Week 6 of the 2023 Legislative Session
The 2023 Legislative Session is in the home stretch, with only six more days before we enter the veto period. Next week we will be in session Monday through Thursday with two days for the House and Senate chambers to find agreement on any qualifying legislation. Friday, March 17 will begin the 10-day veto period until Tuesday, March 29 for the Governor to consider all legislation lawmakers have sent to his desk.
The session’s week six began to include the House and Senate chambers considering the other’s bills through legislative committees, giving several final passages and sending them to the Governor’s desk.
Bills sent to the Governor for consideration in week six included measures addressing:
· Teacher workforce shortages (Senate Bill 49) and providing professional development opportunities to educators (Senate Bill 70).
· Unemployment insurance (House Bill 146).
· Educational opportunities and workforce challenges (Senate Bill 54).
· Strengthening Kentucky’s rich spirits industry and helping small farm wineries (Senate Bill 28).
Bills and resolutions approved by the Senate in week six and now with the state House of Representatives for consideration include two Department of Juvenile Justice measures.
First, Senate Bill 162 is a legislative package I put together in collaboration with collegues, staff and stakeholders. I outlined the bills provisions in my previous legislative update, but as a reminder, it’s a comprehensive reform of DJJ that, among other things, returns the state to a regional model, focuses on the mental well being of detained youth, address workforce needs, allows retired youth workers to get back into the workforce, opens up professional development opportunities and provides DJJ staff with needed resources to do their jobs and protect themselves and others. In all, over $55 million will be provided to DJJ through this legislation. I appreciate my colleagues’ support of the bill and hope for its swift passage in the state House of Representatives. I also need to give an big shout out to the staff who poured so much effort into making Senate Bill 162 the comprehensive bill it is.
Another DJJ bill is Senate Bill 158, which would officially direct the Kentucky auditor of public accounts office to enter into a contract with a third party to conduct a thorough performance review of DJJ. The measure defines the authority of the third-party entity and the scope of the review and would provide the necessary funding, $500,000, in the current fiscal year, for the audit.
Senate Bills 158 and 162 directly result from the work group efforts. I was proud to be entrusted to serve as co-chair of the work group and am proud of the legislative product we have put together.
Additional Senate bills passed in week six were:
Senate Bill 7 would ensure public sector dollars are not being politically weaponized against many of the taxpayers it exists to serve by engaging in funding political action committees through deductions directly from public employees’ paychecks.
The bill would prohibit taxpayer-funded and public-sector entities from facilitating employee contributions to political action committees without an employee’s written consent. It would disallow public employers from assisting a labor organization or other entity in collecting funds or financial information if the funds are used for political purposes. The bill provides the application of these restrictions if deductions were made under bargaining agreements before the effective date of this bill is not allowed.
Senate Bill 7 carries an emergency designation, which means it would go into effect immediately upon filing with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.
Senate Bill 115 is a simple bill consisting of barely over one page. It would protect children from exposure to sexually explicit performances in the public square. It defines “adult performance” as a sexually explicit performance. This would include a live performance or a performance involving male or female impersonators who provide entertainment to sexually arouse or appeal to sexual desires, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration, which taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. A person would be guilty of engaging in an adult performance when the performance is held on publicly-owned property or in a location where the person knows—or should know—that the adult performance could be viewed by a person under 18. The bill outlines penalties for participants and business owners knowingly exposing minors to sexually explicit performances.
Senate Bill 138 establishes guidelines helping the Education and Professional Standards Board to improve the certification of substitute teachers. The measure will serve to address workforce challenges within school systems. The bill creates three certification categories for substitute teacher applicants after state-required preliminary screenings and background checks.
Senate Bill 145 removes any reference to athletic eligibility, appropriately returning authority to Kentucky High School Athletics Association (KHSAA) regulations. The KHSAA will continue to manage any potential situation of transfer for athletic advantage by those high schoolers who have already played varsity athletics.
Senate Bill 156 is follow-up legislation to the Kentucky General Assembly’s 2022 Read to Succeed Act. It establishes a statewide reading research center as a clearinghouse of research and evidence-based, high-yield instructional practices and coaching strategies. The bill requires the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to issue a Request for Proposal for a reading research center administrator, and reissue it every five years.
An RFP announces a project, describes it, and solicits bids from qualified contractors to complete a job or perform a task. KDE and the reading research center must set annual goals and performance objectives and create a yearly report. Additionally. KDE must make data-driven program and funding recommendations to the legislature, Governor and Interim Joint Committee on Education by October 1 each year. Kentucky school districts would be required to adopt an evidence- and research-based reading program but it would not have to be any particular one.
Senate Bill 202 is a measure to address the increasing challenges related to student behavior our teachers and school administrators are dealing with regularly. The bill provides local school boards more flexibility to place students into alternative learning programs if the student is considered a safety threat or is likely to cause a substantial disruption by allowing an expulsion to expand beyond one year. Students are to be placed—with review by the superintendent and due process for the parent—in an alternative education setting that may include, but is not limited to, a virtual program or academy and may include a performance-based program.
Senate Joint Resolution 101 seeks solutions to make it easier for residents in rural counties to get their instructional permits in light of the state’s transition to regional driver licensing services. The resolution would direct the Kentucky State Police to establish a pilot program of remote testing for instruction permits in counties that do not have a regional driver licensing office. Minimum requirements would have to be met concerning the pilot program, such as requiring regular testing intervals, coordination with local libraries and high schools to have a host location for testing, exploration of technological innovations that could allow someone to oversee remote testing and verify exam results, and coordinating testing schedules with pop-up remote drivers licensing services. KSP would be directed to collect data and pilot program results and report to the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation no later than November 30, 2023.
Watch live legislative activity at KET.org/legislature. You can also track the status of other legislation by calling 866-840-2835, legislative meeting information at 800-633-9650, or leaving a message for lawmakers at 800-372-7181.
If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 502-564-8100 or email me at Danny.Carroll@LRC.ky.gov.