While the snow fell in Kentucky Thursday, there was a flurry of debate inside the state House and Senate as Republicans leveraged their supermajorities to pass their first bills – among them a 20-week abortion ban, "right-to-work" legislation, and new medical review panels.
While Democrats tried to delay votes and extend floor debates through procedure, leaders opted to move swiftly on priority legislation which could receive the final stamp of approval from the General Assembly by Saturday.
Abortion
The Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The measure sailed to passage on a 30-6 vote Thursday in the Republican-led chamber. It now goes to the House, where new Speaker Jeff Hoover has predicted it will win overwhelming support.
Supporters of the bill say the proposed 20-week ban in Kentucky is based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks. Opponents characterize that as scientifically unsound.
Sen. Brandon Smith, the bill's lead sponsor, says the legislation would make exceptions to the 20-week ban when the mother's life is in danger.
Pregnant women seeking an abortion would also first have to undergo an ultrasound and listen to the fetal heartbeat under a bill that has cleared the Kentucky House of Representatives.
The proposal is one of several anti-abortion bills that have previously passed the Republican-controlled Senate only to be blocked by the Democratic majority in the House. But this year, Republicans have super majorities in both chambers, plus a Republican governor.
The bill does not include exceptions for rape or incest. The proposal would not require the woman to watch the ultrasound, and says she can request to lower the volume of the heartbeat.
Right-To-Work
Limiting debate to an hour, the GOP House majority stressed the economic benefits they argue will woo more companies to the state while Democrats railed against the bill as a giveaway to the wealthy.
"What we're seeing in this legislation is an attempt to destroy unions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky," Louisville Rep. Jim Wayne said, later adding, "I ask every Kentuckian to wake up to the fact that this is being pushed down the throats of Kentuckians in the name of economic prosperity and economic growth. That is pure propaganda in the worst form."
Republican Jason Nemes countered that House Bill 1 will give more freedom to individual workers.
"It is not fair that a man has to join an association to put food on his table when he didn't get the choice in the first place," he said.
House Bill 1 passed on a 58-39 vote, joining the ultrasound measure and House Bill 3, a repeal of the prevailing wage used to set base pay for workers on public works construction projects.
University of Louisville Board of Trustees
The Kentucky Senate okayed legislation Republicans hope will solidify Governor Matt Bevin’s executive actions remaking the University of Louisville Board of Trustees.
Despite lingering bipartisan anxiety over the fix’s potential effects on UofL’s accreditation, the measure abolishing the school’s old board of trustees won approval in the Senate. Chamber president and author Robert Stivers argued a speedy resolution is necessary to resolve the matter.
Bevin dissolved the former board in June, calling it dysfunctional – a move later ruled unconstitutional in circuit court. The legislative fix, which also requires Senate confirmation of future UofL board members, left even sympathetic Democrats like Louisville Senator Morgan McGarvey wary.
"We are already on probation at the University of Louisville," he told colleagues, "and if we lose that accreditation the federal funding that will no longer that will no longer come to UofL, the faculty we can't recruit, the president we won't get, the sports they will not play... this is not something to take lightly."
But Nicholasville Republican Tom Buford said the time to act is now because the university’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or SACS, isn’t likely to offer a roadmap.
"SACS is not going to come up here and testify to committee and tell us how to write this bill. That is not their mission. Their mission is to determine later if we have done the right thing, which keeps an accreditation," he said. "So if you're looking for someone to come up here and write this and guarantee that it will do all of these things, you'll never get anything passed."
Medical Review Panels
The Kentucky Senate also passed a bill that would create panels of medical providers to review the merits of lawsuits against doctors or health care institutions.
Republicans have long pushed for the legislation. The measure passed the GOP-led Senate on a 23-13 vote Thursday. It now goes to the House, where its prospects are considerably improved with Republicans now in control of the chamber.
The bill would create independent panels of medical experts to review medical malpractice claims. The panels would issue non-binding opinions within six months.
Sponsoring Senator Ralph Alvarado says the process would not limit or deny plaintiffs' access to the courts. A review panel's medical opinion report would be admissible in court.
Sen. Perry Clark said the panels would "delay and hinder" the legal process.
