Beech Tree News Network

The Kentucky House stood together this week to honor one of its own, who guided Kentucky’s response to HIV and AIDS education, testing, and patient rights from the late 1980s to the present day.

The occasion was marked by House Resolution 98, which details how the honoree--the late Kentucky House Budget Review Subcommittee on Human Resources Chair and longtime state lawmaker Representative Paul Mason of Letcher County--worked tirelessly to educate Kentuckians about HIV and AIDS; effectively improving the way HIV and AIDS patients are treated in both medical settings and in everyday life.

Mason had a personal connection to the AIDS issue:  his daughter, AIDS crusader and patient Belinda Mason, contracted HIV after receiving a blood transfusion in 1987.  She would eventually die from the disease in 1991, but as the resolution states, “…her legacy and her father’s as fearless advocates transformed the way the disease is perceived, understood, and treated in the Commonwealth and in the country.”  Belinda was a good friend and her death was a great loss to all who knew her.

Those of us in the House of Representatives, who served with Paul Mason and benefited from his and Belinda’s advocacy as workers in the health care field, will never forget his dedication and his powerful voice for those who are sick or poor.  He was certainly one of “the good ones,” as they say.

On the floor of the House and Senate, several bills made it through floor votes this week including House Bill 1, which proposes a gradual increase in the state’s minimum wage.

Among other House bill headed to the Senate this week are:

 ·         House Bill 189, which cleared the House 99-0, and would clarify that the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs has administrative power over the state’s veterans’ program trust fund and the authority to regulate the fund.

 
·         House Bill 138 would require the state to offer its workers a health flexible spending account (in addition to any fully insured health benefit plans or self-insured plans) as of January 2015.  The bill also passed the House with a 99-0 vote.

 
·         House Bill 157 would require the State Board of Medical Licensure to include in its continuing medical education requirements training on the recognition and prevention of pediatric abusive head trauma for pediatricians, radiologists, family practitioners, and emergency medicine and urgent care physicians.  The requirement would call for a one-time course of at least an hour.  Current practitioners would have to complete the course prior to the end of calendar year 2017, while future licensees would have to complete the course within five years of licensure.  This measure also cleared with a vote of 99-0.

 
On the education front:  the House Education Committee passed a bill this week that its supporters say could potentially help as many as 800 to 1,000 students from the state’s coal regions who have already earned some college credit to complete four-year degrees at home by expanding and making permanent the “Kentucky Coal County College Completion Scholarship Program” implemented by the Executive Branch in 2012.
 
Should it become law, the legislation--House Bill 2, as now written--would offer scholarships funded with coal severance tax dollars and other sources.  State General Fund dollars would be not used, according to the bill.  House Bill 2 would also create “student services grants” of no more than $150,000 per institution, per year, for Kentucky’s community and technical colleges in the coal regions.  More action on the bill is expected in the House in coming days.

 
I would again ask that you “stay tuned” to all legislative action of interest to you throughout the 2014 Regular Session by logging onto the Legislative Research Commission website at www.lrc.ky.gov or by calling the LRC toll-free Bill Status Line at 866-840-2835.  For committee meeting schedules, please call the LRC toll-free Meeting Information Line at 800-633-9650, or, to comment on a bill, please call the toll-free Legislative Message Line at 800-372-7181.