Kentucky Progress

Kentucky milk freedom advances

2012-01-26T15:48:00.000-05:00

The Kentucky Senate Agriculture Committee advanced a bill on Thursday to clarify the freedom of Kentuckians to produce, sell, buy and drink raw milk. Senate Bill 47 came about as the result of an ugly incident in Louisville last May in which local "health" authorities raided a food club and took their fresh milk. The bill has only four sponsors in the Senate. Please contact your Senator and

Going cold turkey off Kentucky crazy checks

2012-01-25T19:26:00.003-05:00

Kentucky is about to make national news big time with a bill that would require a drug test for welfare recipients suspected of abusing illegal drugs. Lonnie Napier's HB 26 now has 55 co-sponsors in the 100 member state House. Florida passed a similar law that was blocked by a federal judge last October because it didn't limit testing to cases in which there is probable cause. A 1999 Michigan

We can agree to cut this, right?

2012-01-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

Kentucky legislators appear to be dragging their feet on clearing up the David Williams pension scandal in Frankfort, perhaps because too many of them are afraid of the Senate President. But what about Steve Nunn? The Kentucky Knows Best PAC stirred up interest in bloated legislative pensions last summer with the news that convicted murderer and former state Rep. Steve Nunn would draw his state

Small victory for free speech

2012-01-24T17:52:00.001-05:00

State Rep. Jim Wayne (D-Louisville) withdrew a public financing of judicial campaigns bill today that would have given participating candidates funds to match independent expenditures made on behalf of an opponent. Particularly during a presidential election year in which hundreds of millions of independent expenditure dollars are sure to be spent, it's interesting to see attempts like this to

Kentucky Medicaid enrollment shocker

2012-01-24T10:10:00.001-05:00

Kentucky's Medicaid/KCHIP enrollment under ObamaCare will increase by 42%, a new Urban Institute study projected. This is significant mostly because Kentucky already can't afford what we spend on Medicaid (14.8% of general fund appropriations in the current budget proposal.) But also, there is this: the Urban Institute, a left-wing think tank supports ObamaCare. The Heritage Foundation, which

How will you protect free speech in Kentucky?

2012-01-23T12:09:00.003-05:00

Theresa Camoriano, a Louisville attorney, understands better than most that we don't appreciate our free speech rights until we notice them being taken away. Mrs. Camoriano has written a legislative bill to ensure that individuals can maintain those rights in the face of a state government growing increasingly hostile toward its citizens who dare to speak out. Her bill would amend KRS 121.015

Everyone wants to co-opt the tea party

2012-01-22T01:25:00.000-05:00

Possibly the greatest political quote in history, from Mahatma Gandhi, applies to the tea party in a big way: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." In the battle between the tea party and the establishment, we are in the thick of phase three. Newt Gingrich just won South Carolina and many of his voters claim to also support tea party principles.

Unbridled "Medicaid Eligibility" foolishness

2012-01-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

Governor Steve Beshear's 2012-2014 budget proposal includes a bonding request of $50 million for a Medicaid Eligibility program to "provide for real-time time determination of applicant eligibility." Aside from the obvious stupidity of spending $50 million for a program to tell if someone is eligible for Medicaid or not, the laundry list of federal agencies involved in the project

Kathy Stein gets her David Williams payday

2012-01-20T14:45:00.001-05:00

Sen. Kathy Stein has been redistricted out of her state Senate seat. Expect her to quickly get appointed to another state job to cash in on the David Williams pension scam. So far, the Kentucky legislature in 2012 has shown no inclination to clean up any part of the pension mess or address the debt problem. Forty eight days remain in the 2012 General Assembly.

Only 8 cosponsors on concealed carry bill

2012-01-19T10:58:00.001-05:00

Kentucky state Rep. Mike Harmon is trying again to restore to Kentuckians the right to carry a concealed firearm without getting a government permit first. The biggest surprise about this bill, filed Wednesday, is that only seven other House Republicans have signed on with Rep. Harmon. Please call your representative and ask him or her to stand up for our Second Amendment rights. In an election

Say no to this "health" nonsense

2012-01-18T22:36:00.001-05:00

Kentucky's House Health and Welfare Committee will take up HB 206 on Thursday. It's a bill that would spend millions of dollars putting health departments across the Commonwealth through a new national accreditation process. Sounds pretty hopey-changey to me. If we need to improve our public health departments, that's fine. But the Public Health Accreditation Board needs to develop a track

Tennessee might beat Kentucky this time

2012-01-18T06:12:00.002-05:00

Tennessee's state Senate leader Ron Ramsey needs to get with Kentucky state Rep. Lonnie Napier before he gets much further with his welfare drug testing proposal. But once Ramsey gets clear on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he appears to really be on to something. Ramsey says he wants to drug test nearly everyone getting any kind of government benefits. The problem with this is

Proliferating pain pill perversity

2012-01-17T22:29:00.001-05:00

A new legislative proposal in Frankfort underscores the need to teach economics more widely in Kentucky. House Bill 251 would cause some health care providers to be prosecuted as felons for accepting cash for their services. The intent is to cut down on overprescribing of pain pills, but at a time that our federal government is moving toward destroying our healthcare system through radical

Beshear sneaking ObamaCare past legislature

2012-01-17T13:07:00.001-05:00

Understanding what is going on with ObamaCare in Kentucky depends on which Steve Beshear you believe. With no chance a state ObamaCare exchange bill could pass even the Democratic-controlled House this year, Beshear's best option is to do nothing and let the law collapse on its own. His administration, when pressed by concerned Kentuckians, insists that is the approach it is taking. But they

Rep. Richard Henderson gets two things right

2012-01-16T17:10:00.002-05:00

This Thursday, January 19, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer starts making good on his campaign promise to restart hemp cultivation in Kentucky with a 3:30 pm press conference to unveil a bill by Rep. Richard Henderson that would make the growing of hemp legal in Kentucky. Misinformed opponents sometimes confuse hemp with marijuana, which is odd since hemp cross-pollinates with marijuana and

Stopping welfare waste starts here

2012-01-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

Kentucky state representative Lonnie Napier has the best bill in the country for drug testing welfare recipients and so far forty six of his fellow House members agree. The bill's forty seven cosponsors (including Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Majority Caucus Chairman Bob Damron) are more than enough to guarantee the bill a floor vote in case Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Tom

Is David Williams Sugar Tax coming back?

2012-01-13T13:21:00.001-05:00

Kentucky Senate President David Williams may be taking another flip on his flip-flopping over the proposed Snot Tax just as a new study could help revive his 2009 call for a tax on sugary drinks. Sugar tax advocates say the federal government could save lives and billions of dollars in public health expenses by levying a penny-per-ounce "user fee" on certain soft drinks. But just three weeks

How to limit Kentucky's debt now

2012-01-12T14:37:00.002-05:00

Kentucky's General Assembly should add to its two proposed constitutional amendments limiting state debt by simply seeking to pass a bill to do the same thing. The two main advantages to this approach are that simple majorities are necessary to pass a bill -- as opposed to super majorities for constitutional amendments -- and that a new law created in this fashion could take effect immediately

Frankfort 2011 debt increase largest in history

2012-01-11T16:29:00.002-05:00

Governor Steve Beshear's administration today finally released details on state finances for fiscal year 2011 showing a net increase in state bonded debt of $908 million, a state record. This figure doesn't include the billion dollar debt owed to the federal government for unemployment benefits or the tens of billions in unfunded public employee benefits. As of June 30, 2011, the end of

Thomas Massie running for Congress

2012-01-10T15:10:00.000-05:00

Lewis County Judge Executive Thomas Massie has officially entered Kentucky's 4th congressional district Republican primary race to replace retiring Rep. Geoff Davis. Massie enters the race with the apparent backing of Sen. Rand Paul to take on establishment pick state Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington and Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore. The most interesting thing about this race at the

Calling all Tea Partiers!

2012-01-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

Kentucky's Senate State and Local Government Committee will take up the issue of a state debt limit Wednesday, January 11, at noon. Now is the time to make your voice heard on this issue. Kentucky has a very serious debt problem. Sticking with the status quo is not an option. Of course, getting this wrong won't work either. If you can, please engage in the process right away by telling your

Kentucky debt limit efforts gain steam

2012-01-09T12:42:00.002-05:00

Kentucky now has two state debt limit bills setting a debt ceiling below its current level and requiring a four-fifths vote of both chambers of the General Assembly to raise it, and only then after an emergency declaration by the Governor. Rep. Mike Harmon's HB 108 would require the limit of appropriation-supported debt service to be set at 5% of General Fund revenues. Senator Joe Bowen's SB 56

Alecia Webb-Edgington picks a side

2012-01-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Roll Call profiled the upcoming Kentucky 4th Congressional District GOP primary with an article that included the following quote: “I am not of the establishment. I am a Republican. And I think I represent all paradigms of the Republican Party,” (state Rep. Alecia) Webb-Edgington said.) In other words, she is an establishment candidate. The Republican party contains people who really want to

Why Kentucky's CAFR matters

2012-01-07T19:37:00.002-05:00

Another week has passed without Kentucky's Finance and Administration Cabinet releasing its 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. State law requires that it should have happened by September 30, 2011. This matters now because it will show clearly that state officials knew what a mess they had made of state finances well before the November elections. We know that from digging through

Will you vote for Steve Beshear's tax reform?

2012-01-06T16:28:00.000-05:00

Governor Steve Beshear's new tax reform commission is supposed to report recommendations by the end of 2012 for action in 2013. Among his key goals for reform is ensuring "adequate revenue to fund critical state services." Bear in mind this is coming from a politician who spent more than $3 billion he didn't have in his first term while claiming he was being fiscally responsible. He boasts