Observers remarked on the hatred in Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark's eyes for me last week when I was the only person to testify against her re-appointment in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
Good.
She is a huge proponent of ObamaCare with the power to inflict great harm on Kentuckians and she hasn't been shy about stating her desire to do so. Meanwhile, the religious health sharing bill, Senate Bill 3, looks like it will pass today through both chambers, providing at least a narrow escape for consumers when the ObamaCare hits the fan this fall.
This looks like the best we can get through for the 2013 General Assembly regular session. Lots more to do.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Divide and conquer Louisville gun grabbers
A Lexington, Kentucky suburb opened up the 'guns in schools' debate this week with a proposal to change school policy on the district level in Jessamine County. A loophole in the state's most populous -- and most hostile -- school district, however, creates an unexpected urban opportunity for 2nd Amendment rights sure to attract national attention.
Jefferson County Public Schools' Conduct Code and Related Policies includes the following language on page ten: "Carrying, bringing, using or possessing a dangerous weapon in any school building, on school grounds, in any school vehicle or at any school-sponsored activity without the authorization of the school or the school district is prohibited."
That means the school board has delegated its authority from the state to change its weapons policy to the individual schools. I don't know if there is one school in Jefferson County with the courage and foresight to abandon its reckless 'gun free zone' status, but the effort to find one presents a can't lose opportunity.
Jefferson County Public Schools' Conduct Code and Related Policies includes the following language on page ten: "Carrying, bringing, using or possessing a dangerous weapon in any school building, on school grounds, in any school vehicle or at any school-sponsored activity without the authorization of the school or the school district is prohibited."
That means the school board has delegated its authority from the state to change its weapons policy to the individual schools. I don't know if there is one school in Jefferson County with the courage and foresight to abandon its reckless 'gun free zone' status, but the effort to find one presents a can't lose opportunity.
Friday, March 08, 2013
Will Kentucky House GOP go nuclear on Dems?
Conservatives waiting for House Republicans in Frankfort to assert themselves in the 2013 General Assembly may have missed the quiet signal of a shift in the last ten days.
In that time, House Republicans have filed discharge petitions on two bills. Senate Bill 5, which would levy enormous fines on doctors who fail to perform an "informed consent" ultrasound on a pregnant woman prior to performing an abortion, on February 27. On Thursday, March 7, a discharge petition was filed on Senate Bill 129, which seeks to limit federal efforts to infringe on 2nd Amendment rights of Kentuckians.
The purpose of discharge petitions is to force a bill past an attempt by a chamber's leadership to bottle it up in committee. House Democrats have procedural tools available to them to beat back a discharge petition, but Republicans have absolutely nothing to lose by expanding the fight to other crucial bills like the ObamaCare repeal bills -- SB 39 and SB 40 -- and turning up the volume.
In what remains of the 2013 General Assembly, let's hope so. Meanwhile, intransigent House committee chairs Tom Burch and John Tilley deserve to be bombarded with telephone calls.
In that time, House Republicans have filed discharge petitions on two bills. Senate Bill 5, which would levy enormous fines on doctors who fail to perform an "informed consent" ultrasound on a pregnant woman prior to performing an abortion, on February 27. On Thursday, March 7, a discharge petition was filed on Senate Bill 129, which seeks to limit federal efforts to infringe on 2nd Amendment rights of Kentuckians.
The purpose of discharge petitions is to force a bill past an attempt by a chamber's leadership to bottle it up in committee. House Democrats have procedural tools available to them to beat back a discharge petition, but Republicans have absolutely nothing to lose by expanding the fight to other crucial bills like the ObamaCare repeal bills -- SB 39 and SB 40 -- and turning up the volume.
In what remains of the 2013 General Assembly, let's hope so. Meanwhile, intransigent House committee chairs Tom Burch and John Tilley deserve to be bombarded with telephone calls.
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Jessamine mom takes on gun-free zones
"The people I've talked to are in favor of it," Day said.
Mrs. Day has two 10th grade daughters at East Jessamine High School. She is working on gaining support to make the change as authorized under Kentucky law to improve campus safety beyond the state suggestion which consists almost entirely of signs posted at school entrances informing would-be attackers that possession of a gun in schools breaks state law.
Jessamine County School Board members heard a presentation at their January meeting about making schools safer with this simple policy change. The next board meeting is at 7pm ET on March 25, 2013 at 871 Wilmore Road in Nicholasville.
This Christian battle is for everyone
Lunchtime today in Frankfort will pass quietly for all but a very few Kentuckians while a key constitutional struggle comes to a head.
At noon, the House Banking and Insurance Committee will vote on Senate Bill 3, the religious health sharing bill. The bill would simply move Kentucky into compliance with an exemption for Christians written into the ObamaCare law. As current Kentucky law stands, the freedom to contract privately among fellow followers of Christ to mutually cover healthcare expenses is punishable as a felony.
Leaving this kind of power in the hands of state insurance bureaucrats makes no sense. More than half a century of bureaucratic bungling has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need more freedom and less government in healthcare. ObamaCare will start to blow up in the faces of consumers later this fall. What happens today should determine how much of a disaster that will be.
At noon, the House Banking and Insurance Committee will vote on Senate Bill 3, the religious health sharing bill. The bill would simply move Kentucky into compliance with an exemption for Christians written into the ObamaCare law. As current Kentucky law stands, the freedom to contract privately among fellow followers of Christ to mutually cover healthcare expenses is punishable as a felony.
Leaving this kind of power in the hands of state insurance bureaucrats makes no sense. More than half a century of bureaucratic bungling has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need more freedom and less government in healthcare. ObamaCare will start to blow up in the faces of consumers later this fall. What happens today should determine how much of a disaster that will be.
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Christians bust through logjam in Kentucky
Grassroots activists in Kentucky burned up the phone lines in Frankfort to force a committee hearing to the Christian health sharing bill, Senate Bill 3, legislative staff confirmed late Wednesday.
The House Banking and Insurance Committee will hold a vote to allow Christians in Kentucky greater freedom in escaping ObamaCare when the federal healthcare takeover goes into effect fully next year. The committee hearing will be Thursday at noon in the Capitol Annex Room 129. Senate Bill 3 is the only bill on the committee's agenda.
The House Banking and Insurance Committee will hold a vote to allow Christians in Kentucky greater freedom in escaping ObamaCare when the federal healthcare takeover goes into effect fully next year. The committee hearing will be Thursday at noon in the Capitol Annex Room 129. Senate Bill 3 is the only bill on the committee's agenda.
Kentucky's filibuster: Robert Stivers?
As U.S. Senator Rand Paul makes serious headlines for holding up an Obama appointee, Kentucky state Senate President toils in relative anonymity while doing the same thing to the biggest ObamaCare cheerleader in Frankfort.
Please call 502-564-8100 and tell Sen. Stivers you appreciate him standing up for Kentuckians and against ObamaCare. Refusing to allow the re-confirmation of Sharon Clark to the position of Kentucky Insurance Commissioner could have the most significant impact of anything this General Assembly does. Shutting down ObamaCare is on Sen. Stivers' shoulders now. He needs our encouragement to end Kentucky's involvement in the federal takeover of our healthcare system now.
Please call 502-564-8100 and tell Sen. Stivers you appreciate him standing up for Kentuckians and against ObamaCare. Refusing to allow the re-confirmation of Sharon Clark to the position of Kentucky Insurance Commissioner could have the most significant impact of anything this General Assembly does. Shutting down ObamaCare is on Sen. Stivers' shoulders now. He needs our encouragement to end Kentucky's involvement in the federal takeover of our healthcare system now.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Crushing Frankfort's war against Christians
Kentucky's Senate Banking and Insurance Committee attached all of the religious health sharing bill to House Bill 365 this morning, practically ensuring an end to the Department of Insurance's decade-long jihad against Christian Medi-Share in particular and Christian citizens in general.
House Bill 365 will very likely have no opposition in the full Senate and then will go back to the House in its amended form for a floor vote there. Please contact your state Representative and urge support for House Bill 365 as amended by the Senate.
This will allow Christian Medi-Share back into the state and limit the Kentucky Department of Insurance in their ability to harass and penalize Christians seeking to avoid the ObamaCare debacle. Non-Christians would do well to demand that the federal exemption to ObamaCare available to Christians must be expanded to protect them too.
House Bill 365 will very likely have no opposition in the full Senate and then will go back to the House in its amended form for a floor vote there. Please contact your state Representative and urge support for House Bill 365 as amended by the Senate.
This will allow Christian Medi-Share back into the state and limit the Kentucky Department of Insurance in their ability to harass and penalize Christians seeking to avoid the ObamaCare debacle. Non-Christians would do well to demand that the federal exemption to ObamaCare available to Christians must be expanded to protect them too.
Monday, March 04, 2013
Taking out the trash in Frankfort
Thank you to everyone who called your Kentucky state senator over the last two weeks demanding they hold up re-confirmation of Kentucky's leading ObamaCare cheerleader, Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark. Allowing her to keep her job while forcing Kentucky over the ObamaCare cliff is not acceptable.
Senate staff confirmed this morning that Commissioner Clark is not on the list for tomorrow's confirmations, signally a significant shift. Please call your senator and thank him or her for not supporting Commissioner Clark until after Senate Bills 3, 39 and 40 are signed into law by Governor Beshear.
Your support in this has been invaluable. Turning back ObamaCare is the least we can do for our country and for future generations of Americans.
Senate staff confirmed this morning that Commissioner Clark is not on the list for tomorrow's confirmations, signally a significant shift. Please call your senator and thank him or her for not supporting Commissioner Clark until after Senate Bills 3, 39 and 40 are signed into law by Governor Beshear.
Your support in this has been invaluable. Turning back ObamaCare is the least we can do for our country and for future generations of Americans.
Kentucky leads nation in this, too
President Barack Obama is right about one thing: the "sequester" is a manufactured crisis. Of course, he made it, in conjunction with congressional leaders of both parties looking for an easy way out of the debt ceiling fight of 2011. This is Obama addressing the nation on Saturday.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Mitch McConnell's "outrage" masks weakness
Readers will awaken Sunday to national news coverage of the most powerful Republican in Washington D.C. hurling a boulder at two liberal Louisville activists for suggesting erroneously on Twitter that his wife is from China.
This is what passes for the "ultimate outrage" at a time in which we strain at petty slights but swallow whole imaginary fiscal crises like the sequester and big government blunders like providing funding for ObamaCare.
It is these latter issues which will haunt Sen. McConnell in the upcoming Republican primary for the seat he has occupied since his election in 1984. Long after this fainting goat routine runs its course, Sen. McConnell will have to run on his record.
Republican primary voters looking for seriousness in fiscal reform are in no mood to swoon for professional politicians who have become millionaires at the public trough trying to play the victim in such a transparent manner.
Sen. McConnell's bailout and corporate welfare chickens will come home to roost in 2014. Expect a Republican replacement to be there to clean up the mess. Republican primary voters either know or can easily be reminded about how Mitch ran Jim Bunning out of the Senate for standing up to the status quo and that we wouldn't still be playing Charlie Brown to Obama's Lucy on debt ceiling deals if he hadn't facilitated the debt ceiling increase and sequestration fraud in 2011.
This is what passes for the "ultimate outrage" at a time in which we strain at petty slights but swallow whole imaginary fiscal crises like the sequester and big government blunders like providing funding for ObamaCare.
It is these latter issues which will haunt Sen. McConnell in the upcoming Republican primary for the seat he has occupied since his election in 1984. Long after this fainting goat routine runs its course, Sen. McConnell will have to run on his record.
Republican primary voters looking for seriousness in fiscal reform are in no mood to swoon for professional politicians who have become millionaires at the public trough trying to play the victim in such a transparent manner.
Sen. McConnell's bailout and corporate welfare chickens will come home to roost in 2014. Expect a Republican replacement to be there to clean up the mess. Republican primary voters either know or can easily be reminded about how Mitch ran Jim Bunning out of the Senate for standing up to the status quo and that we wouldn't still be playing Charlie Brown to Obama's Lucy on debt ceiling deals if he hadn't facilitated the debt ceiling increase and sequestration fraud in 2011.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
UK grad schools Jack Conway on 14th Amendment
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway wants to shut down RJ Bruner's Lexington moving company and send his 31 employees packing.
Wildcat Moving was fined thousands of dollars in 2011 by the state for operating a moving company without state permission. Bruner took a good look at the arbitrary and capricious state application process and the 2010 MBA graduate filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.
He is right. And this week, United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves sided with him in refusing Conway's motion to dismiss his lawsuit. Kentucky law gives existing moving companies the right to veto new applicants wishing to join the marketplace.
At his next press conference, Conway should be forced to explain why he is fighting against this young Kentuckian and his small army of employees instead of fighting for them.
Senator Tom Buford's Senate Bill 132 would eliminate this process for companies moving "household goods" but leave it in place for those moving people. His bill needs to become law and then we should go back and strike the whole ridiculous idea of government deciding who gets to be a market participant and who doesn't.
Getting this right across the board would only help Kentucky consumers and providers of such absurdly over-regulated products and services as health care, financial services and labor.
Wildcat Moving was fined thousands of dollars in 2011 by the state for operating a moving company without state permission. Bruner took a good look at the arbitrary and capricious state application process and the 2010 MBA graduate filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.
He is right. And this week, United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves sided with him in refusing Conway's motion to dismiss his lawsuit. Kentucky law gives existing moving companies the right to veto new applicants wishing to join the marketplace.
At his next press conference, Conway should be forced to explain why he is fighting against this young Kentuckian and his small army of employees instead of fighting for them.
Senator Tom Buford's Senate Bill 132 would eliminate this process for companies moving "household goods" but leave it in place for those moving people. His bill needs to become law and then we should go back and strike the whole ridiculous idea of government deciding who gets to be a market participant and who doesn't.
Getting this right across the board would only help Kentucky consumers and providers of such absurdly over-regulated products and services as health care, financial services and labor.
Beshear attacks Kentucky dentists
More shocking mismanagement of Kentucky Medicaid Services (KMS) has come to light in which state officials are illegally attempting to bilk oral surgeons who treat poor, toothless Kentuckians. At issue is a service called alveoplasty performed for Medicaid patients after all their teeth have been removed.
In an attempt to shore up state finances, KMS has cut payments for alveoplasty services retroactively from 2006 to 2011 and demanded repayment from surgeons for work they performed during that time. Some Kentucky surgeons are looking at bills from the government for tens of thousands of dollars.
Of course, our surgeons are fighting back. We must join them in this because such outrageous actions threaten to further limit the availability of dental surgeons in Kentucky at reasonable prices -- or perhaps at any price at all.
Please share this information with your elected representatives in Frankfort. Tell them to force recission of Department of Medicaid Services Internal Change Order 16402. Further, they should support Senate Bill 39, which will require greater scrutiny of the proposed Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. If they are playing these flimflam games with Medicaid now, it will only get worse under a much larger program.
In an attempt to shore up state finances, KMS has cut payments for alveoplasty services retroactively from 2006 to 2011 and demanded repayment from surgeons for work they performed during that time. Some Kentucky surgeons are looking at bills from the government for tens of thousands of dollars.
Of course, our surgeons are fighting back. We must join them in this because such outrageous actions threaten to further limit the availability of dental surgeons in Kentucky at reasonable prices -- or perhaps at any price at all.
Please share this information with your elected representatives in Frankfort. Tell them to force recission of Department of Medicaid Services Internal Change Order 16402. Further, they should support Senate Bill 39, which will require greater scrutiny of the proposed Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. If they are playing these flimflam games with Medicaid now, it will only get worse under a much larger program.
Kentucky sequestration exclamation
Amid the wall-to-wall freaking out over the federal "sequester," it's worth pointing out that Kentucky has had eleven sequesters since Governor Steve Beshear took office. Notice anything about spending in this chart?
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Mitch McConnell skewers himself
Sen. Mitch McConnell has never been a big fan of the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative Washington D.C. group committed to replacing moderate Republicans with fiscal hawks.
It's about to get a whole lot worse for him.
The Club has released its 2012 Congressional Scorecard which shows Sen. McConnell with his lowest score since 2008.
Think bailouts.
The 2012 votes that could cost Sen. McConnell dearly in May 2012 include votes against cutting federal gas taxes and returning some highway programs to the states, voting against a fiscally conservative budget blueprint, voting against cuts to farm subsidies and loan guarantees. He also got dinged for voting in favor of a bloated spending bill for transportation programs, student loan and flood insurance subsidies and for voting to fund ObamaCare.
It's about to get a whole lot worse for him.
The Club has released its 2012 Congressional Scorecard which shows Sen. McConnell with his lowest score since 2008.
Think bailouts.
The 2012 votes that could cost Sen. McConnell dearly in May 2012 include votes against cutting federal gas taxes and returning some highway programs to the states, voting against a fiscally conservative budget blueprint, voting against cuts to farm subsidies and loan guarantees. He also got dinged for voting in favor of a bloated spending bill for transportation programs, student loan and flood insurance subsidies and for voting to fund ObamaCare.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Mary Lou Marzian bites Louisville Courier Journal
If the Louisville Courier Journal has a favorite Kentucky state legislator, it could well be Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a left-wing politician of epic proportions. It is more than a little odd, then, to see her filing a resolution in Frankfort to muzzle our largest newspaper, a left-wing media outlet of epic proportions.
House Concurrent Resolution 6 would force media corporations to stop attempting to influence elections in Kentucky. That's not Rep. Marzian's intention, of course, but that's what you get when you don't think things through.
And she seriously didn't think this one through.
HCR 6 calls on Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and prohibit corporate political support through federal and state legislation.
A little thing called a "media exemption" jumps out as problematic here for fans of the Courier Journal. Banning corporate political speech nationally won't generally concern Gannett, the CJ's corporate parent, because federal election law exempts what it defines as "media" from such regulation, but Kentucky law contains no such loophole.
That means Rep. Marzian can't shut off corporate political activity for Kentucky corporations she doesn't like without also silencing those she does like.
A bipartisan trait of most politicians somehow prevents them from universally recognizing the value of absolute individual rights. Some like absolute gun rights but can't imagine missing an opportunity to prohibit ingestion of some substances. Others, like Marzian, like speech from friends supporting their worldview but can't endure thoughts from political opponents. Sometimes, amid all their infringing and prohibiting, these politicians get a little sloppy. This is one of those times.
Why don't these people just once, when faced with a choice between limiting freedom unevenly and promoting its unalienable aspects stop twisting themselves into pretzels to justify controlling people and just let freedom happen?
Kentucky's Constitution very unambiguously guarantees freedom of speech, promising "no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof." Rep. Marzian embarrasses herself attempting to use Section 150 of the Kentucky Constitution in her resolution to justify stifling political speech of corporations, when this section speaks to vote buying activity of both individuals and corporations. Is she saying she wants to muzzle private citizens in Kentucky as well as her hometown newspaper, which seems to never tire of endorsing her and her ideas?
I'd love for a Courier Journal reporter to ask her that.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Don't let Frankfort Republicans cave on this
Kentucky's Senate Republican caucus has agreed to approve all of Governor Steve Beshear's executive branch appointments this year in exchange for nothing, President Robert Stivers' office has confirmed.
This will not do. Kentucky conservatives have a great opportunity to fight back against this cave-in mentality and exposing Frankfort's ridiculous "new tone" nonsense, which is political speak for giving up the farm.
Of fifty one confirmation resolutions filed in the Senate so far, fifty of them are sponsored by members of the Senate Republican caucus. The one exception is Kentucky's point person for ObamaCare, Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark. Republicans are understandably squeamish about publicly sponsoring re-confirmation of the bureaucrat behind Kentucky's illegally formed and funded ObamaCare scheme, but the fix is in for approval of Commissioner Clark in the late days of the session in hopes sexier issues will distract attention from this outrage.
Senate Republicans have made a deal with Beshear to the detriment of all Kentuckians just to play to the media theme of them being nice guys. Please call your Senator and demand that he or she publicly refuse to support confirmation of the person who has set us up for the massive federal takeover of our healthcare system.
This will not do. Kentucky conservatives have a great opportunity to fight back against this cave-in mentality and exposing Frankfort's ridiculous "new tone" nonsense, which is political speak for giving up the farm.
Of fifty one confirmation resolutions filed in the Senate so far, fifty of them are sponsored by members of the Senate Republican caucus. The one exception is Kentucky's point person for ObamaCare, Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark. Republicans are understandably squeamish about publicly sponsoring re-confirmation of the bureaucrat behind Kentucky's illegally formed and funded ObamaCare scheme, but the fix is in for approval of Commissioner Clark in the late days of the session in hopes sexier issues will distract attention from this outrage.
Senate Republicans have made a deal with Beshear to the detriment of all Kentuckians just to play to the media theme of them being nice guys. Please call your Senator and demand that he or she publicly refuse to support confirmation of the person who has set us up for the massive federal takeover of our healthcare system.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Perjury for fun and profit in Lexington
Fayette County Prosecutor Charles "Sam" Finley apparently thought he was being cute in his court battle against a Lexington small business and it may get him in hot water.
Finley filed an 11th hour motion yesterday to appeal a judge's order for Lexington police to return tens of thousands of dollars in improperly confiscated inventory to Botany Bay, 932 Winchester Rd. Lexington Police have blatantly ignored orders from Judge Kim Wilkie to return the inventory -- which video evidence seems to indicate they have destroyed.
In Finley's motion, he claimed Judge Wilkie did not allow prosecutors and police to give supporting evidence for holding on to Botany Bay's inventory, much of which was taken despite not being specified -- even generally -- on a search warrant served last August. His claim, it turns out, was false. Judge Wilkie made that point abundantly clear in court.
Wilkie's ten minute dressing down of Finley in court this morning was a sight to behold. How this young kid, a 2011 graduate of NKU law school, thought he would get away with it is unimaginable.
In Finley's motion, he claimed Judge Wilkie did not allow prosecutors and police to give supporting evidence for holding on to Botany Bay's inventory, much of which was taken despite not being specified -- even generally -- on a search warrant served last August. His claim, it turns out, was false. Judge Wilkie made that point abundantly clear in court.
Wilkie's ten minute dressing down of Finley in court this morning was a sight to behold. How this young kid, a 2011 graduate of NKU law school, thought he would get away with it is unimaginable.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Hemp unanimously passes Senate panel
The funniest thing about hemp opponents' drubbing in today's Senate Agriculture Committee was Democrats who voted in favor of the hemp bill telling anyone who would listen that Governor Steve Beshear called and told them to vote no.
Industrial hemp in Kentucky has bipartisan support and its opponents risk looking very silly if they keep fighting it. Should be a fun issue in the 2014 elections for those "drug warriors" so anxiously engaged in keeping Kentuckians from producing such a beneficial product.
Industrial hemp in Kentucky has bipartisan support and its opponents risk looking very silly if they keep fighting it. Should be a fun issue in the 2014 elections for those "drug warriors" so anxiously engaged in keeping Kentuckians from producing such a beneficial product.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
"Some people" are right, Senator
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers got the state pension discussion off to a bad start when he told the Lane Report the General Assembly is not to blame for us having the worst funded fringe benefits in the nation.
"Some say the General Assembly caused the problem," Stivers told Ed Lane. He then explained that since he has been in leadership (2008), the legislature "has funded to the recommended or greater amount than the Kentucky Retirement System stipulated to the Senate as being the appropriate contribution -- each and every budget cycle."
Technically, Stivers' whole statement is true, but the only meaningful part is the bit about some people blaming legislators. The problem is not enough people are blaming legislators yet. Yes, since 2008 KRS has "stipulated to" the funding schedule passed in 2008 that requires legislators to fund an increasing portion of the the annual required contribution over 20 years, though the contribution never gets up to full funding until the twentieth year.
By then, it may be too late. The Senate's pension reform bill, SB 2, by the way, is basically another "too little, too late" effort that isn't terrible but also lacks the substance to end our pension crisis. Only better budgeting and more funding (and oversight) of KRS will do that now.
UPDATE: Just got an email from Sen. Stivers' office clarifying that he meant to say the legislature has funded to the level requested by the Governor (and not KRS). And that's fine, but it and all the talking in the world won't solve what actions would have taken care of a long time ago. The public can be engaged effectively on this issue, Senator Stivers, but we are missing the opportunity.
"Some say the General Assembly caused the problem," Stivers told Ed Lane. He then explained that since he has been in leadership (2008), the legislature "has funded to the recommended or greater amount than the Kentucky Retirement System stipulated to the Senate as being the appropriate contribution -- each and every budget cycle."
Technically, Stivers' whole statement is true, but the only meaningful part is the bit about some people blaming legislators. The problem is not enough people are blaming legislators yet. Yes, since 2008 KRS has "stipulated to" the funding schedule passed in 2008 that requires legislators to fund an increasing portion of the the annual required contribution over 20 years, though the contribution never gets up to full funding until the twentieth year.
By then, it may be too late. The Senate's pension reform bill, SB 2, by the way, is basically another "too little, too late" effort that isn't terrible but also lacks the substance to end our pension crisis. Only better budgeting and more funding (and oversight) of KRS will do that now.
UPDATE: Just got an email from Sen. Stivers' office clarifying that he meant to say the legislature has funded to the level requested by the Governor (and not KRS). And that's fine, but it and all the talking in the world won't solve what actions would have taken care of a long time ago. The public can be engaged effectively on this issue, Senator Stivers, but we are missing the opportunity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)