Your Legislators In Action

And now let’s take another look at some of the legislation in this session of the General Assembly.

First up David Boswell is leading the charge for casinos in Kentucky. If you want to aid the horse industry or provide a reliable revenue stream for state government there are better ways to do it.

SB 16 (BR 2) - D. Boswell
AN ACT proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky and amend Section 226 of the Constitution of Kentucky, relating to casinos.

SB 17/LM/CI (BR 3) - D. Boswell
AN ACT relating to gaming and making an appropriation therefore.

Banker Mike Denham wants to make life easier for, guess who, bankers.

HB 83 (BR 360) - M. Denham
AN ACT relating to fiduciaries. Amend KRS 395.610, regarding periodic accounting by fiduciaries, to require testamentary trustees to render accountings; exempt banks and trust companies.

HB 84 (BR 380) - M. Denham
AN ACT relating to crimes and punishments. Amend KRS 439.3401 to include robbery in the second degree within the violent offender statute if the victim is a bank or credit union.

Damon Thayer has a need to kiss up to the biggest industrial operation in his district.

SR 5 (BR 324) - D. Thayer Commend Toyota Hybrid Team for hybrid Camry assembly pilot production.

Dick Roeding thinks you need to know where the cheapest booze is at all times.

SB 29 (BR 398) - R. Roeding
AN ACT relating to alcoholic beverages. Amend KRS 244.130 to exempt promotional advertising mailed or delivered to a customer's residence from the prohibition against advertising alcoholic beverages.

Sometimes I have absolutely no idea why we need a certain law. The one from Mike Cherry falls in this category.

HB 95 (BR 164) - M. Cherry
AN ACT relating to the school calendar. Amend KRS 158.070 to prohibit a school district from establishing the first instructional day in a school term before the fourth Monday in August.

I never cease to be amazed at the need of some legislators to insert government into the private lives of citizens. Do J. R. Gray and Joe Fischer really think this law is going to stem the tide of divorces in the Commonwealth?

HB 110/LM (BR 409) - J. Gray, J. Fischer
AN ACT relating to marriage. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 402 to provide the option for couples to enter into a covenant marriage; provide that a couple may designate a covenant marriage when applying for a marriage license or after marriage; require authorized counseling before entering a covenant marriage; define "authorized counseling"; establish the procedure for declaring a covenant marriage; require marriage license and certificate to indicate if the marriage is a covenant marriage; provide limited grounds for dissolution, legal separation, or divorce from bed and board, including a requirement of authorized counseling before divorce in a covenant marriage; require the Human Resources Coordinating Commission of Kentucky to develop an informational pamphlet regarding covenant marriage; amend KRS 402.100, 402.230, 403.025, 403.044, 403.110, 403.140, 403.150, and 403.170 to conform.

A couple of good pieces of legislation I would like to see passed. First up, Reginald Meeks has this resolution. I would like to see a little more teeth when it comes to where Kentucky state government invests its’ money.

HCR 16 (BR 421) - R. Meeks Urge the United States Congress to pressure Sudan to end Darfur atrocities; urge SEC to issue guidance to investors, including state pension plans, to enable the investors to identify companies which may be supporting terror.

Second, since I took Joe Fischer to task for HB 110 let me say he has a good idea here. I’m always in favor of anything that will increase the transparency of government.

HB 159 (BR 444) - J. Fischer
AN ACT relating to accounting for the expenditure of state funds. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 42 to require the development of a Web site to provide public access to most state expenditures; create a new section of KRS Chapter 48 to require the preparation of a Tax Expenditure Report; amend KRS 131.190 to authorize the Department of Revenue to provide necessary information.

Then we always have the absolutely essential legislation of naming some thing the official state whatever. Looks like we need an official orchestra.

HB 173 (BR 244) - R. Meeks, J. Jenkins, K. Bratcher, S. Brinkman, L. Clark, R. Crimm, B. DeWeese, T. Firkins, M. Marzian, C. Miller, D. Osborne, D. Owens, S. Riggs, T. Riner, J. Wayne, R. Weston
AN ACT relating to the designation of the Louisville Orchestra as the official state orchestra. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 2 to designate the Louisville Orchestra as the official state orchestra.

And finally we have former Democrat and Former Republican Bob Leeper’s self serving piece of legislation. Although even if Bob is looking out for number one this might not be a bad idea. What’s the worst that could happen? That hour I stood in line to vote in November could be two or three hours. Of course, this has as much chance of being passed as hell freezing over.

SB 53 (BR 344) - R. Leeper
AN ACT relating to elections. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 117 to prohibit straight party voting; amend KRS 117.125 to conform.

KRS Staff Get $2.9 Million Salary Increase

Buried on page 64 of the 160 page of the Kentucky Retirement System’s 2006 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is this little gem.

Salaries and Per Diem went from $10,139,000.00 to $13,041.000.00. That’s about a 30% increase folks. At the same time total operation expenses increased $7,186,000.00, so nearly 3 million of the 7 million in operating expenses was salaries.

So let’s do a little basic math:

The total increase in salaries was: $2,902.000.00
The total number of employees was: 245

Assuming that everyone got the same raise, and we all know the lowest paid clerk got the same raise as Executive Director Bill Hanes, then every employee at Kentucky Retirement Systems got an $11,844.90 raise last year.

Now I don’t know what the average raise was in state government for the same time period, but I would guess that it was a lot less than $11,844.90 and same goes for the checks of retired state employees.

And while we are talking about salary increases I’d really like to know what the 2004 legislature meant by “bonus payment”?

This is from the actuarial cost analysis of House Bill 519 in the 2004 Session of the General Assembly

“Section 7: KRS 61.510(13) is amended to clarify the treatment of bonus payments under the definition of “Creditable compensation.”

Does this mean that Bill Hanes and crew get bonus payments, and if so, for what? Doing their job?

But I guess you can get away with kind of fuzzy accounting when you run your own personnel system and everyone, particularly the legislature, abdicates any responsibility for maintaining checks and balances.