Q&A: Daviess County legislators discuss handful of bills to watch at the end of session
The Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Legislative Update Saturday morning. With only two weeks left in the session, several bills have moved between the House and Senate before final decisions are made. Daviess County legislators chimed in on bills that matter most to them.
A link to a reading of each bill is attached.
Senate Bill 2
An Act relating to student safety.
Last Action: Sent to House of Representatives Education Committee on March 7
District 8 Senator Gary Boswell: “My position has been this: if we have schools, that don’t have any SRO officer, whatever we can get, whoever we can get in that school to help protect our children, that’s what I’m going to be in favor of. So yes, I support it.”
Majority Caucus Chair Suzanne Miles: “We haven’t really looked closely at that. I think it was in a bigger perspective on that, Obviously, I’m in support of SROs as far as being in school safety as well. As far as the details on that one I’m going to have to look closely at that one.”
District 13 Representative DJ Johnson: “I haven’t looked at that bill. So I don’t know if I can really comment on that. A general comment, when a Senate bill comes over, until it hits a committee that I’m familiar with, I don’t put a lot of focus on it until it’s time to know.”
Senate Bill 147
An Act relating to adult-oriented businesses and declaring an emergency.
Last Action: Sent to the House of Representatives Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection Committee on March 8.
GB: “I’m in support of that bill, it was amended to take certain language out before we sent it. But yes, I am in support of the bill.”
SM: “I’m aware of this bill. I think there’s one also in the House that’s similar, I don’t think it’s gotten any readings or moved forward at this point. I kind of look at a lot of those issues as local issues. So as far as a statewide [stance] I’m not really sure where we’re going with that. There are a lot of local ordinances, and everyone kind of has their opinions in their communities on what they want to have on those. I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another on that one. I know there has been a little bit of talk, but not a tremendous amount of talk.
DJ: “I’ll just make a general comment. I believe that that issue is a community-level issue. There are different community standards for different communities across the state. When we try to set a one-size-fits-all standard, we generally run into those two words again, unintended consequences. I will say that I support the concept of protecting our children. I think there’s a movement to make children and adults far too early in their lives. I believe that the purpose of that bill is to protect children. So I support that. I’d like to sit done at the community level.”
Senate Bill 20
An Act relating to crimes and punishments.
Last Action: Sent to House of Representatives Committee on Committees on February 15.
GB: I’m strongly in support of that bill. Throughout the state, […] there’s been such an increase in violence involving guns and juveniles. And unfortunately, it’s there’s not a lot of great places to deal with juveniles who use those guns. So typically, what’s been happening if a juvenile commits a gun crime, then we take from under the juvenile ship for a relatively short period of time. It has been a serious problem. It’s maybe not quite as serious in Owensboro, but as we’re looking to solve this problem, we have to look at it from a state perspective.
SM: “I’m not familiar with that bill. I’m sorry.”
DJ: “ I have not seen that bill yet.”
House Bill 10
An Act relating to maternal and child health.
Last Action: Sent to the Senate’s Committee on Committees on March 6
DJ: “I think just a broad comment is that one of the things that we wanted to focus on as a caucus this year was supporting motherhood, supporting the families, that’s been a big priority for us. House Bill 10, in multiple ways does exactly that. It supports families who need help and it supports mothers. So broad brush, it’s not just one issue in that bill. There are several that it covers and that’s a priority for us this year.”
SM: “Maternal health is obviously a big issue. We did pass that in the House, and it’s on its way to the Senate. I don’t know if it’ll change anything in the Senate. It did have some adjustments before it got to the floor involving the mortality rate, and I’ve been very concerned about that. […] The main thing is just trying to get our infant mortality rate and maternal health healthier. Ohio County has a postpartum depression and treatment program over there. So I’m always watching that. […] The bill is so big that they call it the ‘Momnibus’ bill for multiple reasons, including infant mortality and maternal health. Those are the main things that we were focusing on. We’ve got to get our state better in that category.”
GB: “That bill has gotten a lot of support in the House, I’m not sure I want to comment.”
House Bill 2
An Act proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to education funding.
Last Action: Sent to House of Representatives Committee on Committees on January 26
DJ: “House Bill Two provides a constitutional amendment to be placed on the ballot and the sole focus of that is to find out if the people of Kentucky want us to have the option to discuss educational choice. It doesn’t force educational choice. It doesn’t create anything. It’s not funding anything. I would put it this way, right now, the General Assembly is banned from even discussing any educational choice issues. House Bill 2 would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that lets the people tell us, ‘yes or no, do we want to have a conversation about educational choice?’ So I support that I want to know what the people think.”
SM: “House Bill Two is solely, solely a constitutional amendment put it on the ballot in November to give the voters the chance to say if they want the legislators to have the ability, it’s a may, it’s not a shall, to may invest in education outside of the public school system. […] We’re not in a one-room school anymore. We’re not where kids can physically walk to school. We have the Internet. We have transportation options. We have a lot of different things to give the option. We’ve got online schools even through some of our public schools, and just keep in mind we are competing globally now. We are no longer competing within walking distance of our house. We’re in a totally different situation now than we were when the Constitution [was written], so this is solely to put it on the ballot if people want us to consider when the legislators have that policy debate another time.”
GB: “I’m not going to be supporting House Bill 2, but I will be supporting a version of school choice, and that may be what we end up with. We have our own version, and it may come out. They have two bills that were filed on that one and HB208. I think the one that comes out of the House and the one that comes out of the Senate will be a little bit different, but I think it’s the right decision. So I will be supporting House Bill Two if ours doesn’t change the equation.”
House Bill 357
An Act relating to firearms.
Last Action: Second reading to Senate’s Rules.
GB: “The example I use is if you go into Dick’s Sporting Goods, and you buy a product, they could trade you. This bill will stop that, and I am in support of that.”
DJ: “I don’t support that. I think it has an impact on several freedoms. Second Amendment obviously is a concern, but simply not having government involved in your life, I think that’s an overreach. They’re forcing private sector companies to do this; I just think it’s government overreach.”
SM: “I know that he brought it mainly as just an adjustment to things. I hate to say, but it’s not really of huge importance on a financial side. It’s to make sure they’re just as safe so that they can be kind of more in line with what they need to be in other states.”
By Josh Kelly The Owensboro Times