It’s Complicated: General Assembly Week 5
Bills You Can Take Action On Now:
KCC Updated List of House Bills to date here
KCC Updated List of Senate Bills to date here
To act on bills: Once you read through our detailed lists above, you may call the Legislative Message Line (1-800-372-7181) from 7AM-9PM M-TH and 9AM-6PM on Fridays, or email your lawmakers anytime to comment on the bills. Note where the bill currently resides to direct your comments.
Bills will be changing quickly now…Sign Up for Text Alerts for when bills need fast action
Highlights of the Week Ending 3/3
This Friday saw the conclusion of day 20 of the 30-day legislative session. Lawmakers now have eight more days before the Governor’s veto period begins, and then lawmakers return for two days on March 29-30 to complete their work.
Complicated Bills, Last minute amendments: There are several bills we are watching that have multiple components to them, and at this point in the session there will be bills that go through multiple amendments and changes as well. So we are asking our constituents to be alert this coming week and the following week to the rapid changes that will happen over these next eight legislative days. We urge you to sign Up for Text Alerts for the fastest information on urgent actions.
Senate Bill 4 (KCC “Strong Oppose” bill) Passes the Senate, On to the House. This bill impedes the retirement of fossil fuel power plants and passed the Senate on Thursday, with a vote of 25-8. A small bipartisan contingency voted against the bill. The Kentucky Lantern did a great job summarizing the events of the week on this bill. You may find the Lantern’s recap on the bill here. Executives from Kentucky Utilities and Duke Energy have raised significant concerns with this legislation on its impact to rates and reliability, which as well as a utility-driven advocacy group called “Kentuckians for Affordable and Reliable Energy”
ACT: The bill is now on its way to the House. Contact your House members and “House Leadership” and tell them you “oppose government overreach within Senate Bill 4 that will impact reliability and affordability of our utilities.” Email or call 1-800-372-7181.
ACT: We ask you to THANK Sen. Chambers-Armstrong (D), Sen. Funke Frommeyer (R), Sen. Harper Angel (D), Sen. Schickel (R), Sen. McDaniel (R), Sen. Thomas (D), Sen. Yates (D) and Sen. Raque Adams (R) who voted against this bill which will create significant hurdles for utilities to address energy reliability and rates.
House Joint Resolution 76 (KCC “Support with Changes”) Does not yet fully release allocated State Park funds: Earlier this week the Appropriations & Revenue committee discussed this resolution, which would authorize the Office of State Budget Director to release $150,000,000 capital construction funds for improvements to Kentucky's state parks as appropriated in 2022. However the resolution was amended this week with a committee substitute that only authorized the release of $40,000,000 in capital construction funds for campground upgrades and $6,000,000 in capital construction funds for broadband upgrades. This then denied the remaining $104,000,000 in the Parks proposal. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jason Petrie, stated that while the funds have been approved in the budget, he chose to hold a significant amount of funds because they wanted to see more of a “vision” for the entire state park system, despite a detailed presentation from the Department of Parks that was given in December of 2022. Our speculation is that Appropriations & Revenue is wanting more integration of public/private partnerships as part of the planning. However much of the immediate needs for these funds would be to address much needed core infrastructure improvements, such as water and sewer lines, transmission lines, and similar infrastructure.
ACT: We have marked this bill as “support”, because we want to at least see the $46,000.000 in authorized funds move forward. However we would like our constituents to send a message that the remaining $104,000,000 should also be released. The bill is now posted for passage in the House. Contact members of the House by Email or call 1-800-372-7181. and ask that the full $150,000,000 of capital construction funds for improvements to Kentucky's state parks as appropriated in 2022 be released.
House Bill 4, Merchant Solar (Support with Changes to provide better protection of farmland): This is legislation that attempted to set guidance on construction, siting, bonding, and decommissioning of large scale “merchant” solar generating facilities. We support the intent of the bill but have suggested improvements, as the bill could still do a better job to ensure that these projects are more protective of farmland. The parties lined up in support of this bill were substantial, including the Kentucky Farm Bureau, Kentucky Association of Counties, Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky County Judge Executive Association and the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioner’s Association. However we felt that there were shortcomings in the decommissioning provisions in particular where the removal of infrastructure such as equipment and wires can remain behind when the project is retired. We also would like to see stronger requirements with regard to soil restoration and compaction.
ACT: The bill has now been assigned to the Senate Agriculture Committee. Please contact Senate Agriculture and your Senator and ask them to strengthen the decommissioning provisions in HB4 that address the full removal of all infrastructure and provide for enhancements that support the restoration of soils once a project is completed. Email or call 1-800-372-7181.
Senate Bill 226 (KCC Strong Oppose) Reducing Pollution Threshold - water quality. This bill lowers to the threshold to allow permittees to discharge pollutants into outstanding state resource waters and does not fully account for the impacts to in stream water quality. Requires water quality certifications for surface mining operations to be issued within 60 days of receiving a completed application. Would take away the authority of the Governor to deny a certification if the certification will not be in the best interests of the environment and the people of the Commonwealth.
ACT: The bill has had two readings in the Senate and is now posted for passage. Contact the Senate to Oppose. Email or call 1-800-372-7181.
House Bill 264 “Regulatory Sandbox.” Creates an “Office of Regulatory Relief” within the Economic Development Cabinet tasked with identifying state laws and regulations that could be waived for certain "innovative" businesses for a one-year period, including environmental regulations. House Committee Sub 1: Establishes the Kentucky Office of Regulatory Relief under the Office of the Attorney General rather than Cabinet for Economic Development. Remove all references to exempting any person from state laws (but state regulations still apply), prohibits the suspension of an administrative regulation that would preclude any person from recovering damages from a sandbox participant.
ACT: This bill passed 96-0 in the House with Committee Substitute (1) . Now in Senate Committee on Committees (S) Contact the Senate to Oppose. Email or call 1-800-372-7181.
House Bill 236 Fiduciary Duties impacting Environment/Social/Governance Investing (ESG): Pushes back on fossil fuel divestment efforts. You have hopefully seen our many posts about the attacks on ESG investments. Read our updated summary on how different elected officials have been going after the “fossil fuel divestment” movement by attacking companies who incorporate responsible environmental criteria as part of their investment strategies. This bill had a substitute this week that adds more definitions and requirements for fiduciaries, which is described on our full bill list.
ACT: This bill passed the House this week, 77-17 with Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1) and is now on its way to the Senate. Contact the Senate to Oppose. Email or call 1-800-372-7181.