A bill that would shorten legislative sessions cleared a Kentucky Senate committee Wednesday.
Senate president and bill sponsor Robert Stivers told the panel Senate Bill 195 would reduce 60-day sessions to 45 days. The measure would also reduce 30-day sessions in odd-numbered years to five organizational days with an option to add 10 more days any other time during the year as long as Senate and House leaders agree on the agenda.
Stivers argued the changes would allow lawmakers more time to meet with constituents, work, and spend time with their families.
"This is something... that I believe returns us back to what the framers of our Constitution believed us to be, a citizen legislature, a legislature that's not caught up in the fishbowl of Frankfort," Stivers told the committee.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo has signaled an openness to reforms, but suggested that keeping the same number of work days but spread out over a longer period of time could give lawmakers ample time to catch up on personal business.
The measure passed committee with unanimous support.
