Beech Tree News Network

After weeks of anticipation and months of discussions and meetings with stakeholders, the Kentucky Senate Majority Caucus filed its comprehensive pension reform bill as Senate Bill (SB) 1 on Tuesday, February 20. While SB 1 marked the filing of one of the most significant pieces of legislation of the 2018 Session, we continued to hold committee meetings and voted bills out of the Senate chamber, making for another busy week in Frankfort.

One of the first pieces of legislation we passed this week was Senate Resolution 149, which recognizes the role the hospitality industry can play in disrupting child sex trafficking and encouraging residents, employees, and agencies to use hotels and venues which are signatories of the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, known as The Code. The Code is a voluntary multi-stakeholder initiative with the mission to provide awareness, tools, and support to the tourism industry to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.

Senate Bill 109 would amend current law to expand the legal definition of sexual intercourse for the crimes of rape and sodomy. Supporters said it would ensure the sexual acts former U.S.A. Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar committed in Michigan would be considered rape under Kentucky law. SB 109 passed by a 36-0 vote. It now goes to the House for further consideration.

SB 109 was passed on the same day Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to file a police complaint against Nassar, was honored on the Senate floor with Senate Resolution 220. While Denhollander was the first to file a police complaint, more than 100 women and girls later came forward to report sexual abuse. Nassar is serving up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty in Michigan to charges stemming from molesting young gymnasts. Denhollander now lives in Louisville with her husband and three young children.

We also passed a number of other bills in the Senate this week: Senate Bill 119 lays out the legal carcass disposal methods for cervid (deer) meat processors; Senate Bill 149 and SB 126 are both reorganization bills for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; and House Bill 74 aims to deter the resale of stolen goods to pawnbrokers by making the pawnbrokers’ registers more transparent and requiring secondhand merchandise sold to a pawnbroker to be held a minimum of 12 days before being resold.

This upcoming Thursday, March 1, will be last day for new bills to be introduced in the Senate. Since all revenue bills have to be generated in the state House, the Senate is still waiting to see the state’s biennial budget bill, but we expect to receive it in the Senate in the coming weeks. We have already begun an intensive review process, and once it is in our possession, we will continue that process while making our own changes. It is a lengthy and strenuous process.

If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at[email protected].  You can also review the Legislature’s work online at www.lrc.ky.gov.

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Note:  Senator C.B. Embry, JR (R-Morgantown) represents the 6th District including Butler, Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Ohio Counties. He is Vice Chair of Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection Committee and co-chairman of the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee. He also serves as a member of the Agriculture Committee, the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, the Transportation Committee, and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education.