Cracking The CON, Inflating Health Insurance

Another disappointing feature of the Governor Steve Beshear administration is the continuation of support for the destructive Certificate of Need (CON) program.

House Bill 747 would open the door just wide enough to start justifying repeal of the whole mess. HB 747 comes up for a vote in the House Health & Welfare Committee tomorrow morning.

Also tomorrow, the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee will vote on making the ICARE subsidy permanent. ICARE takes tax money from you and me and gives it to people who don't buy their own health insurance. ICARE was established as a pilot project in 2006.

Team McCain Might Want To Look At This

Project Vote Smart regularly chastises candidates of both political parties for not answering its "Political Courage Test."

Currently, if you look at the PVS entries for both Anne Northup and Rep. John Yarmuth, you will see the following message:

REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY
RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2006
NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY

Key national leaders of both major parties including:
John McCain, Republican Senator
Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman
Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor
Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman
Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President

Over 100 news organizations throughout the nation also urged their candidates to supply their issue positions through the National Political Awareness Test.

If you happen to look at the entry for presidential candidate John McCain, you will find the following:

Senator John Sidney McCain III repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.


Urge Senator John Sidney McCain III to fill out the Political Courage Test

Senator McCain might want to stop asking others to fill out this stupid survey if he won't do it himself.

Kentucky Progress 2.0 Open Thread

I just took a class in blogging. Planning some major upgrades. Stay tuned...

Cutting Taxpayer Spending On Corporate Welfare

Are you still looking for a way to cut government spending to shore up Kentucky's bad budget picture?

Try HB 748 and HB 750, which would set Kentucky up to get out of the corporate welfare business. This is something a lot of Kentuckians should be able to agree on. Tax cuts across-the-board benefit taxpayers, but individualized tax abatements to individual corporations benefit very narrowly while hurting everyone else.

Beshear Holding Tax Increase Rally Wednesday

After campaigning for months as a candidate against tax increases, Governor Steve Beshear is now apparently leading the charge.

Their cause celebre, raising the cigarette tax, seems like an odd move for a politician whose jumping-off point in October was this:

Beshear said he not only would not raise taxes, but that he would support repeal of the infamous Limited Liability Entity tax (LLET) signed into law by Governor Fletcher. Beshear won't have to go far to find a way to repeal the unpopular tax, as the bill has already been pre-filed. The third horse on Beshear's trifecta box is, of course, casino gambling.

Lots of water under the bridge since then.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a bridge today...

Probably the best thing that can be said about the state's role in federally-matched health coverage plans like SCHIP and Medicaid is that they are big government at a discounted rate.

So what are we to think when the House wants to spend money we don't have to build bridges on interstate roads?

Our all-powerful congressional delegation really should be playing a role in this, rather than leaving it to Frankfort.

One way to handle a bullying bill

Senate Democrats are up in arms because the House's "bullying" bill got a committee substitute from President David Williams that doesn't include the word "bullying" or the phrase "The Golden Rule." More symbolism over substance, as usual, from that chamber's minority party.

After an angry diatribe, Senator Julian Carroll thoughtfully added "I am not a Greek philosopher."

The bill passed. I'm sure my kids feel safer already.

Making People Mad 101

Richard Day at Kentucky School News and Commentary says:

"David Adams at the Bluegrass Institute reported yesterday on an anti-union group that is offering to "pay the ten worst union-protected teachers in America $10,000 apiece to get out of the classroom - for good."

The Center for Union Facts presents state data on union activity, including financial resources, but focuses on the percentage of teachers fired by the states - as some magically omniscient measure of teacher quality.The logic is - private school teachers are better because more of them get fired.

David would have to tell us how many folks at BGI were fired last year - but I'm not sure how that would relate to the quality of their work anyway.

This is clearly a cynical gimmick designed to ramp up anti-public school sentiment."

More Sneaky House Budget Actions

House Democrats just suspended the rules to throw another amendment on the budget bill and were trying to force a vote without allowing Republicans to even read it.

After a request from Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, a fifteen minute break was granted for a quick read. But what we really need, though, is this bill to give legislators and the public time to read their garbage before it is crammed down our throats.

Taxing In Circles and Picking Our Own Pockets

Rep. David Watkins just made a House floor speech in favor of cutting out the health ravages of smoking by raising the cigarette tax twenty five cents a pack. He spoke about how much it costs taxpayers to cover through Medicaid the treatment of smoking related diseases.

Since Medicaid recipients who smoke are likely to pay the tax increase with our money anyway, wouldn't it make more sense to take steps to remove benefits from people who smoke?

Jody Richards Allergic To Taxpayer Rights

While Rep. Jody Richards was dripping orange hair dye on Rep. Greg Stumbo's speaker's chair yesterday, he had a chance to strike a blow for taxpayers.

He failed.

Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo's economic development transparency bill was the perfect vehicle for Rep. Jim DeCesare to attach his transparency bill and get it a hearing in the House.

Richards, showing yet again his apparent lack of understanding of the term "germane," ruled the amendment out of order.

Asking Jim Newberry

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry goes in for a deposition on Thursday to testify regarding his role in the cover-up of the Fayette County Detention Center prisoner abuse scandal.

Perhaps he will have details about the revelations of a jail employee trading clean drug tests for sexual favors and car detailing at Paul Miller Ford.

No Priorities, Only More Spending

The House Budget Committee just voted to raise your taxes more.

Rep. Jim Wayne said legislators would be "dead-beat parents" if they didn't raise taxes.

"All of us want more in the budget and the only way we are going to get more in the budget is to raise more revenue," Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark said, summing up perfectly what is wrong with our state government.

The bill they voted on was HB 262. As of this writing, not all the details are available. Hope to have it updated tonight.

Rep. Bob DeWeese and Rep. Danny Ford called out House Dem leaders for trying to cram the tax increase down their throats. Rep. DeWeese also complained that legislators will have to vote on the budget without being able to read it.

Rep. Keith Hall suggested there would be "blood on my hands" if he didn't vote for the tax increase. He voted for it.

The Tax Increase Fix Is In

The Senate Budget Committee is set this morning to vote on the HB 258 tax increase bill the House passed 97-0.

And no, don't call me and tell me it was just a tax increase on companies not headquartered in Kentucky or that it just turned back the clock on a part of the 2005 tax modernization. Consumers pay more when corporate taxes go up, even if the corporations aren't based in Kentucky.

A year ago, we were going to get rid of this tax. Doesn't anyone remember that?

It is disgusting to see Harry Moberly writing the tax increase talking points for Frankfort Republicans now. What's next, another cigarette tax increase for the children?

Sunny And Money Monday!

I'm stuck in the Louisville Airport after a car accident/traffic jam/missed flight/toiletries tossed in the name of jihad all-day nightmare as I try to get to Washington D.C. for the week.

To top it all off, the internet connection I just blew five dollars on here doesn't work very well. I plan to do updates tonight, but it might be a little thin until then.

March 10 Monday Morning Meeting

Monday (3/10/08) at 10 am in Frankfort, Bluegrass Institute's education analyst Dick Innes will speak about reforming the education assessment program called CATS and about why the bureaucrats (and their politicians) are against Senate President David Williams' SB 1.

The forum will be held in the conference room at the Kentucky Association of Homebuilders, 1040 Burlington Lane in Frankfort.

Anyone is welcome to attend, but please email me at adams(at)bipps.com to let me know you are coming. Members of the media are welcome to attend, but the entire meeting is off the record.

House Dems' New Population Reduction Scheme

One point missing from our discussion about the competing Democratic plans to raise your Kentucky taxes is that the reliance on refinancing bonds works like a tax increase, too. If we redo a bunch of bonds that are within just a few years of maturity, but have higher interest payments than are available now, we will wind up paying more money on that debt over time.

The interest payments may be lower now, but by resetting the terms back out to twenty years, we are ensuring that Kentucky taxpayers of the future will pay more then because we didn't cut spending now.

If we were actually saving the savings it might be a different story, but you know we won't be doing that.

And when you add in the public employee benefits disaster no one is talking about anymore, you see that we are only setting the timer on a killer bomb that will go off after the current crop of "leaders" is dead or out of office.

And speaking of death, HB 707 zings you on your final exit by prohibiting anyone but funeral directors from transporting a body to be cremated. Limiting competition here is certain to increase final expense prices.

Ed Worley Gets One Thing Right

Senator Ed Worley just said on the Senate floor "The basic question before us today is 'have we been successful with KERA and with CATS?"

It is correct to say that is the question at the heart of the current education debate.

But the magic didn't hold for long. Worley said the answer was "yes" and then he voted "no" on Senate Bill 1 and then added that we would really "humanize" the education process by passing a bullying bill.

Photoshop Me, Baby, One More Time

This picture would now be perfect if Governor Steve Beshear had a cigarette in his left hand.

Another Steve Beshear Fib (Non-Smoking Version)

If you haven't gotten in the habit of reading the Bluegrass Policy Blog, you may have missed this.

Cutting The Fat In Reverse

Now that Governor Steve Beshear has come clean about his support for a seventy cents a pack cigarette tax increase, we are about to see it get better.

House Majority Caucus Chairman Charlie Hoffman is going to propose raising it by a dollar.

Shaughnessy Spins The Roulette Wheel

Senator Tim Shaughnessy stopped to explain his vote against the SB 1 education reform bill by making an odd comparison that defines the opposition to improvement of public education in this state.

"This is a gambling bill," Shaughnessy said. By that he meant changing from the familiar course would present too much risk.

Nonsense. Depending on the education bureaucracy to operate with little real accountability and putting them in charge of administering the state's method of tracking their efforts would never be tolerated in the real world and should not be supported by taxpayers.

Senate Bill 1 just passed out of the Senate Education Committee on a party-line vote.

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.

Actions Speak: Harry Moberly Unveils Plan B

House Budget Chairman will rush nine revenue increase bills through his Appropriations and Revenue Committee tomorrow in a hastily called meeting to be held as soon as the House adjourns for the day.

The dead casino bill, of course, was Plan A. Grab on to your wallet.

These are the bills:
HB 257
HB 512
HB 566
HB 608
HB 609
HB 610
HB 611
HB 614
HB 629

It's Called Priorities, Senator

Senator Julian Carroll is getting pretty exercised trying to make the case that we should continue to spend the millions of dollars to run the check printing and Ebay selling functions of the office of Treasurer, instead of disbanding the office as SB 14 would do.

He said several silly things, but this one stood out:

"Why are we so determined to put some issues on the ballot, but we're selective about what we put on the ballot?"

I'm assuming that was his weak plug for the dead casino gambling amendment.

Time To Shoot The Wounded

The casino gambling amendment just failed to pass out of the House Constitutional Amendment committee.

Watch The Wal-Mart Haters Now

Now that Wal-Mart is getting ready to go all in for health clinics in their stores, get ready for their opponents in Frankfort to try to trip them up and keep your healthcare more expensive than it needs to be.

I spoke to a Wal-Mart spokesman today who said there are no regulatory hurdles to putting such clinics in Kentucky stores. In fact, Kroger has already beaten them to the punch. (Look at these prices!) But as the proliferation of market forces lower prices here, we can only hope the General Assembly does what's best and repeals the Certificate of Need laws that cost Kentuckians much more than we would like to think about.

Bang! Bang! Gun Bill To Impact Campus Shootings

A Tennessee state legislator says he is going to introduce a bill to allow full-time employees of colleges and universities in that state who are also concealed carry permit holders to carry guns on campus.

This might help with the silly objection that allowing guns on campus would lead to drunk college students running around shooting each other.

McCain Might Start Measuring For Drapes

If you saw Dukakis in the tank and Kerry in the clean suit and thought they were funny, you haven't seen anything yet (from Drudge):

We Need Anti-Gambling Forces To Fight For More

Pastor Jeff Fugate of Clays Mill Road Baptist Church can draw a crowd. He has gotten engaged in the casino gambling debate and is putting together a rally at the Capitol for March 5.

It would be very helpful if, while they are up there, the anti-casino folks put a word in for getting welfare recipients off drugs and for putting the state government's checkbook on the internet so taxpayers can see where their money is going. Or at least to make legislators negotiate the budget out in the open like honest people.

Chamber of Commerce Supports Welfare Bill

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce put up their legislative update tonight, listing their support of HB 592. They don't specify which tax increase they want to pay for this added spending.

If nothing else, someone should add a measure to disqualify drug abusers from getting existing welfare benefits or this new garbage.

Midpoint of General Assembly Frustrating For All

Watching the Kentucky legislature stumble and bumble through the first half of its 2008 session underscores the simple truth that it's much easier to kill a bad bill than to successfully promote a good one.

The most-read bill on Kentucky Votes is Senator Ernesto Scorsone's effort to give illegal aliens drivers licenses.

At the same time, we can't even get a lawmaker to file a bill to get rid of Certificate of Need laws that drive up health care costs and the bill to force state officials to quit hiding the checkbook from ordinary taxpayers can't get a hearing.

I guess the good news for the weekend is the bill to deal the death blow to the economy won't get anywhere either.

Presidential Debate In Frankfort Next Week

C-SPAN is expected to come to Frankfort March 1 for a debate between the Libertarian candidates for President of the United States.

Go here for details, here for registration, and here for a full agenda of what is the Libertarian Party of Kentucky convention. They have a couple of pretty good guest speakers.

As Inspiring As Thin Air

For a very clear picture of just how substantial the Democratic presidential primary is, watch this:

Can Everybody Hear Me?

I will be on Lexington radio this afternoon at 1 pm talking about the state legislature. Tune in to 590 AM or www.wvlkam.com if you can, call in to 859-253-5959 if you want to, and sign up for daily updates on Kentucky Votes because it's just the right thing to do.

How Can They Kill CATS If They Can't Do This?

The House of Representatives showed yesterday they probably aren't ready to take education issues seriously when they killed a commonsense amendment that would have prevented the teachers union from loading up buses during the school day and marching on Frankfort. Or from otherwise abusing public funds or resources in the workplace for political purposes.

Nice job, guys. Like we can really afford this nonsense now.

More Welfare Payments We Can't Afford

Okay, Kentucky is supposed to be in a tight state budget situation, right?

Then why in the world are we even discussing a bill to increase transfer payments by creating two state programs extending federal welfare programs?

Who gets the tax increase to pay for this mess?

Counting Casino Campers

Multiple reports from the Capitol this afternoon have 51 House Democrats ready to vote for a casino amendment and 5 House Republicans set to join them.

That's closer than I thought it would be, but still no soap. They need 60 votes to pass it out to the Senate where the counting is much easier.

Sexton: Leave Destruction Of Schools To Us

Bob Sexton, a Kentucky education expert, worries that amateurs may be trying to mess up the state's public schools by changing the testing program.

"Changes in the accountability system we know from experience can be extremely disruptive to teaching and learning," said Bob Sexton, president of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a school-advocacy group based in Lexington.

He should know. He was a big part of the crowd who gave us last year's extremely disruptive testing experience.

CATS has already been destroyed, Mr. Sexton. An outside test that the Kentucky Department of Education can't manipulate is our best opportunity for real assessment now.

Making Consumers Pay For Not Being Builders

House Bill 565 subsidizes home builders who have a new property that sits completed but unsold for more than a year.

The property tax break the builders get from this bill comes at the expense of other taxpayers. Those of us who don't build houses on spec probably avoid that line of work to avoid the market risk, don't you think?

I know it is a common practice by now, but this effort to pick winners and losers in the marketplace is not something we need to do.

Senate Smokes Out Educrats

Senate Bill 1, filed today, would do away with the worst part of the Kentucky Department of Education's reign of terror, the CATS testing program.

The CATS program has been terrible because it has wasted millions of dollars without providing the information teachers need to actually help students. CATS has served primarily to make the education establishment look good.

This bill will save lots of money and increase accountability for the bureaucrats who wield way too much power in Frankfort. This is a great move by Senate President David Williams and one to which the House will have little legitimate resistance.

One point from the Lexington Herald Leader coverage speaks volumes about where we are with Big Education in this state. The Senate leaders did not discuss the bill with Education Commissioner Jon Draud.

Skippy Miller Act Of 2008

Tomorrow at noon the Senate State and Local Government committee will advance SB 14, a bill to disband the state Treasurer's office in honor of former Treasurer Jonathan "Skippy" Miller.

Miller's shrewd use of the office for eight years propelled the effort to prevent future politicians from using it in a similar manner.

Kentucky Can't Tax, Can't Afford Junkies

Did you know Kentucky is one of twenty one states which unconstitutionally taxes possession of illegal drugs?

Since our Attorney General isn't going to be spending any of his time harassing the Governor, he should urge the legislature to pull this off the books before the courts make us do it.

Then we can save some money by encouraging welfare recipients to get off drugs or risk being made to get off welfare.

Finally, Some Meaningful Action In Frankfort

This afternoon, the Senate is expected to pass HB 18. The bill has been amended to include the provisions of SB 3, which would end the common practice of legislators going on strike each election year during the first month of the General Assembly. It would also make Kentucky a Super Tuesday state in presidential primaries.

Now the Senate needs to amend the House Finance and Administration Cabinet reorganization bill to include government expenditure transparency.

Time To Decide If Kentucky Is A Sanctuary State

Indiana advanced an illegal immigration bill today similar to the HB 304 House Judiciary Chair Kathy Stein is bottling up.

If Indiana runs off their illegal aliens and Kentucky does nothing, are we prepared to accept them all? It's not like they will be moving north, where it is colder.

Lexington Jail Still On Double-Secret Probation

Just when you thought the madness at the Fayette County Detention Center couldn't get any worse, a jail employee pursuing sexual harassment charges against Captain Dwight Hall has received a death threat via telephone while at work.

Upon investigation, it was determined the phone call also originated from within the facility.

This is part of what the caller said:

"Shut your mouth you stupid whore or else you are going to pay."

Former Mayor Teresa Isaac and Mayor Jim Newberry are being sued for their roles in covering up scandals in the jail.

Not Just For Jody Richards

A bill to expand the charter school concept in Kentucky beyond the one illegal program Speaker Jody Richards slipped into the 2006 budget should be introduced this week.

Charter schools function like public schools except they don't have to operate under the same bureaucracy as regular public schools. Further, they face real accountability and can be shut down if they don't produce substantial results.

Kentucky is one of only four states whose education bureaucracy has persisted in denying school choice to parents. Also, the bill will show how charter schools can be run for much less money than the one in Speaker Richards' district.

Identifying The Problem, Ignoring Solutions

Louisville Courier Journal columnist Jill Johnson Keeney complained today about, of all things, the structure of state government in Kentucky:

This is a terrible system we have in Kentucky, where a governor takes office in December and less than a month later is expected to have a staff assembled, a budget prepared, and be ready with proposals for correcting major problems and advancing the state.

A little digging might have helped her find three possible answers to this question:

Limiting the scope of legislative sessions, for example, is the subject of two bills filed by Senate Republicans and one filed by a House Republican.

The bills are here, here, and here.

Without any better ideas, the nattering nabobs should really take a closer look at some of the proposed solutions already out there.

Kentucky's Least Accountable Department

If we were serious about cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in Frankfort, we couldn't find a better place to start than the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

Just the latest example of their handiwork is another screw-up affecting the disastrous CATS testing:

This means that Kentucky students (some as young as 9-years old) will be asked to do one thing...but will be assessed on something else - some secret rubric. How is a student to know which questions have a secret rubric, and which do not? What are the ethics of penalizing students for following instructions?

Kentucky School News and Commentary has the whole story.

Have to wonder how much longer we can afford the luxury of not paying much attention to our education bureaucrats.

Leadership Vacuum In Frankfort Red Light District

It has been two days since Governor Steve Beshear introduced his stillborn casino plan. If the House Democrats had the votes to pass it, it would be worthy of serious discussion. But they don't.

The real story in all this mess is the ideological split in House leadership. The House Democratic caucus has ceased to function and is ripe for a serious shake-up.

While they sort that out, though, the rest of the state has serious needs that are being ignored.

Busting Kentucky out of its welfare mentality can get started by getting serious about illegal immigration and drug-abusing welfare recipients. We need to cut back on the political feeding trough mentality, too, on the way to reforming public employee pension plans before they break the state. Governor Beshear said he will introduce a pension reform plan next week. He really needs to reverse his growing string of policy missteps by getting this one right.

The term "public employee" should suggest those who earn their living through the government work for us, but as their benefits gets more out of hand, we wind up working harder for them. This trend needs to be reversed a whole lot more than we need to sit around watching debate on a revenue scheme that stands no chance of passage.

We can't improve the state by putting up with the same nonsense.

Please Read Bluegrass Policy Blog

I really kind of get a kick out of telling people that I blog for a living.

KentuckyVotes.org, my main gig, is a blog. You can make comments about bills and respond to other comments. If you haven't already gone on there and set up an account to receive daily updates, feel free to do so. That is getting to be a pretty interesting community.

Bluegrass Policy Blog is another thing I do. Usually that is an expansion of bill descriptions that don't really fit KyVotes or just observations about other things going on. It is less political than Kentucky Progress, but if you like this site, you should like that one as well.

Have a great weekend. I'll be on here and Bluegrass Policy Blog posting regularly, as I do seven days a week.

Keep in touch.

Another House Dem Tax Increase Bill

HB 538 makes permanent a tax increase on retailers slipped into the 2006 budget. Rep. Sannie Overly is the lead sponsor, but this one has Rep. Harry Moberly's fingerprints all over it.

Cut The Local Government Secrecy

It is just about time to stop looking for a magic treasure chest of state government revenues and get serious about ways to cut spending and reducing government to a more affordable level. Requiring local governments to post their budget ordinances online is a good step in that direction. Easing the process of comparing what our local governments are spending their money on is a critical part of making government more accountable to the people.

An amendment filed yesterday to this bill would make that a reality.

A Nuclear Power Plant? In Kentucky?

A bill filed today would make it easier for an application to build a nuclear power plant to succeed in Kentucky.

Does the fact that I have two children studying to go into nuclear engineering color my opinion of this bill? You betcha.

And lest you think this bill won't even get a hearing, check this out: it has a Senate twin.

Talk Show Talking

I went up to Northern Kentucky last week and chatted with Pat Crowley on his television show about some of the goings on in Frankfort.

Here it is.

If We Blow Enough Sunshine Up Its Butt, Do You Think It Might Start To Glow?

The casino amendment:

"Are you in favor of increasing state financial support for elementary and secondary education, expanding health care for senior citizens, children and others, support for local governments, and combating drug and alcohol abuse and other important programs by permitting the General Assembly to authorize up to five casinos subject to approval of the voters in the city or county where the casino is located; and up to seven casinos licenses for existing horse racing associations, all of which will be subject to the approval of a state agency created to oversee casino gaming."

Kentucky To Outlaw Mountain Dew?

Two dental professionals testifying to the House Health and Welfare Committee just stated "Mountain Dew Mouth" looks a lot like "Methamphetamine Mouth."

A couple of legislators off camera immediately made comments suggesting that Mountain Dew be made illegal.

Now THAT would get more people interested in the political process.

Brandon Spencer Gets Paid By Greg Stumbo

Remember when Rep. Brandon Spencer, an ambulance company executive, had an epiphany and decided he didn't want his House seat as much as he wanted to give it to the ever eager Greg Stumbo?

Today we saw the pay off for Mr. Spencer.

Time To Wake Up Jonathan Miller

Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller likes to say he is for "good government," "openness," and "transparency."

That would be a whole lot easier to believe if he weren't sitting by quietly while the House allows his cabinet to operate under the cover of darkness.

This is outrageous. And the mainstream media, who I guess is busy covering the dead casino bill due out tomorrow, is complicit.

Sports Caption Should Fire Them Up

There was nothing funny about the Kentucky Wildcats' 41 point loss to Vanderbilt last night. But then I saw the caption on a game photo in the Lexington Herald Leader:

CATS SUFFER WORST LOSS IN SERIES HISTORY
Kentucky mimicked a night of political landslides. Alas, the Cats played the role of Hillary Clinton buried in defeat in the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., primaries.

I wonder how many angry letters to the editor they will get on this one.

Illegal Immigration Enforcement Bill Gains Steam

Looks like someone has put up a petition in support of HB 304. It is here.

Do Nothing Frankfort

The first bill to get a vote in both the House and Senate passed today. Was it something to benefit education? Taxes? Pensions? Entitlement reform? Transparency? Legislative reform? Immigration? Drugs? Local governments?

Nope. It was Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

So glad the glory days have returned to Frankfort.

Gambling With Your Child's Well-Being

As Governor Steve Beshear prepares to divulge his casino gambling plan, he is expected to ignore the downside of creating more avenues for self-destructive, math-challenged Kentuckians to blow up their own finances and then turn to taxpayers for a bail-out.

This is a mistake, of course.

At the very least, Governor Beshear should propose to fine anyone with gambling winnings an amount equal to those winnings if that person's non-gambling income would qualify him or her for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit or if the household receives KCHIP, food stamps, or other state aid in the same tax year the gambling winnings occur.

Making it impossible for low-income Kentuckians to profit from gambling would have the effect of preventing them from frittering away their money. And ours.

Another thing that didn't make our country great

We have become a nation that allows illegal aliens to bleed us dry, subsidizes lifestyles of the drugged and lazy, and elects politicians who play hide the checkbook.

But this beats all of those.

Andrew Horne Gets Ditched

Now Mitch McConnell's opponent looks like it will be the persona non grata of the Democratic Party, Bruce Lunsford.

Cue the weeping and wailing on the Yale campus, where word of their hero's demise apparently hasn't yet hit.

Update: now they know.

Illegal Immigration Gets Serious Look

The House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony on HB 304 from Shelbyville Police Chief Robert Schutte at 2 pm.

You should be able to see it on www.ket.org.

Wanna Bet?

I'd sure like to have a piece of the action on House Budget Chairman Harry "Easy Money" Moberly's assessment of Governor Steve Beshear's casino gambling scheme.

"I think it's 50-50 now that casino gambling will get out of the legislature this year."

The source of this quote is the Lexington Herald Leader.

Good Thing Hypocrisy Doesn't Cause Cancer

I don't know anything about smokeless tobacco being safer than cigarettes, as Professor Brad Rodu says in the Lexington Herald Leader, but I think his column raises an important point about the economics of taxing people into various forms of compliance.

Radu says we should cut the tax on smokeless tobacco to encourage people to switch to it from cigarettes:

"Put in simpler and conservative terms, smokeless use carries less than 2 percent of the health risk of smoking. A rational tobacco tax policy would set taxes accordingly. If lawmakers raise the cigarette tax to $1, the tax on smokeless tobacco should be two cents."

Radu is a smokeless tobacco industry researcher, so we could be cynical and suppose he is just trying to keep his ox from getting gored. But that pales in comparison to the cynicism of those who claim in the same breath that higher cigarette taxes will cut smoking while raising revenues.

The cigarette tax increase bill also raises taxes on smokeless tobacco. For the children and, one imagines, the added revenue.

Wouldn't it be cheaper and more effective to refuse KCHIP benefits to children of smokers? That would be a serious incentive for some parents to either quit smoking or figure out a way to take care of their own kids.

Then we could keep cigarette taxes low to encourage border residents of other states to keep coming over to buy their smokes in Kentucky and we might have a few more welfare dollars to make sure those who really need the help can get it.

Defrauding Our Way To Prosperity

If casino gambling as a public policy were a fashion statement, it would be a white leisure suit. If Governor Steve Beshear continues to ignore our real problems like public employees benefits underfunding, out-of-control entitlements, and inefficient government spending practices, he will not only get his casino plan crammed down his throat by his own House of Representatives, but he will find his big labor constituency unable to keep him in office by itself.

Might as well face facts about the state's wasteful labor policies now. Then let's look at our welfare mentality. And then we absolutely must cut our lavish state employee/retiree health benefits.

Failure to address these issues when the necessity of doing so constitutes fraud. And while it might be fun for Team Beshear to blame Ernie Fletcher for not addressing these issues, it doesn't change anything.

What Is Jody Richards Hiding Now?

Why the new Governor hasn't gotten on board with the government transparency movement is quite a mystery. Kentucky's version of the Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2008 lies dormant in a House committee.

Speaker Jody Richards will have to tell taxpayers directly that how he spends their money is none of their business next week when he kills off the same act added as an amendment to HB 422.

For a group that is supposed to be interested in honesty and good government, these guys sure hold tight to their precious secrets.

Think about that the next time you send any tax money to Frankfort.

Stu Silberman Sued For Racial Discrimination

Fayette School Superintendent Stu Silberman was sued today in Fayette Circuit Court for racial discrimination. The suit charges Silberman and Carmen Coleman, Fayette Schools Director, with manufacturing evidence, creating an intolerable work environment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violating the civil rights of former Booker T. Washington Academy Principal Peggy Petrilli. Petrilli was forced to resign in August 2007. She was the Kentucky Association of Elementary School Principals 2005 Principal of the Year.

The suit asks for compensatory and punitive damages. The Fayette County Board of Education is also listed as a co-defendant.

Market Expansion Open Thread

I'm headed to northern Kentucky this morning to tape a television program with political reporter Pat Crowley.

Gambling On Legislator Benefits And Paychecks

Now that casino gambling is dead, Rep. Jim Wayne(D) and Rep. Dwight Butler(R) want to remove accountability from the legislature for beefing up their pay and benefits and give it to a board they create and appoint.

Given the crappy way lawmakers increased pension benefits for themselves in 2005, I really can't imagine we would want to take on the risk of voting for the Make Legislator Pay Increases Easier Act of 2008.

Shades Of Barbara Erwin

The Louisville Courier Journal has a story about the Kentucky School Board loading up Commissioner Jon Draud's compensation with a bunch of sick days.

The "money" quote:

“Right now, I don’t have any sick or vacation time,” Draud said. “I don’t anticipate anything, but if I were to get sick, I would have nothing to fall back on.”

That should go over pretty well with the teachers.

Can't help remembering the dust up our last Ed Commissioner Barbara Erwin had about getting larded up on sick days.

Is it just an interesting coincidence that this little goody was slipped into HB 470 yesterday?

Notwithstanding any statute to the contrary, the executive branch of government shall accept from the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System all accrued annual and sick leave balances and service credits of employees leaving the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System and accepting appointments within the executive branch.

That's a pretty expensive benefit to be dishing out to political appointees or, in this case an appointee) when school districts are talking about laying off employees.

What Might We Do With Legislator Pay?

I'll report details when I have them, but the House is getting a bill today amending the Constitution's provisions relating to legislator pay.

Jody Richards Has A Decision To Make

(Thursday night update: the bill didn't come up for debate but Rep. Brinkman filed an amendment to lower the tax. Good move! Still tough for Jody.)


One of House Budget Chairman Harry Moberly's tax increase bills that may come up for a vote on the House floor this afternoon got a surprise amendment yesterday.

The tax Moberly wants to increase is the infamous Alternative Minimum Calculation Democrats agreed was an "un-American" income tax on businesses with no net income when Ernie Fletcher was governor.

There is no way Richards has the courage of his convictions to allow a vote on this amendment. He will, with a straight face, rule the amendment not germane. This will kill the amendment.

Or he can allow a vote and watch the tax increase he wants die a well-deserved death.

Gooch Wants To Tax Free Speech

Rep. Jim Gooch has filed a bill requiring editorial writers and cartoonists for "a news organization which engages for profit" to register with the state as lobbyists.

Senate To Consider Chris Thieneman Act

The state Senate is expected to vote tomorrow on a bill to prohibit city employees in Louisville from pushing ballot initiatives on the clock like they did in support of the doomed Louisville Library Tax.

Happy Ronald Reagan Day!

The state Senate just named today Ronald Reagan Day in Kentucky.

Enjoy!

Kathy Stein Time

The House Judiciary Committee has wasted an hour and a half listening to testimony on HB 304 that has had nothing to do with the actual bill.

There is no doubt legal immigration is great in a lot of ways, but the bill is about handling illegal activities of illegal aliens.

What a complete mess and embarrassment, Chairwoman Stein.

"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me A U-Haul"

The Lexington Herald-Leader wants to amend the state constitution to automatically restore voting rights to convicted felons. The bill stands no chance of passage, which is probably a good thing since we hardly need to expand the base of voters electing themselves bigger entitlements from taxpayers.

In fact, encouraging people to get with the program or get out of the state could become a theme in this General Assembly if we were to encourage suddenly civic-minded felons to find another state that wants their problems and their votes, along with sending illegal aliens and drug-abusing welfare recipients packing.