Bill, co-sponsored by the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, John Tilley, has been posted and is expected to be heard on Wednesday, February 12th at Noon in the Judiciary Committee. HB 335 will allow the Attorney General or private citizens to sue on behalf of the state to recover false claims with some of the proceeds of the action being distributed to the person successfully bringing the action. The bill will enhance the civil liability and penalties for committing fraud against the state and provide civil protections for fraud whistleblowers. Similar legislation has failed in years past.
SB119, Senator Denton’s Medical Review Board Bill, is expected to be heard and passed out of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee this coming Wednesday as well. SB119 establishes an independent panel of three medical experts to review claims against health care providers. It will provide a timely, independent, medical opinion on the standard of care that is admissible in court. Finally, SB119 provides another layer of accountability for Kentucky health care providers and personal injury lawyers.
HB173, the statewide smoking ban bill, was voted out of the House Health & Welfare Committee this past week without much fanfare. Senator Denton has introduced a similar bill, SB117.  There still doesn’t seem to be the needed support to pass the legislation, but the session is still young.
HB1, sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, would increase the state’s minimum wage for the first time since 2009, passed the House last Thursday by a 54-44 vote. Under HB 1 Kentucky’s minimum wage would increase in increments from the current rate of $7.25 up to $10.10. It would also require Kentucky workers be paid equal wages for equal work, regardless of sex, race, or national origin, with a few exceptions. More than 400,000 Kentuckians—which is a little over 9 percent of the state’s total population—would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage, Stumbo said, adding that a large percentage of affected workers would be women.
HB191, sponsored by Rep. Will Coursey, would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers from $2.13 an hour to $3 an hour this year, then incrementally each year until the wage is 70 percent of the state minimum wage for non-tipped employees. HB 191 passed the House last Thursday with a vote of 57 - 40.
The Kentucky Senate approved SB1, a bill Sponsored by Joe Bowen and Senate President Robert Stivers, last Thursday that would let Kentuckians vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to prohibit the adoption of administrative regulations it finds deficient. Currently, when the General Assembly isn’t in session, lawmakers on a review panel can vote to find administrative regulations deficient. The executive branch can choose to enact the administrative regulations anyway. SB1 was approved on a 24-14 vote and now goes to the full House for consideration.
The following bills have passed one house:
Senate Bills Passed Senate: SB 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 16, 20, 26, 27, 29, 41, 44, 45, 53, 55, 58, 59, 64, 67, 74, 87, 99, 113
House Bills Passed House: HB 1, 5, 17, 40, 66, 69, 70, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 84, 93, 98, 102, 110, 115, 126, 129, 138,146,
154, 157, 165,169, 176, 179, 181, 189, 191, 192, 206, 211, 212, 217, 223, 228, 229, 246, 261
Only one bill, SB7, has passed the Senate and House, enrolled and delivered to the Governor.


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Click on the links below

    LINKS TO SOME OF TODAY's HEADLINES:

     UPCOMING MEETINGS:

    Monday, February 11, 2014
    Noon, Annex Room 129
    HOUSE BUDGET REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
    Agenda: New Business. Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, Public Health
    1:30pm, Annex Room 149
    ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE
    4:00pm, House Chambers
    House Convenes
    4:00pm, Senate Chambers
    Senate Convenes

    SOME OF THE LATEST POLITICAL STORIES:

    Former President Bill Clinton is planning a trip to Kentucky later this month to campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. [...]
    Sun, Feb 09, 2014 11:27:39 PM, Continue reading at the source

    Nine months before Kentucky's 2014 U.S. Senate election, Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes leads five-term incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) 46% to 42% in a WHAS11/Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll released Thursday.[...]
    Sun, Feb 09, 2014 11:27:39 PM, Continue reading at the source

    Nearly a decade after 74% of Kentuckians voted for a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriages and civil unions, 55% of Kentuckians in a new WHAS11/Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll now oppose gay marriage. [...]
    Sun, Feb 09, 2014 11:27:39 PM, Continue reading at the source

    Kentucky voters favor raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour by a two-to-one margin, spelling potential trouble for Republicans this November.Click to Continue » [...]
    Sat, Feb 08, 2014 11:00:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    A majority of Kentucky voters approves of a legislative proposal to ban smoking in bars, restaurants, offices and other public places throughout the state.Click to Continue » [...]
    Sat, Feb 08, 2014 11:00:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    A majority of Kentucky voters continue to oppose same-sex marriage, but public opinion appears to be shifting on the issue.Click to Continue » [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 11:00:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    By Sam Youngman syoungman@herald-leader.com U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has stepped up his blistering criticism of Bill Clinton, saying Democrats who take money from the former president should either return it or not "take a position on women's rights." Paul's comments, set to air Sunday on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers," come as likely Democratic Senate nominee Alison Lundergan Grimes announced Friday that Clinton will campaign in Kentucky on her behalf later this month. Paul, in the C-SPAN interview, said Democrats "can't have it both ways." "The Democrats can't say 'Oh we're the great defenders of women's rights in the workplace, and we will defend you against some kind [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 8:06:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    In the 2014 election cycle is Kentucky's U.S. Senate race a top contest or an over-hyped media circus?According to political guru Larry Sabato, it's both.In a piece for Politico Magazine this month, Sabato, who is director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, listed the campaign for Republican Senator Mitch McConnell's seat as one of the "six most overrated" races this year. [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 7:13:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Kentucky is coming to campaign for Alison Lundergan Grimes this month.As first reported by The Courier-Journal's Joe Gerth, former U.S. President Bill Clinton will be in Louisville on Feb. 25.The visit further underscores the importance of the Senate race for Democrats and Republicans nationally, as Grimes vies for GOP Leader Mitch McConnell's seat.From the C-J: [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 6:27:00 PM, Continue reading at the source

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's popularity is lower than President Barack Obama in Kentucky and less than one-third of registered voters across the state hold a favorable view of the Republican lawmaker.That's according to a new Bluegrass Poll conducted by the Louisville Courier-Journal, WHAS-TV, Lexington Herald Leader and WKYT-TV in Lexington, which was released Thursday evening. [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 2:17:00 AM, Continue reading at the source

    By Sam Youngman syoungman@herald-leader.com U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that he could not vote for the farm bill this week because of its price tag, even though he supports a portion of the measure dealing with industrial hemp. In a statement to the Herald-Leader, Paul said he was "encouraged by the provision allowing universities and state agriculture departments to grow or cultivate industrial hemp, but could not support another bill that adds nearly a trillion dollars to our debt." "Although there were some improvements to farm policy in the conference report, it did nothing to slow down the spending in Washington," Paul said. The [...]
    Fri, Feb 07, 2014 1:09:00 AM, Continue reading at the source

    As advocates hope third time's a charm, panel moves statewide smoking ban to full House  by Nick Storm In its first trip of the 2014 session before a House panel in 2014 the bill which would establish a statewide smoking ban passed 10-3. The House Health and Welfare Committee voted Thursday 10-3 to move House Bill 173 that would ban smoking in most public buildings — including restaurants... Read more
    Senate passes SB1 to give legislature ability to override regulations year-round  by Don Weber - The Senate voted down party lines Thursday to approve a constitutional amendment that would give a legislative body the authority to strike down regulations even when the General Assembly wasn’t in session. Senate Bill 1 — the Senate Republican majority’s top priority for 2014... Read more
    Democrats energized by Bluegrass poll as Grimes sticks with jobs theme by Jacqueline Pitts - LOUISVILLE — Buoyed by the results of the Bluegrass Poll Thursday, about 1,000 Democrats turned U.S. Senate challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes’ latest economic speech into more of a campaign pep rally. Grimes leads five-term U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell by four points, 46 percent to 42... Read more
    After marathon debate, House passes minimum wage increase, 54-44  - by Ryan Alessi - After the longest debate in the House of the 2014 session, a slim majority voted Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 over three years from the current rate of $7.25. House Bill 1 passed 54 to 44 after more than two-and-a-half hours of debate with Republican lawmakers voting largely as...Read more
    Colleges and schools teaming up to develop ways to raise standards for incoming teachers  - by Ryan Alessi - Teacher candidates in Kentucky enter college with the lowest average ACT scores of a dozen majors and are most likely to need remedial courses, which has prompted colleges and schools to come up with ways to raise the standards. The Council on Postsecondary Education, which oversees Kentucky... Read more

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