These Ten Bills Could Have Made It Worse

You have heard that watching people make laws can be like watching people make sausage. This year in Kentucky, it has been uglier than that. Reading the entrails of the General Assembly session, though, unveils one sad truth: it could have been worse.

The clock ran out on the spending spree when the House and Senate adjourned Tuesday night. They left town without agreeing to restore the 2006 vetoed projects or any number of goodies they might have agreed on if they had been more agreeable more quickly. It might have been better if they had found common ground, as the special session that is sure to follow will cost taxpayers another $60,000 a day in addition to the new spending lawmakers will approve. It is ironic that the same legislators we will be paying extra to come back to work later this year were promising us in 2000 that if we just gave them annual sessions, these special ones would be unnecessary. This next one will be their fourth in seven years.

Nevertheless, there are at least ten good reasons to rejoice in the form of ten bills that didn’t make their way into the law books this year.

Senate Bill 12 would have extended the terms of Senators from four to six years and of Representatives from two to four years.

House Bill 5, an environmental extremist’s dream, would have doled out subsidies for retooling private buildings and equipment and questionable tactics in building, buying, and managing state properties in hopes that by doing so we might use less fossil fuel. While it might not actually succeed at saving energy, there can be no doubt this bill would cost lots of money.

House Bill 411 would have raised income taxes and estate taxes by several hundred million dollars a year and tacked new taxes onto a laundry list of services to the tune of nearly $100 million a year. Some of the services targeted for taxation included greens fees and country club dues, chartered air flight services, landscaping services, security and armored car services, and limousine services. Should we call this one the class warfare bill?

Another bill would cost taxpayers millions each year by warehousing thousands of unwilling students in our public high schools. HB 221 would have increased the compulsory school attendance age from sixteen to eighteen. Forcing students who want to drop out to come to school is meant to help some of them graduate. The far more likely result of this would be to unleash serious discipline problems on the rest of the student population.

Seeking to imprison students within school walls must only be half as fun as actually arresting them. Twin measures Senate Bill 183 and House Bill 309 would have allowed police to take into custody anyone found off school property during school hours who is suspected of being less than eighteen years old. What we really need is more freedom and greater opportunities for achievement for our students and instead we are literally handcuffing them.

One of the hottest issues in every election is how to lower college tuition costs. House Bill 544 pushes that idea in the wrong direction. The bill would have appropriated $19.7 million to dole out $2000 bonuses to every staff employee at the University of Kentucky for no particular reason at all

The debate about pension reform in state government deals partially with double-dipping. Allowing retiring employees to start drawing a pension and then return to work for another salary has caused problems with the state’s underfunded pensions. The focus of HB 465 was to enable double-dipping judges. The bill would have extended the life of the senior status judge program, set to expire this year.

Gender discrimination in the workplace is already against the law. House Bill 219 which would have prohibited paying women less than men when both perform jobs of “comparable worth,” succeeded mainly at confusing the issue. And that usually means lawsuits. For example, what does comparable worth mean? For the purposes of dealing with HB 219 as a law, it would have meant “call your lawyer.”

In the tradition of saving the best for last we have House Bill 184. This one would have allowed the General Assembly to rewrite any law behind closed doors. As such, any of the worst of these bills might find its way into law and only a handful of lawmakers would know anything about it until it was too late.

We must be vigilant as these bills might well reappear later. Looking on the bright side again, though, we need not fear that while the legislature is out of session.

What Billy Harper Should Do Next

With the news that his campaign manager quit, Billy Harper has to see the handwriting on the wall. He has a great opportunity to take a very active role in the Fletcher administration and campaign. Both sides should work together to make this happen soon.

Retirement Party For Julian Carroll

With his support for Bruce Lunsford and Greg Stumbo, Sen. Julian Carroll has apparently earned himself a primary opponent (or two) in 2008.

The most likely candidate would have to be Joe Graviss, who lost to Carroll in the 2004 primary. Expect a more liberal candidate to jump in as well.

Update: Looks like Bluegrass Report was having the same thought about Graviss. Will Rep. Ben Chandler weigh in too?

Don't Just Sit There, Write New Laws!!!

The overblown subprime lender controversy has some folks hyperventilating. It is unfortunately likely to result in a wave of new government regulation. We would do far better to just let the market take care of itself, as most any fix to this non-problem will be worse than doing nothing.

If you aren't happy with your mortgage, don't call Congress or state lawmakers. Seriously -- and no, I don't feel guilty about the advertiser plug at all -- check out the wild variety in market solutions:

A Simple Idea To Improve Frankfort Performance

We have talked about this before, but now would be a great time to really start pushing for moving the candidate filing deadline from the end of January to the end of the General Assembly session. This action would address two problems: first, it would end the practice of legislators cynically sitting on their hands waiting for the current deadline to pass, and it would give citizens greater ability to respond in the voting booth to bad actions by a lawmaker.

Politicians who oppose moving the filing deadline should have to explain why it is a bad idea and not a commonsense liberty-enhancing action we should promote immediately.

Driving The Anti-War Left Absolutely Batty, For Fun And Possibly A Whole Lot More

Could this be how Mitch McConnell becomes Senate Majority Leader?

Jody Richards Shoots Own Foot Again

In the aftermath of the General Assembly session, Speaker Jody Richards does his gubernatorial campaign no favors:

Richards noted that House Democrats and Republicans have teamed up in similar fashion before and scoffed at the new-found bipartisanship in the upper chamber.

"In the Senate, I don't know what it is," he said. "I think the Senate Democrats are just afraid of Sen. Williams."

Who is he talking about, Sen. Ernesto Scorsone of Lexington, or perhaps Sen. Gerald Neal of Louisville? As twisted up as some Republicans are about the divisive primary they face, they really need to consider how close the Dems are to nominating Steve Henry.

One Teeny Tiny Little Question For Lawmakers

In 2000, Frankfort politicians somehow sold us on the idea that if we just gave them annual sessions we wouldn't have to deal with bringing everyone back in for so many special sessions.

When Governor Fletcher calls them back later this year, it will the fourth special session in seven years.

So why are we paying you guys to meet in annual sessions?

Dems, GOP Right To Fear KY Club For Growth

Looks like at least one liberal blogger is figuring out what's up with the Kentucky Club for Growth.

Big-government Republicans have just as much reason to be afraid. The Club pledges allegiance to the principles of fiscal conservatism, not any political party. It is liberating to take on members of both parties who stray from correct fiscal principles. While it is also distressing that Kentucky's political environment is such a target-rich field now, the leadership of the nascent Club for Growth in the Bluegrass State is indeed gaining the influence to hold some feet to the fire.

I'm glad to see Diane Brumback is paying attention.

Counting The Ways Dems Might Raise Taxes

They told us during the campaign they were not going to raise our taxes, so why are we even having this conversation?

Republicans should smell opportunity here. If we can get them to start acting like conservatives again, they could become agents of change again.

One Last Question From General Assembly Session

As the regular General Assembly session ends in partisan bickering and a slew of sidelined spending projects, I have just one question:

If, as Sen. Dan Kelly suggests, failure to pass Rep. Harry Moberly's secrecy bill could cost the state "several hundred million dollars" in judgements, do we really have any business restoring all the vetoed projects from last year's budget, thereby spending money that rightly belongs to people the legislature has previously wronged?

Liberals On Warpath: I Think This Bit Of Anti-American Propaganda Will Backfire On Them

The End Is Near

The House just attached the Boni Bill to SB 59, one of the Senate re-organization bills. This should just about wrap it up.

8:47 Update: the Senate just passed HB 362, the Boni Bill.

10:15 Update: the Senate has adjourned for the year -- or at least until the special session starts.

Next Up: Special Session

The legislature is basically just running out the clock, leaving a lot of spending undone. Governor Fletcher will call them back into session and they will do their projects. The thing is they won't do anything about public pensions. The House Dems will hold their breath, turn purple, and say no till they bankrupt the state or are forced to act.

And that underscores a very important reason to support four more years of Governor Fletcher. A new governor will spend four years trying to play nice in order to get re-elected. At the beginning of a second term, Governor Fletcher would be finished running for governor. The heady days of shutting down pension reform will be long gone by this fall. Next January, Governor Fletcher can force them to act or stop all spending in their districts.

We probably can't trust any new governor to make the tough calls the next four years; we know we can't trust any of the crop of Dem candidates.

A second term with Governor Fletcher could possibly be a great benefit to the state. We need someone to knock heads up there and he would be free to do so in ways a first term governor wouldn't be. Governor Fletcher has been a fiscal conservative before. In 2008, he could be one again. No one else in the race -- with the possible exception of Billy Harper -- could plausibly make the same claim.

Last Day Of The Session; Good Gridlock

Don't be surprised if the Senate attaches the Kentucky Horse Park and Wolf Creek Dam projects to HB 362 The Boni Bill in order to get them passed.

I expect David Williams to keep his word and not let HB 1 and all its vetoed projects get through because the House refused to talk about pension reform.

This session really went south from the big government perspective when Harry Moberly's coup petered out. Gridlock is good. This session could have been much worse.

Think About What You Are Saying

Senate Majority Floor Leader Dan Kelly today tried and failed to pass an amendment promoting secrecy in the legislative process saying -- since his amendment failed -- "we could find ourselves with several hundred million dollars of claims that could be charged against the treasury."

Do we really want to get into how moving the legislative process behind closed doors might erase potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against the treasury?

I'd suggest to legislators that a better way to handle such huge liabilities would be to refrain from spending the excess taxation currently held in the treasury(surplus). We've already been overtaxed once. Screwing plaintiffs or overtaxing yet again can't be the answer. It just can't be. Quit jerking us around and get back to work.

Another Out-Of-State Pundit Misses The Mark

You have to read this to the very end to get to the punch line.

Senate Thwarted One More Time

It's pretty sick when the best news we get is bad legislation being killed, but the Senate A&R committee deserves kudos for turning away another attempt to get Harry Moberly's secrecy bill through.

Nice job!

It was an amendment to House Bill 400 that Senator Dan Kelly tried to attach to the original bill. It won't be available till sometime late tonight, but I will show it when I can. Either way, another attempt fails. Let's keep watching them.

Note to Leadership: the rest of the free world has already figured out that we want open, honest government. What ... is ... your ... problem?!?!

Victory, Again!

I was working on another hit piece on the Senate for slipping Harry Moberly's secrecy bill into HB 228, but the Senate just pulled the offensive substitute from the bill.

Good move, Senate.

We will be watching carefully as this foolishness is likely to return next year.

Another Lib Talking Point Goes Down Hard

Hey, I thought we were all going to get sick and die if we didn't harvest lots more fetal stem cells.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc.'s easy-to- administer stem cell treatment helped patients recover after a heart attack and eased their symptoms in a study.

The cells were given intravenously to patients who had a heart attack within the past 10 days, researchers said. The hearts of those who got the cells pumped 25 percent more efficiently both three months and six months after treatment, according to research presented today at a science meeting.

The study, using adult cells gathered from bone marrow, is the first to transfer stem cells from donors to heart patients. Since an IV line delivers the cells, rather than a complex heart procedure, ``they could be given at a community hospital'' rather than an academic center, said Marc Penn, director of the Bakken Heart Brain Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Maybe not. If you are keeping score at home, that's one more real-world success for adult stem cells versus zero for fetal stem cells.

Any more words of wisdom on global warming or how great socialized medicine will be?