House considers proposal of South Central Kentucky caucus

This past week marked a turning point in the calendar of the 2016 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Last Tuesday was the filing deadline for all bills, which gave us a more complete picture of what issues could possibly be addressed in these final weeks of the session.

More than 600 bills have been filed in the House this year, along with over 200 resolutions. While not all of these bills will receive a hearing, much less be voted upon, I think it is clear to see that we, as legislators, will be spending much of the remaining weeks of this session reading and studying the proposed legislation in order to best cast votes reflective of the districts we represent.

The elephant in the room, of course, remains the proposed executive branch budget for the next biennium. As I have previously stated, this proposal dominates much of the time during the 60 day sessions. Progress continues to be made as budget review subcommittees are meeting to flesh out details of the massive document. I expect the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee to have a vote on the proposal very soon, with the full House voting on it by mid-March.

In other matters, this week the House considered a resolution which could have a great positive effect on the counties of the 83rd District. House Concurrent Resolution 139 would establish a nonpartisan South Central Kentucky Caucus.

This caucus, if approved by the Senate, would be comprised of legislators in our region and work as a unified voice to support economic, infrastructure, and other needs of South Central Kentucky. This approach has proven successful for other regions of Kentucky, and I believe it will benefit us as well. I was a co-sponsor of this legislation and look forward to being a member of this caucus, which the House approved unanimously.

Another bill which passed the House this week looks to further protect our community’s first responders. House Bill 137, which was approved by a vote of 90-0, sent a strong message that Kentuckians will not tolerate attempts made on the lives of our police or firefighters.

This bill would put criminal attempt to commit murder of an identifiable on-duty law enforcement officer or firefighter on par with other violent offenses by requiring those convicted of the crime to serve 85 percent of their sentence before they would be eligible for parole, regardless of the level of injury suffered by the police or firefighter. This is an increase from the current level of 20 percent.

Lastly, I would like to take a moment to address an issue about which you may have received correspondence. It is my understanding the National Right to Work Committee has sent mail into Cumberland, Clinton, and Russell counties highly critical of me for making a statement that right to work legislation is not a priority of the House Republican Caucus this year.

I want to set the record straight. I am completely and unwaveringly in support of right to work legislation. I have sponsored such legislation in the past and will happily do so again, when the political climate is right. However, given the current political climate of the House and the other pressing issues that we need to examine, Governor Bevin and I decided this was not the right time to pursue right to work legislation. This does not indicate a lack of support, but more a sense of political pragmatism.

I would have happily explained this strategy to the National Right to Work Committee, had I been given the opportunity. Instead, they decided to employ bully tactics similar to those of the labor unions which they claim to deplore. While I respect their right to express their opinion, I do not respect the mischaracterizations and disparaging remarks made about me when they did not even have the courtesy to solicit my opinion and reasoning for this strategy.

If you would like to stay up-to-date on all legislative action of interest to you during this session of the Kentucky General Assembly, you can visit www.lrc.ky.gov or call the LRC toll-free Bill Status Line at (866) 840-2835. As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. You can send me a message either at jeff.hoover@lrc.ky.gov or by calling (800) 372-7181.