Legislating Bigotry

Last night I received this comment in an email.

“Stan Lee is very proud to be a bigot and will prove it during this session. Today in Judiciary his bill to allow local law enforcement officers to arrest Hispanics if they cannot prove that they are legally in the U.S. was defeated, but only after his vitriol amazed everyone in the room.

He has filed three other nasty bills aimed at marginalizing and stigmatizing Hispanics even more.”

Here is the bill Lee filed:

HB 115/LM/CI (BR 853) - S. Lee AN ACT relating to crimes and punishments. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to authorize certified peace officers to enforce U. S. immigration laws and prohibit police agencies from prohibiting their officers from doing so.

Here are the other three bills he filed:

HB 26 (BR 170) - S. Lee, J. Bowen AN ACT relating to postsecondary education. Amend KRS 164.020 to require that the minimum qualifications for admission to a public postsecondary institution shall require a person to be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident, or meet other specified requirements; amend KRS 164.518 to require status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to be eligible for an early childhood education scholarship; amend KRS 164.753 to require status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to be eligible for postsecondary grants and scholarships administered by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA); amend KRS 164.7535 to require status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to be eligible for College Access Program grants; amend KRS 164.769 to make U.S. nationals and permanent residents eligible for the Teacher Scholarship Program; amend KRS 164.785 to require status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to be eligible for the Kentucky Tuition Grant program; amend KRS 164.7874 to clarify language requiring status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to be eligible for the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program; amend KRS 164.7885 to require a participating institution to verify to KHEAA the student's status as a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident for the purposes of implementing the KEES program; and amend KRS 164.7891 to make U.S. nationals and permanent residents eligible for the Osteopathic Medicine Scholarship program.

HB 39 (BR 191) - S. Lee, J. Bowen, R. Crimm, R. Mobley AN ACT relating to postsecondary education tuition. Amend KRS 164.020 to direct the Council on Postsecondary Education to require a student who pays in-state tuition to prove legal residency in Kentucky and the United States of America.

HB 150 (BR 47) - R. Nelson, S. Lee AN ACT relating to employment of illegal aliens. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 337 to prohibit an employer from hiring illegal aliens; amend KRS 337.990 to impose a penalty of $5,000 for each violation.

I’m not going to comment on whether Lee is a bigot or not, but he is a member of the general assembly. Therefore any law he gets passed must have the support of members of the General Assembly. Unfortunately the primary motivator for most legislators is their own self interest.

Lee, along with Jim DeCesare, also appears to be the point man carrying Governor Ernie Fletcher’s union busting legislation that is aimed at reducing the pay check for Kentucky’s workers. This would lead me to believe that the Republican Party is standing behind Lee and his ideas.

Our Number One Economic obstacle is “Employee Choice” (aka, right-to-work).
-- Ernie Fletcher

HB 38/LM/CI (BR 199) - S. Lee, J. DeCesare AN ACT relating to contracts. Amend KRS 336.130 to prohibit mandatory membership or financial support of a labor organization as a condition of employment, and to name this Act as the "Kentucky Right to Work Act"; amend KRS 336.180 to conform; amend KRS 336.990 to make a violation of this Act a Class D felony, award damages, and provide injunctive relief; create a new section to exempt existing contracts or agreements; and amend KRS 67A.6904, KRS 67C.406, KRS 70.262, KRS 78.470, KRS 78.480, and KRS 345.050 to conform.

Lee also wants the state to be the final arbiter of civil rights. What this means is that if a community seeks to extend greater civil protections to a segment of that community, such as women, senior citizens, Afro-Americans, Hispanics, Gay’s, the state can over ride those laws.

HB 215/LM (BR 1078) - J. Fischer, S. Lee AN ACT to promote the uniform application of civil rights law in the Commonwealth. Amend KRS 344.020, 344.190, and 344.320, and repeal and reenact KRS 344.300, relating to the Commonwealth's civil rights laws, to provide that the Commonwealth has occupied the field of civil rights law and that local laws on the subject are prohibited.

Lee’s and the Republican Party agenda seems to be pretty clear; to pass legislation that codifies a class structure and ensures a low paid, uneducated worker class.

But let us remember that Stan Lee must be elected to put forth these laws and that the voters of his district must view this agenda as desirable.

He must also find like minded legislators to help him with this agenda. So the question of whether Stan Lee is a bigot or not is really not important. Any single legislator is not that important.

The question that is important is whether the Kentucky General Assembly will be allowed to minimize segments of our society by legislating bigotry.