The Kentucky General Assembly was back in session this week and for the first time, Republicans were in charge of the House, Senate and the governor’s office.
The party rushed to approve policies long blocked by Democrats in the legislature, including substantial bills dealing with abortion, labor unions and the University of Louisville’s governance. Capitol reporter Ryland Barton has a rundown of the week’s events on this week’s episode of Kentucky Politics Distilled.
Now, it’s not just the House rushing bills the governor’s desk, the Senate is too—they’ve had a Republican majority in the chamber since 2000 and have consistently passed conservative legislation that was stymied in the House when it was controlled by Democrats.
Chief among those bills is so-called ‘right-to-work’ —which would ban the mandatory collection of union dues.
“We want in, we want in, we want in”
On Wednesday, Hundreds of union activists swarmed the Capitol Annex to participate in a committee hearing on the bill, but they got shut out of the meeting.
Gov. Matt Bevin gave his pitch for the right-to-work measure as protestors banged on the walls outside.
“It’s important and it’s right, ‘working people matter’ but it’s important to understand what are working people? Working people are people who have jobs, frankly. And what we want is an opportunity for people to actually have employment.”
It takes at least five business days for the legislature to pass a bill into law and Republicans made it a point try and get their top priorities as quickly as possible, despite complaints from Democrats and those opposed to the policies.
On the House Floor Thursday, Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, a Democrat from Sandy Hook criticized Republicans for speeding bills through the process with limited discussion.
“I don’t get it. I mean are we going home to say ‘oh look what we done, we went to Frankfort and boy we got it all done. This is a mockery of the system. This is as mockery. Yeah, we done some things when I sat over there but I tell you, but we didn’t do this.”
To be fair, Democrats rushed bills when they ran the House, too, but it usually happened at the end of session when they were up against a deadline.
Republicans quickly advanced two anti-abortion bills that some have speculated could be challenged in courts. One would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Tamara Wieder with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky says the bill is more restrictive than the Supreme Court has yet allowed.
“Viability is the point in which a fetus can survive outside of the womb. Medical experts say this is around 24 weeks and Roe V Wade has affirmed a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion up to this point.”
The bill would set up a legal trust fund for the state to defend the policy if it becomes law. Several other states have passed similar laws, most recently Ohio. If challenged in court, these laws could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court—which will likely become more conservative under President-elect Trump.
Finally, the legislature advanced a bill that reorganize the University of Louisville board of trustees—much like Gov. Bevin tried to do over the summer.
Bevin’s move was blocked by a trial court and is currently on appeal. Meanwhile the organization that accredits the school put it on probation—citing undue political influence.
Senate President Robert Stivers says the legislature can fix the problem because it has absolute power to reorganize the board…and will go ahead and do pretty much what Bevin tried to do.
“Let’s take the chalkboard and wipe it clean. No pointing of fingers or anything else.”
UofL student and faculty representatives say they're worried the bill would continue the school’s accreditation issues because trustees would still be removed without cause. Meanwhile, the university awaits specific instruction from the accrediting agency as to how it can remedy the issues.
That’s it for this week’s distilled rundown of the news out of Frankfort. For the Kentucky Public Radio Network, I’m Ryland Barton.
