Week 5 of the 2022 Legislative Session
The fifth week of the 2022 legislative session concluded with inclement weather moving into the commonwealth on Thursday. I hope you and your loved ones were not adversely impacted and remained safe and warm.
The Senate has officially begun the thorough process of reviewing the Governor and state House of Representatives’ budget proposals. I will keep you informed on significant budget developments from the Senate in the weeks ahead.
Legislative measures passing in the Senate in week five included:
Senate Bill (SB) 94, which I am the primary sponsor of, expands the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarships (WRKS) to Kentucky students with special needs. It provides greater opportunities to capable Kentuckians and also addresses workforce needs. The bill helps those Kentuckians who have not yet earned an associates degree afford an industry-recognized certificate or diploma that is currently only available to college students and high school students enrolled in college coursework.
As a former law enforcement officer, I was happy to vote in favor of SB 64. It allows public safety agencies to establish a peer support counseling program. This enables those within the same field to use personal experiences to help colleagues deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. The bill will include emergency dispatchers, often the first line of communication for individuals in crisis, distress, or trauma, and other first responders.
Last summer, SB 64 was filed after emotional testimony heard in the Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare and Family Services. Emergency dispatchers spoke on the mental anguish they suffer from supporting others during times of high stress and trauma and detailed the lack of mental health support for those in their profession.
SB 8 is one of the most consequential bills passed during the 2022 Regular Session. It was initially filed during Child Advocacy Week, then made its way to the Senate floor this week.
Kentucky has led the nation three years in a row in child abuse and neglect rates. The passage of SB 8 in the Senate comes after the Kentucky Center for Investigative Journalism shone light on the backlog of cases regarding suspicious child deaths.
This bill expands the opportunity for family preservation services to keep children safe and families united and provide additional resources and support for Kentucky’s child advocacy centers. It broadens the scope and membership of the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board to include all forms of child abuse and neglect. One of the bill’s most critical facets distinguishes poverty and neglect. Lastly, it updates the Foster Youth Bill of Rights by enabling those aging out of foster care to maintain access to resources while transitioning into adult life.
SB 23 updates Kentucky’s mail theft statute, which currently only covers mail packages delivered by the United States Postal Service. If enacted, the bill will put packages delivered by common carriers such as UPS and FedEx under that same legal umbrella, making ‘porch pirates’ susceptible to more significant criminal charges.
SB 32 relates to the Judicial Form Retirement System, the state judicial and legislative retirement system, and follows recommendations from the Public Pension Oversight Board. It changes the method for reducing unfunded liabilities, making the plan more financially sound, and including administrative expenses to manage the program. This bill has no impact on the system’s funding or benefits.
SB 60 maximizes education funds and services for as many at-risk four-year-olds as possible by making the commissioner of education a mediator between school district superintendents and local Head Start directors to determine when a local Head Start program has maximized the number of children it can serve. Determination of the full utilization of a local Head Start program is needed for a local school district certifying preschool programs and receiving grant funding to support them.
SB 61 was a cleanup bill that enjoyed unanimous support. It modernizes statutory requirements for early high school graduation by eliminating the need for benchmarks on end-of-course exams references to scoring benchmarks on the ACT. It also updates early high school graduation requirements and future revisions to be established through administrative regulations made by the Kentucky Board of Education.
SB 66, also known as ‘Nathan’s Law,’ takes the necessary step to give greater consideration to the grieving process of families by implementing requirements on how the news of a loved one’s death must be delivered. Within three years of assuming office, coroners and deputy coroners must complete a minimum four-hour course that includes instruction of the grieving process and best practices for providing death notice to a spouse or next of kin. The bill also stipulates that news of the death must be delivered verbally and respectfully and requires a follow-up with the family member within 48 hours. Additionally, the bill would require emergency responders to be on standby.
SB 96 adds the Bowling Green police chief to the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council. Bowling Green is the third-largest city in the state. This addition better represents the communities in the west half of the commonwealth.
The state House of Representatives can now consider these bills.
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Note: Senator Danny Carroll (R-Benton) represents the 2nd District, which includes Ballard, Carlisle, Livingston, Marshall, and McCracken counties. Sen. Carroll is chair of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary, vice-chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary, and co-chair of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee. He also serves as a member of Senate Standing Committees on Health and Welfare; Education; Appropriations and Revenue, and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Human Resources. Sen. Carroll’s additional committee memberships include the 2022-2024 Budget Preparation and Submission Subcommittee and the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee.