FRANKFORT - In the General Assembly during this time of year, “March Madness” refers to more than just a basketball tournament as the final hectic days of the legislative session draw to a close.
The House budget bill - which we passed earlier this month - is now before the Senate, with that chamber focusing last week on what changes it will make to the House version. The Senate is scheduled to vote on a proposal early this week, setting the stage for the two chambers to go into conference committee and negotiate a final bill before the veto recess begins in late March or
early April.
On Tuesday, my colleagues and I voted unanimously for legislation that would provide better insurance coverage for children diagnosed with autism. To help these patients and their families, the House voted 97-0 to pass House Bill 159, which would require health insurers to cover the cost of autism diagnosis and treatment for children. The bill’s chief sponsors noted that if these children received proper treatment early enough, they have an excellent chance of overcoming it. Without treatment, the lifetime cost for care could reach $3 million.
The same day this vote was taken, the House also put its unanimous support behind legislation that would increase colon cancer screenings for those Kentuckians who do not have health insurance. Just as with autism, early detection is critical if we are to make a difference. Auditor Crit Luallen spoke in favor of this bill.
Significant financial savings could be possible in another bill that the House voted for on Wednesday.
If it becomes law, it would easily be one of the legislative session’s biggest accomplishments, since it would strengthen the health insurance benefit for our retired teachers while reducing the program’s long-term unfunded liability by $2.8 billion, or nearly half of what it is now. This bill would not have been possible without the willingness of our teachers, school officials and their retirees to step up to help put this program on firmer footing. In addition to lowering the unfunded liability, this legislation would save money in other ways as well. The state would have to borrow less to meet its contribution level, while senior teachers would feel more secure in retiring with this benefit, enabling districts to hire newer teachers at a lower salary.
In other news tied to our schools, the House voted on Thursday for a bill that would help those districts that have been off a significant amount of time because of flu and snow; our plan would give them a possible reprieve if they missed more than 20 days.
Another bill approved by the House Education Committee would make it possible for some of our brightest students to finish high school early and go to college, with the state providing them additional financial help in what would have been their senior year.
Two of the session’s more prominent bills took a step closer to becoming law on Wednesday as the Senate moved their modified versions forward, sending one back to the House while readying the other for a full Senate vote.
The first of those is known as Amanda’s Bill, and it would give domestic violence victims real-time warning in certain cases if their offender is approaching. The second, which I am sponsoring, would hopefully curb what is known as “sexting” - teenagers sending sexually inappropriate images of themselves via cell phone - while making the penalty more age appropriate rather than having the teens potentially face much more serious child pornography charges. The slight changes the Senate made in this bill mean it likely will become law soon.
We will try to find a resolution on those bills and many others as the 2010 Regular Session wraps up its last full week on Friday. Legislators will meet for two to three days next week, and then leave for home during the veto recess. In mid-April, we will return briefly to consider any vetoes Governor Beshear may issue.
I have enjoyed hearing from many of you since the legislative session began in January, and while not much time remains, it is still not too late to let me know your thoughts or concerns. Should you want to write, my address is Room 329J, Capitol Annex, 702 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601.
You can also leave a message for me or for any legislator at 800-372-7181. For those with a hearing impairment, the number is 800-896-0305. If you would like to know the status of a particular bill, that number is 866-840-2835. All of these are toll-free.
I hope to hear from you soon.