Until the War is Over

Back in May (2014), I made a trip to Frankfort to catch up with a school group that was taking a daylong field trip around the historic sites of the Capitol City.  The Heritage Christian Academy Warriors (4th graders) have made a trip up to the Capitol both years I've been in office, and like any other school group visiting during the interim (when I'm not already up there for session) if I can I make the trek to Frankfort too meet them.  I hate missing a chance to visit with school kids about the job I'm blessed to have — one of these kids from the district is going to have this job one day in the future!

I caught up with the group and took them to the Senate chamber and had a chance to talk to them for nearly 45 minutes.  They asked all kinds of questions and I gave all kinds of answers!  Since we had the room to ourselves and plenty of time, I explained a lot about the kind of things we do, good and bad.  One of the students asked if I had ever been scared doing my job.  Interesting question.  Easy answer.  Yes.

I've been nervous before, about speaking or carrying a bill on the floor, but those are just nerves about sounding stupid or saying something inaccurate or embarrassing.  Fear, on the hand, hasn't been felt nearly as often.  In fact, I can only think of one occasion.  Carrying Senate Bill 8, the "ultrasound bill," in the House Health & Welfare Committee.  The bill, just like others over the years before now, had come out of the Senate and died at the hands of a pro-choice Committee Chairman and pro-choice House leaders — some publicly and unabashedly, and others under cover of anonymity and secret, if not outright deceit.  This year, the bill had sat without a hearing in the House Health & Welfare Committee for over two months when a discharge petition was filed in the house.  A discharge petition, if passed by a simple majority (51 of 100), would remove the unheard bill from the Committee and bring it before the full House for a vote on the floor.  This year, despite 61 co-sponsors of a house bill that contained SB8 language, 49 democrats and a couple of republicans (many of whom brag on themselves for co-sponsoring the same kind of bill) either walked out on the discharge petition vote or simply failed to show up for it at all.  The petition failed to pass.  Naturally, the next move of House leadership was to hear the bill in Committee - it's an election year so they can't ignore the bill altogether.  That's where I come in.

The House Health & Welfare Committee is perceived, fairly or unfairly, as unfriendly territory for conservatives.  Liberals control the membership head count, and the tension between committee members of opposite ideologies is palpable and sometimes expressly shown.  Even the committee members themselves refer to the committee by its common nickname "Hell & Warfare."  This was the lions' den, and I was ordered to march in knowing legislative defeat was certain.

I approached my testimony with great fright, believing I would be attacked or my words twisted by the committee members or the media or both.  But I carried on. I presented the bill calmly and directly, explaining the bill didn't actually do anything to expressly restrict abortion at all (no matter how much I wish would).

My testimony fell on more deaf ears than not. Those who wish to protect abortion rights made half-true claims about the bill, and particularly galling was the act by two of the most fiercely prochoice members of the committee to make the initial motion and second for the bill to be voted on — they knew they had numbers.

I explained the situation as it unfolded (edited for time and content, of course)  to these school kids. I told them how scared I was of that meeting and the battle that would come my way.  It was at that moment when a young man raised his hand to ask this profound question:

So you fight until the war is over?

Yep.

A reporter politely asked me once why we (conservatives) keep fighting for prolife legislation when we know it will continue to be defeated.  We keep fighting because those lives should be protected, and we can't give up until they are.  I trust God's plan, regardless of the outcome.  He can *seal* the mouths of the lions!

Week In Review - March 15

FRANKFORT – The clock is ticking down the last moments of the 2013 General Assembly Session. We had two intense days in which we worked close to midnight as the Senate and the House tried to achieve compromise on legislation.

After much negotiation, House Bill 1 brings transparency and accountability to the more than 1,200 special taxing districts across the state. Most of these public library boards, fire departments, and other local taxing districts provide outstanding services to their communities, but taxpayers are sometimes left in the dark on how their money is being spent. The bill would put education and ethics rules in place for these special-purpose entities and would require them to publish their financial statements online and conduct regular audits.

As agreed upon in a free conference committee made up of Senate and House members of both parties, the bill would also require all special taxing districts to submit a budget report to their local fiscal court. If a special district wanted to impose a new fee or increase the rate of an existing tax, it would be required to hold a public meeting prior to the change. While this doesn’t provide the direct oversight many of us advocated, it is an important step in keeping taxpayers informed and government entities accountable.

Another bill that received final passage was House Bill 290 that creates a 20-person review panel for cases of child abuse and neglect-related fatalities and near-fatalities. The panel would be given access to complete records of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, as well as information from law enforcement and other agencies involved in the case. Studying these cases will help us prevent child abuse in the future and ensure we are providing the best services possible to our youngest, most vulnerable citizens.

The General Assembly is now recessed for a ten-day veto period. During this time, we’ll continue to discuss issues still unresolved. While consensus hasn’t been reached on important bills like Senate Bill 2, public pension reform, Senate Bill 50, industrial hemp cultivation, and Senate Bill 1, military overseas absentee voting, we are still working diligently toward final agreement on these and many other measures. I maintain hope that the House will negotiate with us in good faith on these measures that are so important to the future of our Commonwealth. There is still time.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that the Governor is receiving pressure to veto House Bill 279 (follow that link to see all 67 co-sponsors in the House), the Religious Freedom Act that protects religious liberty from government overstepping its bounds. If the Governor rejects this bill that passed with such overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers, the Senate will move to override the veto. This critical legislation does nothing more than put Kentucky back on the same legal footing it was on just last fall, and mirrors federal legislation introduced for the same reason in 1993 that similarly passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. I have urged the Governor to honor the will of the General Assembly and sign House Bill 279 into law.

We return to Frankfort on March 25 to complete the final two working days of the legislative session. We’ll consider any vetoes the Governor might enact on any of the various bills we have passed so far, as well as put a final stamp of approval on any last-minute bills still being considered. In the meantime, you can review the work of the Kentucky General Assembly by bookmarking this site or by visiting the General Assembly's website at www.lrc.ky.gov. Archived videos of meetings and proceedings from the session can be viewed at www.ket.org. To check the status of a bill, you may call the toll-free Bill Status Line at 866-840-2835.

And there’s still time to weigh in on matters important to you. If you would like to share your thoughts on any legislation, you may call my office directly at 502-564-8100, or email me here.To leave a message for me, or any legislator, call the General Assembly’s toll-free Message Line at 800-372-7181.