OPINION

As a public defender for 37 years and as a person who has requested common sense, evidenced-based reforms of our criminal legal system, I know House Bill 5 is the wrong direction.  HB 5 is an imprudent policy with an irresponsible expenditure of funds. Lock them up and throw away the key may make people
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Let’s start here: Republicans have an overwhelming supermajority in the Kentucky legislature. We also have a record surplus. If a Republican-sponsored bill is a priority, if leadership wants it, there is nothing to stop them from fully funding and passing that bill. In 2019, the year after the deadly Marshall County High School shooting, our
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A House committee on Tuesday advanced a Senate bill to regulate “sexually explicit” performances hosted in “adult-oriented businesses” which opponents have labeled as “anti drag.”  Members of the House Veterans, Military Affairs & Public Protection Committee voted to approve the latest version of Senate Bill 147, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield. The Senate passed
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In late February, energy legislation (SB 349) that’s been promised from Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, arrived on the last day for bills to be introduced. Discussing the measure on the Senate floor last week, supporters emphasized the legislation’s commitment to an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. It’s a talking point many might buy — unless they
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We expect, as a commonwealth, that when lawmakers propose to make activity criminal, that they choose their words carefully.  We also expect that government will take action to assure that our food supply is safe, and that workers in the workplace will not be exposed to hazards due to employer negligence. Yet pending before the
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During the current legislative session, the budget that finally emerges will be the result of some compromise and a good deal more behind-the-scenes action. The Republican majority paid scant attention to the Democratic governor’s recommendations. Some observers have argued that having a Republican governor at this time would have better served the state given that
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For many years, Kentucky’s three-person, non-partisan Public Service Commission (PSC) has presided over Kentucky’s investor-owned and co-operative electric utilities. It has been guided by two principles — that utilities should meet the energy needs of residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers using the reasonable least-cost alternative. And that those utilities, for the privilege of having
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FRANKFORT — Remember when Republican lawmakers —  spurred on by the Chamber of Commerce — put Kentucky on the sober, responsible path to ending the state income tax? We were assured this route would protect Kentucky from becoming another Kansas. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s “pro-growth” tax cuts had put the Sunflower State into an economic
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According to research gathered by Sandy Hook Promise, “An estimated 4.6 million American children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked. These improperly stored weapons have contributed to school shootings, suicides and the deaths of family members, including infants and toddlers.” Senate Bill 56 — sponsored by Sen. Gerald Neal, requiring…

FRANKFORT — Four years ago to the day that Kentucky reported its first official case of COVID-19, Kandie Adkinson rang a singular bell in the Rotunda, its chime echoing through the Capitol.  ‘Flying blind:’ A Kentucky COVID-19 pandemic retrospective  She did this to honor those lost to COVID-19, just as she did during much of
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