20 Bills That Rural Kentuckians Should Watch This Legislative Session
A handful of pre-filed bills—good and bad—that are worth keeping an eye on.
The calendar has flipped over to another year—welcome, 2022!—and as the confetti gets swept away from our (hopefully limited) New Year’s Eve gatherings and we trudge forth into the thick of another COVID winter as a state, it’s also time for the people elected to represent our best interests (ahem) to gather and tinker with the laws that impact us all.
For better or worse, the legislative session begins today.
With an Omicron surge, school closings and widespread flooding already swirling around us since January 1, there’s quite a bit riding on this session. For starters, there’s the whole redistricting kerfuffle. As I’ve written about before, legislators hunkered down in private—no public input requested!—over the past few months to redraw the legislative maps that we’ll have to live with for a decade, only revealing a portion of them on December 30. With the rest of their (apparently top-secret) redistricting plans still in the wind and the candidate filing deadline quickly approaching on Friday, this harried, shove-it-through method for something so critical for constituents isn’t a great bellwether for the Republican Super Majority’s overall approach to legislating this session.
As the din of chattering lobbyists and click-clacking of high-heeled shoes on marble floors returns to the Capitol, we’ve combed through the pre-filed bills for this session and earmarked 20 worth tracking. These don’t include any that are COVID-adjacent (I’m assuming those will get plenty of digital ink spilled about them elsewhere) but instead focus on pieces of potential legislation that might fly under-the-radar but deserve to be watched—particularly by rural Kentuckians.
(Interior of the dome at the Kentucky Capitol, Getty Images)
Bill Request 53
What It Is: Establishing an “Urgent Need Insulin Program” and a “Continuing Access to Insulin Program” in the state.
Why We’re Watching It: It’s no secret that Kentucky—and, in particular, rural Kentucky—has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country, with almost 1 out of every 10 Kentuckians impacted by the disease, according to the CDC. The cap on insulin prices that just went into effect on January 1 is a major, critical turning point, and Bill Request 53 would take efforts a step further, creating a new program focused on establishing clearer pathways for individuals to access and afford insulin.
Bill Requests 60 and 69
What It Is: A couple of bills that will limit the teaching of actual facts and history to Kentucky students.
Why We’re Watching It: These similar pre-filed bills are, essentially, anti-Critical Race Theory: an attempt to “require a local board of education…to ensure that no public school…offers any classroom instruction or discussion that incorporates designated concepts related to race, sex and religion.” It’s a terrible turn for Kentucky’s students if one of these passes, and the punitive nature of Bill Request 60, in particular, is jarring. Teachers could be find $5,000 daily (!) if they continue to teach about, say, bell hooks, and the state would be required to deduct funds from the district’s coffers. The bleakest pre-filed bill.
Fortunately, there are a few potential pieces of legislation to counterbalance these efforts like BR 427—which would “require public middle and high school curriculum to include instruction on the history of racism” and BR 853 which would “require Native American history instruction in certain middle and high school United States history courses.”
Bill Request 153
What It Is: An attempt to add protections for (potential) tenants.
Why We’re Watching It: There’s no doubt rural Kentucky is in the middle of a housing crisis, which puts potential renters in a difficult position when looking for a place to live. Rep. Reggie Thomas’ pre-filed bill would add some much needed protections for potential tenants going through the painstaking dance of trying-to-rent-an-apartment, including prohibiting landlords from charging screening fees without notice to the applicant and disallowing landlords from considering an applicant’s arrests and criminal charges.
Bill Requests 254, 255, 256, 257 and 372
What It Is: A quintet of bills aimed to combat the maternal health crisis.
Why We’re Watching It: The bulk of Appalachian Kentucky is a maternal health desert and, as I’ve written about several times, it’s increasingly difficult to be a pregnant person in the region. These five bills—four of which were drafted by Rep. Attica Scott and a fifth by Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson—address everything from Medicaid coverage for doula services; to testing and treatment of hepatitis C in pregnant women; to requiring the Department for Public Health to track data on maternal death and severe morbidity. I’ll let you peruse all these excellent ideas at your leisure.
Last session, a group of bills known as the Maternal CARE Act found little traction among the male-dominated legislature. Let’s hope our elected leaders show a little bit more concern about birthing people this time around.
Bill Request 306
What It Is: An effort to expand voting hours.
Why We’re Watching It: Compared to other states, Kentucky’s voting window on Election Day is alarmingly short, ending at 6 p.m. instead of the 7:30 p.m. cut-off in neighboring states like Ohio and West Virginia. This piece of legislation would push the ending voting hour back to 7 p.m., allowing more time for working folks to get to the polls. (Keep a watch on which legislators want to block this…)
Another election-related pre-filed bill to keep an eye on is BR 307, which would eliminate the option of “straight ticket” voting for one party or another.
Bill Request 1044
What It Is: Removing income tax requirements for active-duty police officers.
Why We’re Watching It: This pre-filed bill would mean currently employed-and-working cops don’t have to pay income taxes. Period. Unclear on the reasoning behind it, but it seems completely unnecessary when professions like healthcare workers are in the trenches battling a COVID surge everyday and still have to pay income taxes. Just saying.
Bill Request 955
What It Is: An attempt to further regulate—and thus engrain—cryptocurrency and crypto-mining into the Kentucky economy.
Why We’re Watching It: Rural Kentuckians, be on the lookout: outside investors are land-grabbing left and right across the state with plans to build cryptocurrency mining operations right in your backyard. Due in part to the relatively inexpensive land and energy costs in the state, Kentucky is already one of the top four Bitcoin mining hubs in the country (!) with a hash rate of 18.7 percent, and tax incentives signed into law last summer that encourage crypto-mining operations to set up shop here have led companies like Blockware and the recently-formed Biofuel Mining to announce major investments in the state, including in Martin County.
The problem? Crypto-mining is terrible for the environment and disruptive to communities with the promise of few, if any, related local jobs. If you’re unfamiliar with crypto-mining and its various negative impacts, this Southerly story about a group of North Carolina moms that pushed back against a Bitcoin mining operation is a great place to start.
Eastern Kentucky’s own Sen. Brandon Smith—who represents Bell, Breathitt, Johnson, Leslie, Magoffin and Perry Counties—is a key player in Biofuel Mining and also sponsor of Bill Request 955, which would work to ensure the state (and potentially even banks!) could regulate and profit from individual cryptocurrency holdings and sales.
Bill Request 319
What It Is: A bill about claim requirements related to black lung (and beyond).
Why We’re Watching It: In case you didn’t know—which I didn’t—in order to reopen a claim about occupational pneumoconiosis (read: black lung, etc.) an employee “previously diagnosed with occupational pneumoconiosis resulting from exposure to coal dust must have an additional two years of employment in the commonwealth wherein the employee was continuously exposed to the hazards of the disease in order to reopen a claim.” Um, what? This pre-filed bill would remove this requirement.
Rep. Ashley Tackett Lafferty, who represents Floyd County and part of Pike County, also has a pre-filed bill (BR 321) that would create a scholarship fund specifically for paramedics and aspiring paramedics in coal counties. Seems like a good idea!
(Kentucky State Senate Chambers, Getty Images)
Bill Request 322
What It Is: *chanting* UBI, UBI, UBI!
Why We’re Watching It: BR 322 seeks to “establish a universal basic income of $1,000 per month payable…to any eligible recipient unless his or her reported gross income exceeds 100 percent of the median per capita income for his or her county of residence.” The pre-filed bill goes on to include important provisions around the potential UBI, like that it won’t be taxable income and won’t count against individuals when applying for additional public assistance. Given the current climate in Frankfort, there’s only a slim chance the bill will even be heard in committee, which is a shame because it could make a world of difference for plenty of rural Kentuckians.
Here’s a good read from TIME about the 20+ UBI pilot programs happening in different cities right now, if you’d like to learn more about it.
Bill Request 91
What It Is: *bullhorn* Increase the minimum wage!
Why We’re Watching It: Coming off the heels of several successful Fight for $15 efforts across the country last year, BR 91 seeks to raise the minimum wage to $12/hour for small businesses and $15/hour for large businesses in Kentucky with room for towns to set their own local minimum wage even higher. While it’s true that, accounting for inflation and the general rise in cost of everyday goods, $15 is only scraping by now as a living wage, it’s a big improvement over the current going rate.
Bill Request 910
What It Is: Legislation that would ban corporal punishment in schools.
Why We’re Watching It: It’s beyond disturbing that corporal punishment—defined as “the deliberate infliction of physical pain by any means upon any part of a student’s body as a penalty or punishment for student misbehavior”—is still allowed in classrooms across Kentucky. (We’re one of only 19 states to still permit it.) This bill would “remove corporal punishment as a form of discipline in a school” and stop school district employees from engaging in it.
Bill Request 911
What It Is: A pre-filed bill calling for expanded preschool eligibility.
Why We’re Watching It: BR 911 would “expand eligibility for preschool education programs to children who reside in households with an income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.” Until universal pre-K makes its way to Kentucky, this is a step in the right direction.
Bill Request 984
What It Is: A whole bunch of regulations regarding constables.
Why We’re Watching It: Constables wield quite a bit of power across rural Kentucky, but as we’ve seen in recent years, that influence often goes largely unchecked, leading to some serious abuses of power. This bill is a pretty mixed bag of some good recommendations—like actual training for constables, which isn’t required now—and some that might unnecessarily inflate their community position even more. It deserves to be watched closely as it moves through the chambers.
Bill Request 142
What It Is: A sales tax exemption for feminine hygiene products.
Why We’re Watching It: The average woman spends $6,360 on menstrual products over the course of her reproductive lifetime, and it’s a non-negotiable monthly expense. BR 142 eases the burden a bit by removing sales tax from these necessary items, which can really add up for women living on a limited or fixed income.
Bill Request 208
What It Is: A sales and use tax exemption for firearms and ammunition.
Why We’re Watching It: Who, exactly, is served by removing sales and use tax from the purchase of firearms and ammunition? I’m curious to see how this bill progresses and the rationale made in favor of spending time on it when there are much more pressing issues facing Kentuckians.
We’ll be back Thursday for *paid subscribers only* with another handful of bills worth watching. If you aren’t subscribed yet, now’s a great time to make that happen:
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out that, over the weekend, the New York Times parachuted in to write yet another savior-complex story about our region, this time featuring former state auditor Adam Edelen’s efforts to build a large-scale solar farm on a reclaimed mine site in Martin County.
Solar is a good move, if done correctly, but these jumping-the-gun stories about an outsider swooping in to “help” the region before the first solar panel has even been installed flies in the face of the collective, community-based, ground-up approach to economic development that should be the bedrock of Just Transition in eastern Kentucky. It won’t even bring more than a handful of long-term, full-time jobs! Lora Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, outlines similar concerns in this thread:
Plus, if you do even a little bit of digging around on this, you’ll find that the company Edelen has partnered with on the solar project, Savion, was actually acquired by Shell in December, bringing the extraction economy once again to Martin County—just in a different form.
Oh, and NYT, if someone tells you something is off-the-record, it’s important to keep it that way: not doing so hurts the credibility of all journalists, particularly in rural areas.
