Even though the 2024 General Assembly adjourned sine die a little over a week ago, the debates over bills that passed and failed continue among lawmakers.
“I think it was super encouraging to know that we’re looking out for our people and protecting them and their needs,” says State Rep. Michael Sarge Pollock, a Republican from Campbellsville. He says the state budget lawmakers approved was “outstanding,” and he praises consumer protections measures to limit the sale of certain vaping products as well as safeguard home mortgages and data privacy.
Yet others see the session as one filled with missed opportunities.
“We also spent a lot of time focusing on the issues that divide us instead of putting our time and attention on those efforts that unite us as Kentuckians and deliver results for the people of the commonwealth,” says Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D-Louisville). She and fellow Democrats point to bills targeting SNAP benefits for low-income families, labor measures to end paid lunch breaks, and efforts to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at state universities.
One bill proposed by Armstrong would have removed the sales tax on baby diapers. She says half of Kentucky families struggle to pay for diapers, which aren’t covered by Medicaid, SNAP, or other benefits. Yet that measure never made it out of committee, while she says lawmakers did approve a provision in the state’s revenue bill to remove the tax on sales of gold bullion.
The legislature did approve other measures to help with a range of health care issues. In the final day of the session, lawmakers approved a so-called “momnibus” bill, a sweeping maternal health measure that Armstrong says will save lives. Rep. Rachel Roarx (D-Louisville) also points to legislation to increase the number of available Medicaid waivers.
“Families with loved ones who have intellectual and development disabilities are really going to see an impact in their lives because of this,” says Roarx.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 280 will allow certain rural hospitals to receive the same Medicaid reimbursement rates as hospitals at the Universities of Louisville and Kentucky. Pikeville Republican Sen. Phillip Wheeler, the sponsor of the measure, says it will pump millions of dollars into struggling hospitals without costing the state a dime.
“Through collaboration and working with the University of Kentucky... and the Kentucky Hospital Association, we were actually able to come up with a broader-based piece of legislation which I think can be very transformative to rural health care and really put a lot of additional funds out there where they’re needed,” says Wheeler.
But the legislature rejected a major boost for child care in the state. Republican Sen. Danny Carroll’s Horizons Act would have pumped $150 million into the struggling child care industry. The bill passed out committee with bipartisan support, but advanced no further. Wheeler says relief for working families is important but says it must be provided without creating an ongoing burden on taxpayers.
Tough on Crime or Just Cruel?
Even after lengthy debate in the state House and Senate, and an override of Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto, House Bill 5 continues to generate strong opinions among lawmakers. The measure, known as the Safer Kentucky Act, strengthens penalties for a number of crimes, creates several new crimes, and limits the activities of charitable bail organizations.
“Obviously crime is a huge, huge topic,” says Pollock. “We have to do something to figure out what we need to do to get control of crime.”
Perhaps the most contentious provisions make street camping by homeless individuals a misdemeanor subject to a fine and even jail time.
“There are already crimes that if a person who does not have shelter is causing some sort of problem, law enforcement has the tools to address that – things like trespassing, thinks like disorderly conduct” says Armstrong. “All that bill does is make it a crime to not have anywhere else to be, and I think that that’s cruel.”
“This is not about cruelty,” counters Wheeler. “This about giving people the nudge to get the kind of help that they need so that they can get out of that homeless situation.”
Opponents of HB 5, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Whitney Westerfield (R-Fruit Hill), criticized the legislation for not including a fiscal impact statement to detail what increased jail time would cost the state, and for reverting back to tough-on-crime polices that they say have proven ineffective. Armstrong argues that tougher prison sentences do nothing to address the root causes of criminal conduct and that Kentucky already has the sixth highest incarceration rate in the world.
“If just locking people up was the solution to reducing crime, Kentucky should be one of the safest places there is,” says Armstrong.
But Wheeler contends a spike in serious crime in the commonwealth must be addressed. He says Kentucky made significant investments in treatment and rehabilitation programs since criminal justice reforms passed in 2011, but he says those efforts have not yielded the desired results. He says Kentuckians deserve to feel safe and protected.
“If you’ve committed three violent offenses on somebody, then you need to be locked up, you need to be removed from society,” says Wheeler. “Why should decent-living people suffer because you can’t get your act straight and you present a danger to society?”
With medicinal cannabis set to become legal next year, lawmakers passed legislation to address permitting of marijuana growers and processors as well as specific medical marijuana businesses called dispensaries.
“To be honest with you I wish it would have stepped a little further and provided the pharmacies in there as well because it is medical cannabis,” says Pollock.
House Bill 829 also includes provisions to let local governments prohibit any cannabis business within their jurisdictions. It also allows school nurses to refuse to administer medical marijuana to a student, even if the child is a registered and qualified patient.
“We do have the most restrictive medical cannabis law in the country, and the laws that we passed this session just made it more restrictive,” says Roarx.
A Focus on Jefferson County
Among the many statewide issues addressed during the session, lawmakers also passed measures that target Metro Louisville. These include House Bill 388 which makes elections for mayor and council members into nonpartisan races, and places restrictions on zoning and land use policies in Louisville.
“I hear from folks who are really concerned about the way the General Assembly this session for the first time ever started passing laws to explicitly override our Louisville local laws,” says Armstrong. “People in Louisville think that this idea of local control is something that the General Assembly has chucked out the window.”
Beyond representing the citizens of their specific districts, Wheeler argues that state lawmakers have a responsibility to improve the lives and protect the rights of all Kentuckians, especially those in the state’s largest city.
“On occasion, when local governments seem to go too far, I believe it is our responsibility as state senators and state representatives to make sure to reign in overreach,” says Wheeler.
Democrats also criticized a House concurrent resolution that creates a task force to study the management of Jefferson County Public Schools. Rep. Ken Fleming (R-Louisville), who sponsored the resolution, said a review of JCPS is needed, given poor student test scores, persistent achievement gaps, a bloated administration, and transportation failures on the first day of school this year.
With about one out of every six Kentucky children attending a public school in Louisville, Wheeler says it’s important to ensure those students are getting the education they deserve.
“We know that there are many, many failing schools within the Jefferson County Public School system,” says Wheeler. “We know that with the transportation that there were kids who were left hours waiting on a school bus. That is simply inexcusable.”
Roarx says the district has already been the focus of many studies and audits, and she argues the new task force won’t adequately represent all stakeholders of the district. She also fears a desire to split JCPS into multiple smaller districts is the end goal of Republicans. She contends that would do nothing to address underfunding or administrative challenges and could cost families access to magnet programs and specialty schools for disabled students or pregnant youth.
“I find that this is just another study instead of actually taking action that our students need to be successful,” says Roarx.
