Pol Watchers

House leaders looking for $800 million this weekend

Democratic House leaders hope to beef up Gov. Steve Beshear’s anemic two-year budget with as much as $800 million in new revenue from tax hikes and other “creative” measures when they begin marking up the document Sunday.

“There will be significantly more funding in some areas,” said House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green.

He said lawmakers hope to increase teacher salaries, restore cuts recommended for elementary, secondary and higher education, and put more money into essential state services.

Overall, Beshear’s proposed $18.8 billion two-year budget cuts state spending by about $165 million next year.

Although some programs, such as Medicaid and the prison system, would get additional funding to meet growing demand, most state agencies face a budget cut of about 12 percent. For higher education, that means $310 million less over the biennium.

Richards said the revised budget will likely include about $110 million a year from a 25-cent increase in the “user fee,”  otherwise known as a tax, on a pack of cigarettes.

He offered few other specifics, but said lawmakers will look at “creative” ways to raise money, such a refinancing state debt, when they meet behind closed doors Sunday afternoon. He declined to say how much money that move might save.

“We feel we are going to have to find new revenue,” Richards said. “I hope we can find it in as painless a way as possible.”

Rep. Pasley files bill to finance big transportation projects

FRANKFORT --  A Central Kentucky legislator, with the support of House Democratic leaders, is pushing a bill that would set up a state authority that could use tolls to finance so-called transportation mega-projects, such as two new Ohio River bridges and changes in Spaghetti Junction near downtown Louisville.

The bill filed Friday by Rep. Don Pasley, D-Winchester, addresses similar concerns but differs from legislation offered earlier this year by Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.

Co-sponsors of Pasley’s bill are the five House Democratic leaders and House budget chairman Harry Moberly Jr., D-Richmond.

A major difference between Pasley’s and Williams’ bill is that Pasley’s House Bill 689 would create one state authority  “to implement and facilitate the financing of major transportation projects and to hold ownership of projects."

“It would be loosely modeled on the Kentucky Housing Corporation,”  Pasley said.

The authority could issue bonds and assess tolls on a project.  Tolls on each project would be in an amount adequate to retire the debt on the project.

Williams’ proposal in Senate Bill 7 would allow creation of local infrastructure authorities to manage big transportation projects.  Local governments could form their infrastructure authorities; then the legislature would have to approve a charter issued by the governor that would tell them whether they could use tolls or not.

Pasley’s bill defines mega-projects as those that cost at least $500 million. They would have to be developed in coordination with the state’s six-year road plan.

The state authority in Pasley’s bill would be authorized to implement tolls and issue bonds, but the debt incurred would not count against the state’s.

Beshear to make major funding announcement regarding Eastern State Hospital

Gov. Steve Beshear will make a major announcement Friday regarding funding for a new Eastern State Hospital at a 1 p.m. news conference in the Capitol.

The announcement deals with "finding some alternative mechanism of funding it other than the state funding it," said Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, a Lexington Democrat whose district includes the aging state psychiatric hospital on Newtown Pike.

Crenshaw, who did not attend a briefing of Central Kentucky lawmakers held after the House adjourned for the week Friday morning, said the proposal likely calls for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to issue bonds for the project.

"It's a big deal," said Rep. Don Pasley, D-Winchester, who did attend the briefing but declined to provide further details.

Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry and a representative from the University of Kentucky are scheduled to speak at the news conference.

Advocates for the mentally ill and the organization that runs Eastern State have been lobbying for years to replace the second-oldest psychiatric facility in the country. Beshear's proposed budget contains money to plan for the eventual replacement of Eastern State, but not the estimated $130 million needed to build the facility.

The hospital is operated by the Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board.

Last summer, state officials stood on the steps of Eastern State's administrative office and pledged that a new state hospital would be built, but the prospect of a groundbreaking in the next few years turned bleak after the state's budget woes became clear in December.

Check Kentucky.com and Saturday's Herald-Leader for more on this story.

- John Stamper

Lunsford snares support from unions that spurned him

A year after the Change to Win coalition of labor unions ripped Democrat Bruce Lunsford, the organization officially backed him in his run for U.S. Senate.

The union group — which includes the Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, Jefferson County Teachers Association and Service Employees International Union — said in a statement that Lunsford is the best Democrat to take on U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. 

“We’re endorsing in the May Democratic primary, but this election is all about defeating Mitch McConnell in the fall,” said Fred Zuckerman, president of Teamsters Local 89 and current chair of the state coalition.

Zuckerman acknowledged in his statement that the same group refused to consider Lunsford for an endorsement during last year’s governor’s race after Lunsford had supported Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher in the 2003 race.

“We asked him all the hard questions, and we are satisfied that he will be there when the going gets tough,” Zuckerman said.

Lunsford said he was “honored” to get the endorsement.

“I am proud to have the support of these hardworking unions and excited to have their help in uniting Kentucky for change in November,” he said.

- Ryan Alessi

Casino bill far short of 60 votes

By Janet Patton And Ryan Alessi
JPATTON1@HERALD-LEADER.COM | ralessi@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear and House leaders committed on Thursday to passing casino legislation even if it doesn't set aside licenses for racetracks.

But that concession might cost the bill several Democratic votes and any possible Republican votes, leaving it far short of the 60 needed to pass the House.

"We're at a point now to where we do have a bill out and beginning to move. I believe all five of the House leadership and I are committed to continuing this process, beginning to count votes, and to move this along," Beshear told reporters in his office after he met with Speaker Jody Richards and the other four House Democratic leaders.

Both Beshear and Richards promised to allay horsemen's concerns about the draft.

"I want to be very clear that the horse industry is a very important part of this whole process. They're part of the reason I am pushing so strongly to get an amendment like this on the ballot," the governor said. [...]

Still, the current version has turned off potential supporters of the casino proposal on both sides of the aisle. So the proposal starts many votes shy of the necessary 60 to pass the House, as a bipartisan bloc holds out to see whether the horse industry will reluctantly embrace it or whether someone can come up with a compromise.

Clark, D-Louisville, said horse industry support is crucial to passing any casino bill.

"I think if the industry is not satisfied in some way, no version of the bill will pass," Clark said. "I think they have that much influence on the vote count. I think you've got to get at least 10 Republicans, and maybe 12, to get to 60."

Republican Floor Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown said that is "not going to happen." In fact, he said the "several" Republicans most likely to support a casino bill are unhappy with the way the current bill leaves out tracks.

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Senate panel will consider amended bullying bill

A long-stymied bill that would require school districts to create policies dealing with bullies will get a hearing in a Senate committee — but not before it is amended, Senate President David Williams said Thursday.

His comments came after Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, forced a vote in the Senate on a petition to discharge the bill from the Senate Judiciary  Committee, which has not held a hearing on Senate Bill 12 and similar measures filed since 2004.

“We can guarantee a safe environment” for school kids, Scorsone said. “To fail to do that when we can is shameful.”

Scorsone’s petition was defeated 20-15 in a party-line vote, so it remains in committee. At least three Republicans said they likely support the bill’s intent, but first wanted to talk with Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, about his potential changes. Stivers was absent from the General Assembly on Thursday.

Williams, R-Burkesville, wouldn’t offer any details about planned amendments, but has said previously that some in the Senate are concerned the measure “would be used to teach curriculum that people aren’t interested in, like homosexual, same-sex marriage, sort of things like that.”

However, House Republicans don’t have issues with the legislation. The House approved a similar proposal, House Bill 91, in a 96-0 vote on Jan. 29.

The House proposal is supported by the Kentucky School Boards Association, Kentucky Education Association, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kentucky County Attorneys Association, Kentucky Council of Churches and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.

The bill would require schools to formulate a code of “acceptable behavior and discipline that prohibits harassment, intimidation, or bullying of a student.”

It also asks for schools to have strategies in place to protect victims from retaliation. Districts would be asked to provide training to employees, and to inform students and parents about the code of acceptable behavior.

Bullying would be cause for suspension, expulsion or another form of discipline.

- John Stamper

Governor backs casino plan pushed by Richards

Gov. Steve Beshear and House Democratic leaders met Thursday and agreed to support a casino bill approved Wednesday by a House committee -- if they must to keep the bill moving.

Afterward, they committed to move a casino bill through the House in coming days -- even if it doesn't guarantee casinos for racetracks.

"I am comfortable enough with it to keep this moving down the field," Beshear said of a constitutional amendment backed by House Speaker Jody Richards.

That bill allows open competition for nine casino licenses.

Beshear promised to address concerns of the racing industry later.

"Any enabling legislation that does not give protections to the horse industry I will veto," he said.

- Janet Patton

Guests scheduled for 'Comment on Kentucky'

Three journalists will join host Ferrell Wellman for this weekend's "Comment on Kentucky" public-affairs show on the Kentucky Educational Television network.

They are Ronnie Ellis, Frankfort correspondent for CNHI News Service; Laura Cullen Glasscock, publisher of The Kentucky Gazette; and Deborah Yetter, reporter for The Courier-Journal.

The show airs live at 8 p.m. ET Friday on KET1.

--Jack Brammer

Agreement reached on Fletcher's university appointments

By Art Jester
AJESTER@HERALD-LEADER.COM

The administration of Gov. Steve Beshear has apparently resolved a legal dispute it inherited in which Gov. Ernie Fletcher was accused of circumventing state law by appointing too many Republicans to the state universities' governing boards.

Lawyers representing Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway, both Democrats, have reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit that then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo filed on Sept. 12, 2007.

After Stumbo's term as attorney general expired, Conway replaced Stumbo as plaintiff; Beshear took Fletcher's place as defendant.

Lawyers for the two parties are to appear before Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd on March 7 to discuss their solution and get his approval.

In his order Wednesday for the hearing, Shepherd said that in view of the agreement, there is a question of whether there is still a legal dispute that must be settled in court.

In his lawsuit, Stumbo alleged that Fletcher had put a disproportionate number of Republicans on the universities' boards, violating a state law that requires those appointments to reflect the number of registered voters in the state's two major parties. Democrats account for about 59 percent of voters, Republicans about 36 percent. About 5 percent are registered as other.

Stumbo, a Democrat, asked the court to invalidate 13 of 50 university board appointments by Fletcher, a Republican.

Stumbo contended that Fletcher had appointed 33 Republicans and 17 Democrats, but, to comply with the law, should have named 30 Democrats and 20 Republicans.

Ellen Hesen, Beshear's general counsel, said in an interview that the administration does not seek to undo any of Fletcher's appointments.

Beshear, with each new appointment, wants to begin bringing the ratio of Democrats and Republicans on the boards in line with the legal requirement, Hesen said.

This does not mean that Beshear will appoint only Democrats, she said. He will fill each vacancy on a case-by-case basis while also considering the current Democrats-to-Republicans ratio, she said.

Conway could not be reached for comment.       

House panel approves low-income tax credit; broadens estate tax

With the clutch grinding in her 10-year-old car, Kim Stinson-Hawn of Berea travels to schools and daycares in five counties for her part-time data-collection job.

The 38-year-old mother of two young daughters, whose husband is a non-traditional college student, epitomizes the 350,000 low-income Kentucky families who would get tax breaks under a bill approved Wednesday by the House budget committee.

“If this bill passes, the tax credit would go towards fixing the clutch in my car, which I need to help me keep my job,” Stinson-Hawn told lawmakers. “There are so many needs and challenges that families like mine face.”

House Bill 566, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jim Wayne of Louisville, would create a state earned income tax credit on Jan. 1, 2009 that is projected to pay out about $45 million a year.

To fund the program, the proposal broadens the state’s estate tax, making it applicable to estates worth $3.5 million or more. Family farms would be exempted from the tax.

Wayne said the broadened estate tax would likely apply to fewer than 350 Kentuckians each year.

Committee chairman Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said the bill is revenue-neutral for the state and thus shouldn’t be considered a tax hike. Money generated by the state’s estate tax, which mirrors the federal estate tax rate, has withered in recent years as Congress attempted to repeal the tax through a gradual reduction.

“It’s really a philosophical question: Do you want to tax estates over $3.5 million to give this credit to working people,” Moberly told the committee.