Legislature: The Final Days

Fletcher: lawmakers should avoid special session

Gov. Ernie Fletcher today urged lawmakers to use to their final hours in Frankfort to pass pending bills so he won’t have to call a special legislative session. "Clearly it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers,’’ Fletcher said, speaking to reporters at the Capitol.

Governor, would your Blue Ribbon Commission recommend the special session?

Actuary: Pension plan won't mean big savings

The actuary for the Kentucky retirement systems testified this morning that proposed changes in pension benefits for future state employees would not result in significant savings to the state. "It’s surprising to me that the commonwealth is considering the comprehensive nature of the changes here in a very tight time frame," the actuary, Tom Cavanaugh, said. "It looks like we’re doing an awful lot to gain very little."

Politicians fudging the numbers. I am stunned.

Senate committee votes against secrecy measure

A Senate committee turned back a third attempt today to pass a measure that would make it easier for a handful of leading legislators to effectively change the law without first holding a public debate. Some Republican members of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee went against the recommendation of their leaders and voted against an amendment to House Bill 400 that would have given lawmakers the ability to set aside existing laws and create new laws within the executive branch budget bill, which appropriates billions of dollars once every two years.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Grayson says leadership needed on runoff

Secretary of State Trey Grayson said today that an absence of political leadership has doomed a proposal to either eliminate the gubernatorial runoff or help counties pay for it. He said he points the finger at all elected officials, including himself, for not being able to find a compromise on an issue that almost everyone agrees needs to be fixed. "The voters are the ones who are going to be harmed by it, I don’t care who is to blame," he said during a press conference this afternoon.

Leadership is required. Leadership must state: “Don’t pass this ridiculous proposition.”

Governor signs horse sales bill

Gov. Ernie Fletcher has signed a bill pushed by winemaker and breeder Jess Jackson that is aimed at strengthening horse-sales integrity. House Bill 367 amends a law that requires an agent representing both a buyer and a seller to disclose the position before many sales. The new bill says that an agent’s compensation cannot be enforced in court unless put in.

Governor Fletcher endorsing integrity? Again, stunned.