Ronnie Ellis
FRANKFORT — Usually at the mid-point of a General Assembly session, lawmakers are busy passing bills while waiting for the House budget committee to unveil a budget plan.
But, if the budget is the 800-pound gorilla in the room during typical sessions, it is the leviathan under the surface in this one.
“I think the budget is the legislative priority at this point,” said Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, Friday. Lawmakers face a revenue shortfall of more than $1 billion for the next two years and they are waiting for word from legislative leaders on how they plan to deal with it. That has slowed the usual pace of legislation.
One measure that is steam rolling, however, is an effort to clamp down on abuses at the Kentucky Association of Cities and the Kentucky League of Cities, both of which were humiliated by stories in the Lexington Herald Leader last year and by state audits which revealed exorbitant salaries, lavish entertainment — including escort services and trips to strip clubs — luxury cars for staff and conflicts of interest.
The Senate already has passed a measure to require more transparency in the quasi-government agencies’ operations and the House Friday unanimously passed House Bill 325, sponsored by Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, which incorporates nearly all of state Auditor Crit Luallen’s recommendations to improve oversight at the two organizations. Simpson said he anticipates no problems reconciling his bill with the Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown.
KACo and KLC are associations of local governments which are funded by dues by those member governments and fees on insurance and financial services. Ultimately, all of those revenues are provided by local taxpayers.
Simpson’s bill will require the two groups to abide by the state’s open records and open meetings laws; pass ethics, personnel and procurement codes; undergo an annual audit, either by the state auditor or an independent auditing firm; and provide more training for board members.
A measure of how determined legislators are to get the attention of those who run the organizations is the ease with which Simpson’s bill passed out of the local government committee and the House. Each vote was unanimous, and committee members chastised representatives of the groups who were in the room as they discussed the bill.
The House also passed a bill this week to shore up the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund and pay back money borrowed from the federal government to cover rising claims. House Bill 349, sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Okolona, would increase the taxable wage base from $8,000 to $9,000 on which employers must pay into the trust fund.
It would also reduce from 68 percent to 62 percent the proportion of an unemployed worker’s pay check which he would receive in benefits. Without changes to the system, the state would be unable to pay back more than $600 million borrowed from the federal government to cover rising claims — something many states have had to do in the deep and long recession. If the state did not pay back the money, federal taxes would increase for Kentucky employers to repay the loans.
The House budget committee also approved a measure this week which if passed by the full legislature would require those convicted of drunken driving to install ignition interlock devices on their personal vehicles. The devices check the driver’s alcohol content and won’t allow the engine to start if it detects alcohol.
House Bill 58 is sponsored by Rep. Dennis Keene, D-Wilder, whose daughter was seriously injured in a collision caused by a drunken driver. The devices are in use in 12 other states which, according to Keene, have seen a decrease in drunken driving accidents, injuries and deaths. Those convicted of DUI would pay between $2.50 and $3 a day to lease the devices from between six to 30 months, depending on the number of convictions.
Keene said that cost is about the cost of one alcoholic drink per day.
Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort. The Richmond Register is a CNHI newspaper.
