By AP
Frankfort, KY – Governor Ernie Fletcher's merit system task force is considering decriminalizing portions of state personnel laws, under which nine members of the administration were indicted on misdemeanors.
Panel members outlined 26 preliminary proposals to change the state merit system. They include a plan to make state employees undergo drug testing both before and during their state employment. The panel's final vote on the proposals is scheduled for next month.
Attorney General Greg Stumbo's on-going investigation, which has been going on since May, has been at the center of the the task force's work. Stumbo had been appointed to the task force himself, but resigned from it last month after questioning its legitimacy.
The state merit system was created in 1960 and designed to insulate rank and file state employees from political influence.
A special grand jury indicted nine current or former administration officials on misdemeanors stemming from the investigation...Fletcher eventually pardoned them.
Just last week Fletcher fired or asked for the resignation of nine members of his administration, four of whom received those pardons.