What, No Jail Time?

Senate Bill 246, filed Wednesday, requires parents to send their children to public school until age eighteen.

This is perhaps the closest we will get to any kind of school reform from this General Assembly. The only way they could make this junk worse would be to work up some kind of punishment for parents when their teenagers drop out of school. Otherwise, the people who really get hurt by expanding compulsory attendance are the kids who want to learn but are required to sit next to the disruptive kids who are forced to stay in school.

Sorry Charlie

Rep. Charlie Hoffman is riding out his last days in House leadership kicking the casino gambling horse, trying to get it to make the final turn.

But it won't get him to the finish line. It is dead.

Hoffman stuck another amendment on the casino bill today. What a complete waste of time this whole General Assembly session has been. Leaders like Sorry Charlie just won't get us anywhere.

Here Comes Adult Supervision

Louisville GOP insiders say long-time activist Craig Maffet has the votes to become the next chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party.

This is a welcome change in The River City.

(D)-Disarray

House Democrats have cancelled tomorrow's caucus meeting where some hoped they might get their act straight.

The group has not met since the first week of the General Assembly, which is very unusual and suggests there is no functioning leadership.

3/06 UPDATE: Now it looks like the the meeting will happen, but the agenda will only include the budget and tax increases.

More Attacks On Political Speech

HB 775 would prohibit posting anonymously to a blog, website, or message board and levies hefty fines for violations.

SB 214 would criminalize internet-based communications deemed annoying.

Making The Case For Moving The Filing Deadline

The House of Representatives just passed a tax increase bill 97-0.

Rep. Jim DeCesare's amendment to repeal the LLET came up for a voice vote (and clearly passed, according to my hearing, though Speaker Richards screamed "NO!" into his microphone.

Passing this bill simply makes it harder for companies to justify doing business in Kentucky. The bill raises taxes on companies who do business here but are headquartered in other states. No one can pretend this tax would cause any more companies to move their business here.

If we didn't shut off our candidate filing season earlier than anyone else in the country, a lot of people would have earned opponents today.

Lemurs, Camels, And Jackasses. Oh My!

House Budget Chairman Harry Moberly made a circus out his Appropriations and Revenue Committee meeting this morning. He attempted to use camels to destroy the coal industry and lemurs to tax the state into oblivion.

Two Very Different Legislative Chambers

While the most important bills likely to pass the Kentucky Senate this year would rein in government powers in education and the executive and legislative branches, the misfiring in the House continues with Rep. Kathy Stein's bullet bill.

The bullet bill would effectively disarm law-abiding Kentuckians by requiring a serial number and an additional tax on every bullet sold in Kentucky.

An Amendment Worth Talking About

Rep. Jamie Comer filed an amendment today to the felon voting bill, HB 70, that would require felons to repay 25% of the cost of their incarceration before having voting rights restored.

Keeping His Eye Off The Ball

Governor Steve Beshear has been cozying up to former Rep. Mike Weaver recently and taking an interest in his race against Rep. Tim Moore.

The anti-gambling people, the anti-socialized medicine people, and Senator Brandon Smith report that is probably good for Rep. Moore.

Beshear was asked recently about his solution to his political problems. He offered this:

Jim Wayne's World Invades Earth

Rep. Jim Wayne's bills usually get laughed out the House, but this year looks to be different.

The House appears ready to call for a vote on HB 262, an enormous tax increase. It stands no chance in the Senate, but the House has gone off the deep end.

Another Money-Saving Idea

How does it benefit Kentucky for us to give free health insurance to part-time city commissioners and county magistrates?

And let's not have any more of that "best and brightest" bunk...

Where's Kentucky's HillaryCare Now?

One of the best things about the current fiscal crisis in Kentucky is no one is talking about spending more money on government-provided health insurance.

Well, almost no one.

The fiscal note on HB 345 estimates that for KCHIP, Kentucky will spend $198 per month in 2008-09 and $212 per month in 2009-10 per child. That's a little much, especially considering that it's just Kentucky's share before the federal match.

Another line in the fiscal note, however, would be a more useful focal point:

"Allowing members to remain in the program who are not eligible would prevent the program from serving the neediest population due to limited funding."

We need to be raising eligibility limits on KCHIP, not lowering them. Doing so would enhance our ability to help the kids from the poorest families.

We Have Your Answer, Mr. Cross

Al Cross gives an interesting history lesson about part of what plagues Frankfort in today's Courier-Journal.

In it, he lodges a valid complaint about how incumbent legislators a generation ago rigged the game for themselves so that they could more easily get over on their constituents. Inexplicably, this outrage persists:

"(That led to a series of wholly selfish acts; lawmakers made the primary filing deadline one of the earliest in the nation, so they could gauge their opposition before casting controversial votes.)"

It doesn't serve the public interest to arrange our elections with the sole purpose of unfairly protecting incumbents. Given the mess our incumbents have put us in, it should be pretty easy to see that unraveling any part of this twisted tizzy would help democratize the power base in the state.

Senate Bill 3 would move the legislative filing deadline to after even-year sessions, to enhance citizens' ability to protect themselves from legislators who lose sight of their purpose in Frankfort.

Seems to be a bit of that going around.

Better Get Rid Of CATS Before They Try This

The private school and home school families in Kentucky may think they can sit out the current education reform debate about the public school testing program.

Think again. Look what they are trying to do in Tennessee:

Home-schooled students and their parents, along with private school pupils, flooded the halls of the General Assembly on Wednesday to oppose legislation that would impose public school testing requirements on all school-age children.

Time for all liberty-minded Kentuckians to stand up to the education establishment here before it is too late.

David Williams Is Selling Sandwiches

Did you hear about the California high school student who started a thriving business selling sandwiches in his school's parking lot? His school rewarded his initiative and creativity by suspending him for two days.

I think about that when I see the educrats carping at Senate President David Williams for trying valiantly to get rid of Kentucky's long-ago thoroughly discredited CATS assessment program.

Ernesto Scorsone Is As Ernesto Scorsone Does

Good grief. With all the real problems we have in this state now, why is Sen. Ernesto Scorsone filing a discharge petition to try to make it more illegal for kids to be mean?

Don't just sit there, feel good!

If we really want to light a fire under bills that are getting soaked, we should look here.

Greg Stumbo's Plan B

Now that things aren't looking so hot for the casino gambling "campaign contribution" gravy train, Rep. Greg Stumbo is taking steps to shore up elected officials' pensions.

Are They Not Paying Attention At All?

Our educational system is a mess. The educrats have proven to be masters at getting more money for themselves, but when it comes to raising Kentucky out of the bottom in achievement they keep reverting to the old tried and true cooking of the books.

So now that the money has dried up and the Senate has gotten together a serious bill to lessen the influence of these same people, it is no surprise to see their friends get a little silly.

Like in this Bowling Green Daily News editorial that suggests everything would be fine if we just enacted a new feel-good law requiring our children to play nicely.

"Broken"

Governor Steve Beshear sent out the invitations to his own butt-kicking with this casino gambling-as-savior stuff. He is now going to get it with both barrels.

Are we almost ready to start talking about cutting way back on government spending so we can get off the same-old, same-old train and start on a new track?

Jessamine county's own Pastor Jeff Fugate delivers a little down-home commentary below. It's not complicated, folks.