Government

Confusion and last-minute lobbying have potentially derailed what some Kentucky lawmakers considered the hallmark of the current legislative session.

House Bill 4 is better known as the prescription pill bill. It's centerpiece is the transfer of the KASPER drug tracking system to the attorney general’s office.

Late last week, it appeared lawmakers had struck a last-minute deal to pass the bill before this week's recess. But confusion about which amended version of HB4 was up for a vote mired them in procedural minutiae.

When the top three Republicans in the Tennessee statehouse coalesced behind a plan to cement the state's current selection process for Supreme Court justices into the state constitution, there seemed to be a smooth path ahead for getting the measure before voters in 2014.  Two months later, their proposal has made little progress as some Republican lawmakers have embraced a rival proposal, while others want to allow contested elections to take place.  A proposal is advancing in the Legislature to impose a federal-style system of having the governor make nominations to the high court's bench

A measure that would prohibit Tennessee students from dressing indecently in school is scheduled to be heard on the floor of the House and Senate this evening.  The bill seeks to prohibit students from exposing "underwear or body parts in an indecent manner that disrupts the learning environment."  A stricter version of the proposal failed to pass the Legislature three years ago.

Kentucky lawmakers busted a myth late last week when they reached agreement on a $19 billion state budget without retreating out of public view.  In the past, negotiators have worked out details of the Commonwealth's budget behind closed doors with shades down, hallways roped off and state troopers standing guard.  Negotiators this year allowed Kentucky Educational Television cameras to run throughout the proceedings.

Kentucky lawmakers are unlikely to approve new two-year and six-year road plans in time to override any gubernatorial vetoes.

The conference committee working on the plans did not come to a compromise late last night, significantly decreasing the potential for a deal today.

The plans fund many projects, including the widening of Interstate 65, the expansion of the Mountain Parkway and portions of the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville.