2020 — Week 1

The first week of the 2020 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly has come to a close. We had a productive week in Frankfort and left with confidence in what the session has in store. It was a pleasure to begin the session on Tuesday with a visit from the 100th Army Band from Fort Knox, who performed an extraordinary rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home" and our National Anthem.

As with the early stages of any session of the General Assembly, some procedural measures were in order. The Senate members have listened to feedback from our constituents and have prioritized several pieces of legislation that are hopeful of passing this session. Those bills, among others, were assigned to their respective committees this week. Committee hearings begin next week and provide the public an opportunity to hear about the legislation.

The legislation I have or intend to file is of significant importance to me. One, in particular, is Senate Bill 9, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. This bill would require that physicians and other health workers to do everything possible to save the life of an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt. I am proud to be the sponsor of this crucial legislation to protect and provide dignity to those most in need of it. 

As your Senator in District 3, I also feel it is essential to provide dignity to crime victims by allowing them a seat at the table within the criminal justice process. I have once again filed legislation in support of a victim's rights constitutional amendment, known as Marsy's Law.  Both the Kentucky General Assembly and more than 800,000 (63%) Kentucky voters overwhelmingly supported Marsy’s Law in 2018. Victims across the Commonwealth breathed a sigh of relief knowing they would be afforded the constitutional rights they deserve. Unfortunately, the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the clear will of the people on a technicality which ignored more than a hundred years of established legal precedent. It is important to note that the Supreme Court made no ruling on the substance of Marsy’s Law. And, the General Assembly willing, Kentucky voters will have another opportunity to support this important amendment for crime victims on the 2020 ballot. 

Bills must be presented at a public committee meeting and passed with a majority vote before heading back to the Senate to be voted on by the entire Senate body. If the bill is approved by the Senate, it heads to the Kentucky House, where the same process occurs. Once a bill is passed by both chambers it is submitted to the Governor for his signature or veto.

The proverbial elephant in the room for the 2020 session is, of course, the General Assembly's duty to pass a balanced two-year budget and two-year road plan. My colleagues and I in the Kentucky Senate are working diligently with members of the Kentucky State House in preparation for this crucial responsibility.  We are eager to hear the Governor’s budget address before a joint session of the General Assembly on January 28th, and get the budget process moving.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about these topics or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at Whitney.Westerfield@LRC.ky.gov.  You can also review the Legislature’s work online at www.legislature.ky.gov and live stream the proceedings and committee meetings of both chambers using the KET app or online at https://www.ket.org/legislature. 

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Note: Senator Whitney Westerfield (R-Hopkinsville) represents the 3rd District including Christian, Logan, and Todd counties. He is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator Westerfield also serves as a member on the Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee; the Agriculture Committee; the Capital Planning Advisory Board; the Natural Resources and Energy Committee; the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee; the Program Review and Investigations Committee; the Child Welfare Oversight and Advisory Committee; the Public Assistance Reform Task Force, and as a liaison member of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary. For a high-resolution .jpeg of Senator Westerfield, please visit https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators%20Full%20Res%20Images/senate103.jpg

Senator Whitney Westerfield Announces Re-Election Bid

CROFTON, KY — Republican state Senator Whitney Westerfield will seek re-election to Kentucky’s 3rd Senate district for a third term in office. His campaign will focus on continuing to achieve real results for the district and upholding conservative values.

Westerfield serves Christian, Logan, and Todd counties in Frankfort. He is also a life-long resident of Christian County and has been widely regarded as a workhorse for his district. “I am extremely grateful for the support I have received here at home,” said Westerfield. “Since 2013, I have helped pass bipartisan legislation, fought hard for government transparency, protected the unborn, worked to improve public safety, and promoted economic opportunity for the families in our district. I am as ready as ever to take your voices to Frankfort and lead the charge towards solving our most pressing issues.”

Westerfield has served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee throughout his time in office. He sponsored Senate Bill 200 in 2014, which brought about the largest reform to Kentucky’s juvenile justice system in 30 years.

“Slow and steady wins the race,” said Westerfield. “Being a successful legislator requires persistence, which is why I’ve filed for re-election. I have been fortunate to see legislation come to fruition that has been years in the making. I promise to continue expanding opportunities for struggling Kentuckians and reforming policies that inadequately address the real issues our communities face.”

Westerfield’s current term in office stretches through 2020, when state lawmakers will be expected to write a new budget. “We have a Republican majority in Frankfort and a new, Democratic governor at the helm,” said Westerfield. “Looking at that dynamic alone, I can anticipate the challenges that will lie ahead. However, the good people of Western Kentucky expect their state leaders to find common ground.”


Westerfield has been an active member of the Kentucky Bar since October 2006. Because of his practical experience as a local attorney, his legislation has focused largely on improving the justice system and developing services that protect victims of crime. Westerfield’s prosecutorial record has included successful convictions on charges ranging from misdemeanors to homicide.

Kentucky's state Senate elections will take place in 2020. For more details on Senator Westerfield’s record and this campaign, please visit WhitneyWesterfield.com.

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Quasi Quandary

You have probably heard of the imminent extraordinary or “special” session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Included in the Governor’s veto message on HB358 from the 2019 Regular Session was a promise to issue a call for an extraordinary session to address the pension problem for quasi-governmental agencies before July 1. So what is this pension problem anyway?

Quasi-governmental agencies are pretty much exactly what their name suggests: agencies that are not explicitly government departments, but are exclusively (or very nearly exclusively) funded by government (read: taxpayer) funds, and they each perform essential functions for the populations they serve.* These agencies are designated as non-profit organizations. The Christian County Health Department, Pennyrile Children’s Advocacy Center, Sanctuary, and the Pennyroyal Mental Health Center are some of the primary quasi’s in this area, though the last three in that list have a service regions that extend well beyond our own county line.

“No other agencies or arms of state government exist to perform any of these services.”

A few decades ago, someone thought it would be good to include these agencies in the Kentucky Retirement Systems. I don’t think that’s a bad idea necessarily, and at the time it looked like a very good one. The employer contribution rate for each participating employee was very low. However, with time, that employer rate has climbed up. Today these agencies are paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 49% of payroll. That means, for every dollar of payroll, the agency is having to find another 49¢ to send to KRS. First, for these non-profit agencies, finding that additional 49¢ is very challenging, as it starves out funding for other important needs like adequately compensating staff, procuring important supplies, expanding their critical services (which all our communities need), or even maintaining their locations. Second, the 49¢ is actually way lower than it should be to keep KRS funded adequately. In truth the employer contribution rate should have been steadily climbing for many years.

So, here we are, facing a July 1st deadline when the rate jumps to at least 83% overnight. For other participating employers not deemed quasi-governmental we’ve already passed a solution that phases in that rate increase over time. Cities and counties now have a new imperative to find all the revenue they can to make ends meet. HB358 as passed this year would have forestalled that big rate jump for quasi-governmental agencies for a year while these agencies decide whether and how to proceed, by staying in the system or getting out, both of which would have resulted in increased costs. The veto struck that bill in its entirety, so without a special session to pass something else that offers immediate relief, the rate jumps up come July. With that enormous rate increase comes the almost certain reduction in staff and services for most, if not all, quasi agencies.

We risk the loss of staff and services from a group of agencies that provide services the state is neither prepared nor equipped to provide. The Pennyrile Children’s Advocacy Center performs forensic interviews and provides vital care and services for children victimized by sexual assault. Just a couple short months ago the Christian County Health Department helped administer hundreds of vaccinations for Hep-A after a handful of cases hit the county jail. Sanctuary provides emergency housing and security, among other services, for women and their children in need of escaping physical abuse. No other agencies or arms of state government exist to perform any of these services. PCAC, Sanctuary and the Pennyroyal Center serve multiple counties. If their employer contribution rate goes up in July those service footprints in other areas are at risk of evaporating.

On the other hand, the Kentucky Retirement System needs to be made whole. Even giving cities and counties phase-in relief last year hurt the CERS bottom line. Every day a participating employer or employee (or legislature) doesn’t pay all they’re supposed to, the system and its retirees get shortchanged. We can’t afford KRS going under. We can’t afford these agencies going under. A balance must be found.

“We can’t afford KRS going under. We can’t afford these agencies going under. A balance must be found.”

The Governor has done what legislative leadership asked following his veto: come to us with proposal. I attended a briefing conducted by his senior staff last week and I raised a number of questions. The bill includes a one year rate freeze for quasi agencies, and grants them that time to decide which path they want to take: stay in and pay full freight, or get out of the system through one of three different doors. I believe the agencies that cannot afford to pay the full price of staying in should get out of the system, but I firmly believe they should be given a way out that is affordable. The proposal provides only one way out that is truly affordable to most of these agencies, called the “hard freeze,” and requires all Tier 1 and 2 (the senior most) employees to be pulled out of the system along with the agency. Those workers will of course keep everything they’ve accrued, but cannot earn any additional time toward their retirement mark in KRS as long as they remain with that employer. I disagree with pulling those folks out of the system. The options that allow those employees to remain are cost prohibitive for all but the most wealthy quasi agencies, and I’m not aware of any agency in the three counties I represent that can afford them.

There are other concerns, unique to certain quasi agencies, including the change to how their payments to KRS are classified. State and Federal grant funds that flow to places like Sanctuary restrict the use of those dollars for costs directly related to personnel, and attached “fringe benefits.” The proposal would require payments from the agencies toward the unfunded liability, not explicitly connected to payroll, making today’s grant dollars used for payroll unavailable for tomorrow’s debt service.

Similarly, there are three community mental health centers, including the Pennyroyal Center, who act purely as hiring agents for the state when staffing certain facilities. Those employees are governed entirely by the state, but they are currently counted against the CMCHs’ unfunded liability. This is not right. Unfortunately, the proposal before us addresses neither of these issues, and I have been given no affirmative assurance that there will be a material, meaningful effort to fix those problems in the 2020 Regular Session.

I’ve asked the Governor and his team to make modest adjustments to the proposal to make the cessation options slightly more affordable, and to address these two issues that directly impact the local agencies for whom I speak in Frankfort. Unfortunately, I have received no feedback that suggests changes to the proposal would be welcome. I will continue to advocate for those changes, ahead of any potential special session, and during the 2020 session if need be. Needless to say, this issue is among the most complicated the legislature has had to deal with. Getting the answer just right is that much more important.

* The group of quasi-governmental agencies also include all public universities in the Commonwealth other than UK and UofL, both of whom have their own pension systems. However, this post is about all the quasi’s other than the universities. These institutions are also vital to the Commonwealth, but they are on a much different fiscal footing than all the others. They are able to raise tuition and fees, they each have private foundations, and generally have more assets than the rest of the quasi group. To my knowledge, the public university group has been satisfied with each version of HB358 that was passed during the regular session and they are in support of the Governor’s proposal.

Follow the Money

Less than 3 weeks away from the May Primary Election and the truth about one of the Democratic candidates for Governor finally finds its way to light.

Andy Beshear owes his political success, in part, to blood money from Purdue Pharma. We know his former firm was defending Purdue — the maker of the deadly oxycontin — against Kentucky. We know the outgoing AG’s office settled the “billion-dollar case” for peanuts because Purdue’s former lawyer just won election as Kentucky’s newest Attorney General and would be in charge of the lawsuit on the other side; a tremendous conflict of interest. We know Andy Beshear has repeatedly bragged, until Oklahoma’s recent $270 million settlement with the drug manufacturer, about how Kentucky’s was the largest settlement (at a paltry $24 million) in the country. We also know that Andy has repeatedly denied any connection with Purdue in his law practice.

The same cannot be said for his campaign to be AG. Three weeks out from Election Day, when the race was effectively tied, Andy’s good friends at Purdue Pharma dropped $100,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA):

DAGA’s Form 8872, Year-End Report (2015), available here.

The very next day, DAGA sent a cool $250,000 to the Bluegrass Democratic Attorneys General Association, a PAC established to help Andy:

KREF Report

And on that same day, the Bluegrass DAGA sent the $250,000 to a SuperPAC formed to help Andy called the Bluegrass Alliance for Consumer Rights:

KREF Report

Andy Beshear should be ashamed. Maybe a call gets made near the end of the close campaign and a client arranges for some last minute help. Andy benefited from a timely donation of $100,000, earned from the addiction to a drug that was shamelessly and ruthlessly marketed and sold across the country, irreparably harming so many families in Kentucky alone.

• Purdue Pharma blood money

• Defending child abusers by blaming victims

• A corrupt lieutenant serving federal prison time

• Accepting donations from the corrupt lieutenant

This man does not deserve to be a public servant, much less the Governor of the Commonwealth.

Sen. Westerfield’s Statement on AG Beshear’s Prior Work Defending Sexual Abusers

Senator Westerfield’s Statement on Andy Beshear’s Prior Work Defending Sexual Abusers

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Today, State Senator Whitney Westerfield learned along with the rest of the Commonwealth that Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear once defended the conduct of alleged child sexual abusers by accusing the victims of delaying their reporting of the abuse.

The Lexington Herald-Leader investigated a case from Paducah involving Beshear as a private attorney successfully getting claims from sexual assault victims thrown from the court system, never having the merits of the case heard before a jury, by blaming the victims for an ‘inexcusable delay’ in bringing their claims to light.

“All advocates for sexual assault victims know too well the blame that is cast on the innocent.  The hypocrisy of Andy Beshear has reached a new level.”

Westerfield has served as chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary since his election to the Senate in 2012, and narrowly lost to Andy Beshear in the race for Attorney General in 2015.

“Even the Herald-Leader in 2015 argued that Beshear should have released his client list, though he never did.  This is precisely the reason why.  Kentucky voters were cheated out of knowing all the facts about Andy’s work history and his thoughts toward sexual assault victims,” said Westerfield.  “Now he would have the people trust him again as a candidate for Governor.  He’s a disgrace to the office, should be ashamed of his hypocrisy, and most importantly, owes an apology to survivors and victims of sexual abuse.”

As an attorney, Westerfield has experience prosecuting criminals and working with law enforcement. As a senator, he sponsored Senate Bill 200 in 2014 which brought about the largest reform to Kentucky’s juvenile justice system in 30 years. He is also committed to developing services and resources that protect victims of crime, including the push for Marsy’s Law, which would enshrine rights for crime victims in Kentucky’s Constitution.

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