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Time Running Out for Kentucky General Assembly to Pass Priority Bills

Kentucky LRC

As the 2013 legislative session winds down, the top priorities for each chamber are still stuck in the process and not yet law.

House Bill 1 would reform special districts in Kentucky and centralize financing reporting aspects for the districts. The legislation is supported by Auditor Adam Edelen, a Democrat. But the legislation is likely to undergo changes that Edelen has yet to support, including giving more oversight of the districts to local governments.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the bill sponsor, said his chamber also won't support such changes.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1 would allow more flexibility in electronic voting for military deployed overseas. But Stumbo said his chamber is likely to include a provision to send ballots back electronically—a part the Senate removed from the bill before passing it.

"We will likely follow the secretary of state's lead on that. I think there's about a number of other states that do it," said Stumbo, referring to Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Grimes would like to see Senate Bill 1 include electronic delivery of ballots to and from military overseas, but county clerks oppose the measure do to fraud concerns.

Grimes and Stumbo are Democrats.

Senate President Robert Stivers said he's willing to continue debate on both issues.

"We're willing to work and discuss it," said Stiver, a Republican. "We're not just gonna place it out there in limbo and take our ball and our bat and go home," he says.

The 2013 legislative session has roughly eight days left, but doesn't end until March 26.

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