FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – The second year of Republican rule in Kentucky begins this week as lawmakers return to Frankfort for a 60-day legislative session.
Republicans used their first year in power to pass dozens of laws that had been blocked for decades by Democrats. Those laws place restrictions on abortions and labor unions, allow charter schools and call for creation of a panel of doctors to review medical malpractice cases before they go to trial.
But that was the easy stuff.
In year two, Republicans will have to write a budget for the first time in an election year while mulling changes to a public pension system that covers hundreds of thousands of workers- most of whom vote.