This Week At The State Capitol

As Kentucky lawmakers returned to the Kentucky State Capitol this week to start the 2016 legislative session, they entered Senate and House chambers that had undergone major renovations to preserve century-old furnishings while also introducing new technology.

The mixture of the old and new was a good representation of the issues themselves that lawmakers will confront throughout this winter’s session. Some of the matters are perennial issues while others are emerging challenges unique to our times.

The big issue, though, is clearly the challenge of crafting the state’s next budget, a two-year plan that will guide about $21 billion worth of spending. For the first time in a while, incoming revenue is a bit ahead of projections. Still, the few million dollars Kentucky will have beyond initial projections in the next fiscal year is far outsized by the spending request from universities, state police and many other agencies. Once again, the budget is likely to feel tight to many.

The budget process will take a big step forward on January 26 when Gov. Matt Bevin presents his spending plan in a speech to lawmakers that will be delivered during a joint session of the General Assembly and broadcast to a statewide audience by Kentucky Educational Television. Once the budget proposal is handed off to lawmakers, budget subcommittees will start digging into the spending plan and lawmakers will begin considering changes to ensure that the final plan that they agree is one that reflects their own priorities.

A couple other major issues of the 2016 session came into focus this week as legislative leaders unveiled “Senate Bill 1” and “House Bill 1” – bills that receive the top numeric designation to indicate their importance to each chamber’s leadership.

The focus of Senate Bill 1 is on education, with supporters saying it will reform educational standards and assessments in a way that helps produce college and career ready Kentucky graduates.

House Bill 1 proposes that the state issue $3.3 billion in bonds to help shore up the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System and curtail the system’s unfunded liability.

Bill would expand Safe Infants law

Parents who feel they can’t keep their newborn baby would have up to 30 days to leave the child at a state-approved safe place under a proposal discussed today in a House committee.

Parents or those acting on their behalf now have up to three days after a child is born to leave the newborn at a safe place under the 14-year-old Kentucky Safe Infants Act. They would have 27 additional days to make that decision under House Bill 97, sponsored by House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville.

“Some feel (72 hours) is not enough time to allow a woman to make that decision. So this bill will extend that up to 30 days,” Burch said today. “We need to get the wording right so nobody has liability problems.”

The bill may also expand the list of acceptable safe places to leave a newborn according to Burch, who said he is working on an amendment with Rep. Donna Mayfield, R-Winchester, to include religious facilities among the list. The only safe places to leave a newborn under current law are hospitals, police stations, fire stations and in locations with EMS (emergency medical services) personnel.

As long as the baby is not injured, the law ensures that the parent or person acting for them will not be liable.

“No one will call the police, and no one will ask for your name. The baby will get medical care and be placed with a family for adoption,” according to a Kentucky Safe Infants Act brochure from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

HB 97 is expected to be brought to a vote before the House Health and Welfare Committee in coming days.

Gideon John Tucker (February 10, 1826 – July 1899) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor and politician. In 1866, as Surrogate of New York, he wrote in a decision of a will case (Final Accounting in the Estate of A.B., 1 Tucker 248, N.Y. Surr. 1866): "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session."