Higdon: Senate approving bills while waiting for state budget from House
By JIMMY HIGDON
14th District State Senator
SEN. JIMMY HIGDON
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, 9 a.m. — Not only did Friday mark the end to another busy week in the Kentucky Senate, it also was day 46 of our 60-day legislative session. We are now in the proverbial “fourth quarter” when the House and the Senate must come together to get a victory for the state of Kentucky by passing a responsible budget. After 10 weeks we are still awaiting a key “assist” from our colleagues in the House in the form of a budget bill that has yet to pass the lower chamber.
As you read this the Senate should have the budget, and we know there is still much work to be done. Here is a look at some significant bills that passed the Senate this week:
Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 75 would direct the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Kentucky Workforce Oversight Task Force to study and develop recommendations concerning the benefits, investments, and funding of workforce education in our state.
SCR 135 recognizes Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and encourage all cable and satellite providers to offer KET programming to their customers.
SB 170 would modify rules for overdimensional vehicles transporting steel products.
SB 186 would establish rules for marinas and boat liens.
SB 192 would require all high school students to pass a civics test in order to graduate. The 100 questions from said test will be drawn from the test administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to persons seeking to become naturalized citizens.
SB 209 would allow agencies that discontinue participation in Kentucky Retirement Systems may “pick-up” the employee contributions in the alternative retirement plan so that the contributions will be made on a tax-deferred basis.
SB 212 would require new abortion facilities to complete a certificate of need and would require abortion facilities to have an admittance agreement with a local hospital.
SB 214, which I sponsored, would remove fees of 20 cents—a requirement dated back to the 1940’s—for certain acts which notaries perform.
SB 216 would update Kentucky child support regulations in order to comply with federal standards.
SB 225 would expand eligibility, subject to sufficient funding, for the homelessness prevention project to individuals based on certain criteria.
HB 237 would allow for local property tax exemptions for new data centers in order to encourage local economic growth.
SB 238 would remove requirement of ten days’ notice when requesting a credit report for purposes of evaluating child support.
SB 246 would update salary schedules and provisions for Kentucky State Police troopers.
A proposed constitutional amendment would bring the most significant change to the state judiciary since 1976 reforms created a unified state court system that was a model for the nation. The constitutional amendment we passed, known as Senate Bill 8, would ensure judges are assigned to courthouses with the highest volume of cases in the most populous areas. SB 8 would require the Kentucky Supreme Court to conduct judicial redistricting, based on population and caseloads, on the same years as legislative redistricting.
We also passed SB 50, which would allow for a later start to the school year. Under SB 50, schools would have the option to start later, a move that would help tourism, according to sponsors. Schools that start later would not have to adhere to the current 170-day academic year, instead slightly extending the school day to reach the required 1,062 instructional hours a year.
Senate Bill 228 would standardize the definition of bullying to provide public schools with more guidance on what bullying is so they can help stop it, supporters said. It would be worked into schools’ code of conduct and allow schools to accurately report the number of incidents. Opponents said current harassment laws already cover bullying and the behavior isn’t something state government needs to supervise.
A very important bill also passed out of committee this week. Senate Bill 63 advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would require the state’s 300-plus police departments and 120 sheriff’s departments to retrieve sexual assault kits from hospitals within five days’ notice from a hospital that the evidence is available. SB 63 would also require law enforcement to submit kit samples to the state crime lab within 30 days, prohibit the destruction of any kits and notify victims of the progress and results of the tests.
Once the budget comes to the Senate chambers, our main focus will be moving it forward before the end of the 2016 Session. The citizens of Kentucky have been promised a working, balanced budget, and we in the Senate hope to deliver on that promise soon.
If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at Jimmy.Higdon@LRC.ky.gov. You can also review the Legislature’s work online at www.lrc.ky.gov.
Senator Jimmy Higdon (R-Lebanon) represents the 14th District including Casey, Marion, Nelson and Spencer counties, as well as part of Jefferson County. He is the Chairman of both the Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee, and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation. He is the Vice Chair of the Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee and the Transportation Committee, as well as a member of the 2012 SS HB 1 Implementation and Oversight Committee; the Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government, Finance, and Public Protection; the Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee; the Education Committee; the Health and Welfare Committee; the Program Review and Investigations Committee; and the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee.
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