The Halfway Mark
KCC List of House Bills we are watching as of 2/18
KCC List of Senate Bills we are watching as of 2/18
This past Friday (Feb. 18) brought us to day 32 of the 60-day session. Since Monday is the President’s Day holiday, the General Assembly will resume on Tuesday, February 22nd. We encourage you to use this extended holiday weekend to send emails to lawmakers on the bills of your choice. Please review our full bill list linked above. And join us this Monday for a virtual meeting with the Bluegrass Sierra Club at 7PM. Register here.
In the News:
Last week we told you about the latest legislative assault on your utility bills, through House Bill 470 (Rep. Gooch) where we identified that the language echoed model legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a legislative think-tank that supports many pro-fossil-fuel issues. This week, WFPL ran a story on the legislation featuring KCC’s past President and renewable energy advocate Andy McDonald, describing the flaws with this bill. (Ironically, as the article points out, some of the utilities themselves also find the bill unnecessary). Contine to strongly oppose Rep. Gooch’s House Bill 470 as well as House Bill 341, both of which would impact ratepayers. ACT: send emails to House Leadership. Neither bill has been assigned to a committee, so please encourage your friends and allies to comment.
New Bills This Week:
KCC Strong Oppose: Last week we told you about SB138 (Wise) which we felt would set a precedent on restricting how issues are taught in schools. While that bill was somewhat improved through a committee substitute, this week we saw the filing of a similar bill on the House side, HB487 (Lockett). Similar to SB 138, the bill would stifle the ability for teachers to teach about issues such as racism, justice, colonialism and white privilege in Kentucky schools. For KCC’s agenda, we are as concerned about the precedent for dictating specific manterials to be taught— a precedent we feel could also eventually impact other controversial issues such as environmental education on science and climate change. SB138 was reported favorably in committee and HB487 has not yet been assigned to committee. ACT: Please contact House and Senate Leadership to express your opposition to these divisive bills that micromanage our education system.
On the Move:
This week the Senate passed SB63 (Carroll), “An Act Relating to Personal Information” a KCC Oppose bill which we feel would stifle government transparency. Opposed by the Kentucky Open Government Coalition, they stated in their opposition that the bill “...is an ill-conceived, poorly drafted, largely unworkable, and wholly unnecessary proposal. SB 63’s unintended consequences will adversely affect both the public and public officials by creating additional burdens on each and eliminating few, if any, of the ills it targets.” You can read KOGC’s full objection statement here. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary committee with an amended version (SCS1) which improved the bill, but still remains problematic. ACT: Contact the Senate Rules Committee to oppose.
Farm-to-School Program (KCC Support): We were pleased to see HCR47 (Frazier Gordon) adopted this week in the House, commending Madison County Schools for their use of the farm-to-school program. That concurrent resolution is now in the Senate Agriculture committee.
HB195 (Johnson) A safety bill relating to notification of the location of interstate pipelines (KCC Support) passed the House 85-1 and is now in Senate Natural Resources & Energy. Contact the committee to support.
HB337 (KCC Oppose) We are also concerned with the movement this week of HB337 (Hale) which allows the Attorney General to review a legislative determination that an adminstrative regulation is deficient. This bill passed the House this week (68-23) and is now in the Senate State & Local Government committee. ACT: contact members of Senate State & Local Government to oppose.
Sen. Hornback’s testimony this week on SB69 (Merchant Electric Generation). Details below.
Work Still to Do:
Merchant Electric Generating Facilities, Solar and Land use (KCC Strong Support). In one of the more intense exchanges this past week, a Senate committee substitute for Senator Hornback’s SB69 was reported favorably in the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee, but not without thorough scrutiny (see testimony above). Several floor amendments have now been added by Senator West as well as a local mandate statement (still being prepared at presstime to Senate Committee Substutute 1). The bill has currently been recommitted to Senate Natural Resources & Energy. Senator Hornback has pledged to work out remaining concerns, and we encourage you to thank Senator Hornback for his tireless work on a complicated issue. Please reach out to your Senator and express your support for this bill.
Your Calls Made a Difference!
Anti-SLAPP (KCC Strong Support). We want to thank you for your calls last week on HB222 “The Uniform Public Expression Protection Act” and congratulate Rep. Kulkarni and Rep. Nemes for their bipartisan anti-SLAPP bill, which unanimously advanced off the House floor on Friday. The Act would offer those who speak out against a matter of public interest protection from strategic lawsuits against public participation (or SLAPP).
According to Rep. Kulkarni, the bill has received widespread support from numerous organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Prosperity, the Bluegrass Institute, the Kentucky Open Government Coalition, the Kentucky Press Association, the Pegasus Institute, the Public Participation Project, and the Uniform Law Commission. The House approved HB222 by an 82-0 vote. It will now go before the Senate for consideration. ACT: Please contact your Senator and ask them to support this bill.
Ask Your Lawmaker to Co-Sponsor these “support” and “strong support” bills:
In order for some bills to move, particularly those filed by the minority party, it is important that they show strong bipartisan support in a range of districts. ACT: We urge you to contact your lawmaker either by email or phone (1-800-372-7181) to ask if they will sign on as a co-sponsor in support of these bills. There are many more details about these bills and others on KCC’s House and Senate bill lists:
HB485— vegetation management (tree bill) requires electric utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission to have a vegetation management plan approved by the commission and that vegetation maintenance to be performed in conformance with ANSI standards endorsed by the International Society of Arboriculture. See article in the Lexington Herald-Leader on this bill.
HJR41— Recommendations for equitable property tax assessments for well-managed private forests.
HB108— Establishes the Kentucky Packaging Stewardship Program, with the goal to reduce, divert, and recycle packaging wastes.
HB165 — Removes certain exposure requirements related to re-opening a claim for Black Lung (pneumoconiosis) patients.
HB166 — Reverses previous legislation that only allows board certified pulmonary specialists to diagnose black lung patients.
HB189 and SB41— Establishes limits and/or bans on specific single-use plastic waste.
HB235 — Establishes a Healthy Soils program fund in support of healthy soil practices and soil restoration.
HB295 — Container bill. Creates a beverage container refundable deposit fee program.
HB338 — PFAS legislation. Requires the Energy and Environment Cabinet to promulgate regulations establishing maximum PFAS limits and monitoring requirements for drinking water provided by public and semi-public water systems, and maximum PFAS limits and monitoring.