Published: January 26, 2008 07:19 am      

Weekly legislative roundup

Frankfort — Most of the actual legislative activity this week occurred in the Senate which re-visited education and drug treatment legislation that chamber passed in previous sessions but which failed to gain approval of the House.

Measures to promote math and science education unanimously won approval in the Senate. One, sponsored by Ken Winters, R-Murray, would pay for students’ advance placement (AP) class tests in an effort to increase the number of students taking rigorous math and science courses. It would also establish a grant fund to help up to 50 schools establish and implement AP courses and increase KEES scholarships for low-income students who take the tests.

Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, offered a floor amendment which would have restricted the payments to students taking math and science courses. He said those courses should be targeted when the state lacks sufficient teachers in those areas and would lessen the budget impact during a time of fiscal constraints. His floor amendment failed on a voice vote.

Minority Leader Ed Worley, D-Richmond, objected to the voice vote on Shaughnessy’s amendment, contending it was called by Senate Pro Tem, Republican Sen. Katie Stine, R-Southgate, in order to use the votes for the amendment by opponents in the fall campaign. But in the end, Winters’ bill passed unanimously.

The Senate also passed a bill which would allow math and science graduates to receive alternative certification to teach in Kentucky public schools. The bill was sponsored by Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, and is another component of the Senate’s efforts over the past couple of sessions to encourage more math and science graduates.

Another of Kelly’s bills, and another he’s introduced in previous sessions, would allow first-time, non-violent offenders to receive pre-trial diversion and treatment for their drug problems. It passed favorably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is headed for the Senate floor for action.

The bill is in part a reaction to the high level of drug abuse among criminal defendants and the exploding number of inmates in prisons and jails, many of whom are non-violent.

“What we are doing is not working and what we are doing, we can’t afford,” Worley said during discussion of Kelly’s bill.

Kelly also estimates the state could save more than $40 million if it created space for treating 400 more drug abusers – rather than imprisoning them. It costs the state around $20,000 a year to house inmates in state prisons and about $11,000 annually to house non-violent felons in county jails. Under Kelly’s bill, those who successfully completed up to a 90-day treatment program could avoid jail and have the charges removed from their record.

HOUSE ACTION:

Friday, the House passed a bill, sponsored by Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, which would allow universities to bond projects on their campuses which they can finance without state aid. This is the fourth time Damron has sponsored the legislation, but it has never passed the Senate.

But most of the significant action this week in the House came in committee – and came during debate on controversial subjects.

The Judiciary Committee began what promises to be a long series of hearings on House Bill 304, sponsored by Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, on illegal immigrants. It would make it a felony to use false identification to falsely claim legal status and make jail and law enforcement officials identify illegal immigrants in their custody. Damron’s bill would also penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, temporarily suspending business licenses at first and revoking them for subsequent offenses.

The subcommittee on gaming created a stir, too, when Rep. Tim Firkins, D-Louisville, publicly complained Gov. Beshear was not involving the subcommittee’s leaders in his crafting of a measure to amend the state constitution to allow casino gambling. Coincidentally, or not, two days later Beshear invited subcommittee chair Joni Jenkins, D-Louisville, and vice chair, Rep. Darryl Owens, to meet with him. They were joined by House Caucus Chairman Charlie Hoffman, D-Georgetown.

BUDGET ADDRESS ON TUESDAY:

Activity in both chambers is expected to pick up pace after Tuesday. That night, Beshear will make his budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly and he’s suggested it will be a lean and austere budget which will include “a lot of pain.” It’s also the filing deadline for legislative races this year, and lawmakers will know whether they face opposition before taking up such difficult measures as the budget and expanded gambling.



Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.



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