Legislative Update 2/8/2020

In this first week of February, we’ve made it through the first third of the 60-day 2020 Regular Session. The vast majority of bills passed out of the House to date have been strongly bipartisan,…
In this first week of February, we’ve made it through the first third of the 60-day 2020 Regular Session. The vast majority of bills passed out of the House to date have been strongly bipartisan,…
For this week’s Legislative Update, I’m focusing on 35th District voter voice. In many years of teaching in the Psychology Department at Bellarmine University, I’ve come to believe that the best class sessions are those where…
Activity at the Capitol is continuing to pick up speed as more and more bills are being heard and passed in committees, we’ve begun voting on bills in the House, and the number of advocates…
The 2020 Kentucky General Assembly wrapped up its second week. While the House has yet to vote on any bills, committee agendas are filling quickly, and there’s a buzz in the Capitol Annex as the…
With a long agenda and just 60 days to work through it, my legislative colleagues and I returned to Frankfort on January 7 to begin the 2020 session. Since this is an even-numbered year, our biggest task will…
Quick wrap-up of #kyga19 final session day: Good: Passed tobacco-free schools bill and employer accommodations for pregnant workers. Two important public health wins! Bad: The process was as terrible as ever with bill substitutes and…
Another wild ride in Frankfort this week! But compared to the onslaught of problematic legislation that flew through the House during the week prior, relatively little legislation was voted on this week, and the bills…
I’ve maintained equanimity in my past weeks’ legislative updates, but the dangerous legislation and the hypocrisy on full display in the House this week cannot go ignored or unmentioned. On Wednesday, the House voted to…
This week, the volume of phone messages and emails from voters and advocacy groups increased dramatically. On several bills, I received messages from voters asking me to support, and from others asking me to oppose.…
We were back in full swing this week, with a number of bills moving out of committee and onto the House floor. The committee structure is really important, since that’s where much of the substantive…