Clinton County resident Jimmy Glidewell, left, spent a few moments discussing an issue with Kentucky Senator Max Wise last week after a “town hall” type gathering in the Clinton County Courthouse, while in the background, local attorney Terran Cross Helm spoke with Kentucky Representative Jeff Hoover. The two legislators who represent Clinton County in the Kentucky legislature in Frankfort, used the gathering to inform local residents about issues and bills being dealt with in the current legislative session.

About 20 local citizens, many of whom were city and county officials and employees, were on hand last Tuesday afternoon to hear updates from Clinton County’s two state legislative representatives in Frankfort about issues being dealt with in the current legislative session.

State Senator Max Wise (R-Campbellsville), and State Representative Jeff Hoover (R-Jamestown), spoke for about 15 minutes each in the upstairs courtroom, addressing several issues that have come before the two legislative bodies in the current session.

Wise, who is just beginning his first term as our Kentucky State Senator, opened the meeting up by noting that one of his campaign issues had involved keeping an open door of communications between his office and his constituents.

He said he had stressed transparency between the government and his constituents back home and was hoping to continue these town hall type meetings throughout his terms in office.

Wise first addressed a bill he had co-sponsored that deals with drug abuse problems in the state, noting that the bill not only dealt with prosecution, but with the treatment and recovery of the victim as well.

“As you know, drug problems are affecting everyone in Kentucky and heroin is a real issue,” Wise said. “I had a 30-year old brother-in-law who passed away from a heroin overdose last October.”

Wise went on to say that heroin abuse is a growing problem in the state and a problem that strikes victims across the board regardless of race or economic and social standings.

He also noted that the senate had passed a right to work bill that would give employees that choice of whether or not they would join labor unions, adding that in all reality, the bill would not make it through the House of Representatives.

“We’re not going to keep unions out – we’re still going to have unions, but it’s giving the employee the right of getting to choose whether to join that union or not,” Wise explained.

The Senator also briefly discussed co -ponsoring a pro-life bill that would require any woman who had chosen to have an abortion to first be required to have a face to face consultation with her physician prior to the procedure. He noted that the bill had passed the senate and would now be considered by the house.

Another bill he co-sponsored that had special meaning to his family was a pediatric cancer research bill that would allow Kentucky citizens to check a box on their Kentucky income tax return in order to contribute a portion of any tax refund to a pediatric cancer research fund.

He noted that one of his four children was a stage four cancer survivor, and he was well aware what families in similar situations had to go through when dealing with the illness of a child.

Hoover, who has been serving in the House of Representatives since 1997 and currently is the House Minority Floor Leader, also addressed the group on hand for about 15 minutes, going over a handful of issues he felt was of particular importance to the citizens of his district.

One of the topics Hoover discussed was the situation regarding the Kentucky teachers’ retirement fund and it’s current unstable condition.

“Teacher retirement is probably the biggest financial issue facing the state of Kentucky right now – it’s a $14 billion unfunded liability,” Hoover said. “What that means is that if we cashed out the assets, the payments that are due, well the assets are not enough and we’re funding that at about 51 to 53 percent right now and we cannot continue to do that or there will be no money left. We have to do something.”

He added that currently there were about 47,000 retired teachers in Kentucky, and about 70,000 active teachers paying into the system, noting it amounted to a significant problem that the legislature would have to address.

“We’ve got to stop the bleeding and I think it’s something that everyone is inclined to deal with in this session.” Hoover said.

He also briefly discussed a bill he had co-sponsored dealing with giving communities an opportunity to fund projects by enacting a local option sales tax for a specific project, not to exceed one percent, and coming to an end once the particular project had been paid off.

“I truly believe it’s local government at its best,” Hoover said. “When local people are making the decision whether or not to be taxed, and local people are making the decision as to the purpose of the tax.”

Hoover also said he expected to see a vote happen this session on the enactment of a public smoking ban in Kentucky – commonly referred to as the “smoke-free Kentucky law.”

“It’s been around for several years now and has increasingly gotten more support,” Hoover said.

Both Wise and Hoover addressed the state tax on gasoline that was currently collected and used to fund road projects across Kentucky, noting that as a percentage tax based on the wholesale price of a gallon of gasoline, the amount of tax monies collected was drastically being reduced as current gas prices continued to drop.

Hoover noted that when the two bodies of government failed to reach an agreement during the last session as to whether or not the gas tax should be frozen at a basement level, and what that level should be, the collection had continued to drop since that time as gasoline prices declined.

He added that if a level wasn’t agreed on during this session, the prediction was that the rate would be even lower by this spring, dropping from it’s current 27.5 cent per gallon rate to a rate as low as 22.5 cents per gallon.

The Kentucky legislature, after a break during the last of January, reconvened in Frankfort this week and will be in session until the latter portion of March.