Week of May 24, 2010 – FRANKFORT — We’re back at the Capitol this week, after the governor called a special session to deal with the budget situation. After House and Senate leaders couldn’t agree on a plan to address the need of our people while still maintaining low taxes, we adjourned April 15 without a budget. The governor has devised a plan that we think both sides can live with. It’s not an ideal solution, but it will get us through the next two years until the economy improves. We’ll see if both sides can make the final tweaks to the governor’s plan and we can get the people’s work accomplished.

The budget’s not the only item on our agenda, though. We also must approve a two-year road plan, which will fund the projects most urgently needed in our area, as well as a six-year road plan, which is more of a long-range planning tool than an actual funding plan.

On top of that, we’ll also be hopefully passing unemployment legislation that will preserve our trust fund for years to come. Because of the current severe recession, our unemployment fund is empty and we’re borrowing from the federal government to pay benefits. That can’t last, and a bill the House passed during the regular session will hopefully find approval in the Senate this week.

Go ahead and mark your calendars for Friday-Saturday, July 2-3, for our Sixth Annual Highway 52 Fifty Mile Yard Sale. The weekend has lined up perfectly, allowing everyone to take the scenic drive between Jackson and the Estill-Madison line before returning home on Sunday to celebrate Independence Day.

In the last few years, the Fifty Mile Yard Sale has become quite the tradition, with families from all over Kentucky and beyond coming to our community and finding hidden treasures, both on the roadside and in the people who live here. I’m proud of this event we’ve created, and I hope everyone will take part this year to keep it going strong. I’ll keep you updated over the coming weeks.

Week of May 3, 2010

FRANKFORT — One last update on what we accomplished during our 2010

Ted Edmonds

Regular Session, and then I’ll give things a rest until our special session on the budget, which the governor says he intends to call sometime later this month.

There are two health care bills in particular I want to bring your attention to. Senate Bill 18 ensures that cancer patients don’t lose their insurance coverage when they join a clinical trial. Cancer is one of those diseases that we’re always learning more about, and clinical trials are the most promising way to do that. These trials, usually sponsored by research hospitals like UK’s Chandler Medical Center, try innovative treatments on patients who don’t respond to the more traditional things like radiation and chemotherapy.

Until now, however, insurance companies have been allowed to refuse coverage on the ordinary needs of patients if they join a clinical trial, even if their treatment had little or nothing to do with the trial. That puts patients and their families in the position of being forced to choose between life-saving treatment and effective insurance coverage. SB 18 will make sure they don’t have to make such a dangerous choice by requiring insurance companies to cover the ordinary medications and treatments outside the scope of the clinical trial, where therapy is provided for free anyway.

Another bill, SB 4, will clear up confusion on our state organ donor registry. Many people know they can donate their organs when they die by placing an orange sticker on their driver’s license and having two witnesses sign it. Still, it’s common for relatives to trump a person’s decision if their wishes aren’t more explicit. And in cases where people don’t want to donate their organs, their families can overrule their wishes.

SB 4 will clarify the law on organ donation so that there’s a way for all Kentuckians to decide on their own what to do with their organs when they’re gone, with families’ wishes no longer the deciding factor. The bill also makes it clear who gets to decide what happens if you don’t make your wishes known.

Finally, SB 4 addresses an issue that keeps many people from signing the registry. SB 4 prevents medical staff from doing anything to hasten your death so that your organs can be made useful. Although we don’t know of any time this has actually happened, it costs lives because people are scared to donate their organs. SB 4  will truly save lives, and I’m proud we moved on it.

As I said, this will be my last column on the accomplishments of the past session, but we did a great deal more that doesn’t get much attention. Although I always wish we could get more done, I’m proud of the work we finished.

You can always contact me through our Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181, or call my office directly at 502-564-8100, ext. 818.

Ted Edmonds

Week of April 26, 2010 – FRANKFORT — I want to update you on a few more bills that were signed into law by the governor and will take effect on July 15. They may not get the big headlines, but they will be impor6tant to thousands, maybe millions of Kentuckians.

House Bill 160, which I was proud to co-sponsor, will make it easier for our community and technical college students transfer their credits to our four-year universities and continue toward their bachelor’s degree. Currently, a basic business course at Hazard Community & Technical College may be counted one way if a student transfers to Eastern, and another away if they transfer to Morehead State. With students taking first-year coursework without knowing for sure where they want to continue their education, it’s unfair to our young people.

HB 160 directs the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education to work with all our two-year and four-year schools to create a plan where a three-hour course counts the same across the state, no matter where the course is taken. That would include making sure courses are numbered the same at all our community and technical colleges, too, making it easier to transfer between schools when a student moves.

The goal of HB 160 is that when students transfer to a four-year university, they’ll stay on track toward their degree, not waste credit. That’s time and money they don’t have, and Kentucky can’t afford to waste their talent. UK has already partnered with Bluegrass Community & Technical College, and I hope the entire system can build from that.

Another education-oriented piece of legislation, Senate Bill 163, is aimed at middle schoolers and high schoolers who can read, but not on grade level. We’ve seen great success with our early literacy programs that target elementary school students struggling to read. The problem is that once these students learn to read, we have nothing in place to keep them going. There’s a huge difference between being able to read a children’s book and being able to read and comprehend the daily newspaper. Solid reading skills help in other classes, too – if you can’t understand the bigger words in your science textbook, it’s much harder to learn science. We want our students engaged with the world around them, not just sitting there.

SB 163 makes sure that middle school and high school teachers have the professional development and the tools they need to identify student having trouble reading at grade level, and helps them get those students to where they need to be. I’m excited at the potential this has for all our students.

I’ll update you on more bills next week, but I want to make sure you know how much good we accomplished during our limited time in Frankfort. You can always contact me through our Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181, or call my office directly at 502-564-8100, ext. 818.

Week of April 19, 2010

FRANKFORT — Leaving the Capitol without a budget plan for the next two

Ted Edmonds

years was an awful way to end the week, and there’s no excuse for it. The governor will surely call us back into special session in May, and hopefully by that time leaders of both chambers will come to an agreement that we can all live with.

The budget disappointment shouldn’t detract from the very good bills we did pass this session. A lot of people will benefit from some of this legislation, and many lives will be saved.

The most prominent of these bills is House Bill 1, which will give judges more tools to resolve domestic violence cases before someone is killed. “Amanda’s Bill” is named after Amanda Ross, a young lady who died all too young at the hands of someone she had loved. I served beside her accused murderer, Rep. Steve Nunn, during my first two terms in the House, and I couldn’t be more proud of her family for using her death to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Domestic violence can affect anyone, and it’s time for its victims to stop feeling ashamed of their situation and use the force of the law to protect themselves and their loved ones.

HB 1 will give judges greater flexibility to require GPS tracking devices to be work on the ankles of some domestic abusers. One of the drawbacks to GPS technology is that it functions much like cell phones do, so in our area, with its steep hills and rugged terrain, it may not be as effective as it would be in Louisville or Lexington. There are other limits on how quickly a judge can mandate a GPC ankle bracelet, too, to protect their constitutional rights. I don’t want people to think that HB 1 is a cure-all for domestic violence, but it’s a good first step to protecting battered Kentuckians.

We also gave final passage to Senate Bill 4, which will make it easier for people to donate their heart, kidneys, and other vital organs when they pass on. It can be a confusing and heartbreaking experience when a loved one dies, and it’s a difficult decision for anyone to make — especially when your loved one didn’t make their own plans very clear. It’s even more confusing when the law doesn’t make it clear who’s in charge of making that decision, or even how to make sure your wishes are followed when you’re gone. Despite the best of intentions, your decision to donate your organs may be trumped by your children’s refusal. SB 4 will streamline the entire process and cement your own decision as the final verdict. For the first time, that will even extend to the ability to withhold your permission. Right now, if you don’t want to donate your organs, your loved one can give them anyway, but beginning this summer, that all changes.

I’ll spend the next few weeks going over other bills that we passed, because information is the best weapon in our democracy.

Ted Edmonds

By Teddy Edmonds – State Representative
D-Jackson  
 
FRANKFORT — This will be the last week for the 2010 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. We’ll meet at the Capitol on Wednesday and possibly again on Thursday, and then we’re constitutionally mandated to adjourn. I’m cautiously optimistic that House and Senate leaders will be able to work out their last few differences on the budget, because leaving our biggest job undone will be tragic for so many Kentuckians.
That’s not to say we haven’t accomplished quite a bit in our first 58 days. On the contrary – many Kentuckians will be positively affected by the work we’ve done. I want to detail a few of them for you.
Since we’re already on the subject of state spending, we’ve passed legislation to mandate reporting on the number of state contracts as well as the number of state employees. It’s astonishing to many of us in the General Assembly that we have to put it in statute, but apparently it’s necessary in order to get that sort of information. We simply have no reliable data on who we have doing what, or how much money we’re spending on state contracts outside of what we have to approve through our oversight capabilities. Knowing what we’re spending is the first step toward reining in that waste.
We’ve sent the governor a bill to make sure that our schools are designed with long-term efficiency in mind, rather than just short-term cost savings. That means using energy-efficient materials and design with an eye on reducing utility costs, which as you can imagine can be enormous over the course of a building’s lifetime.
We also approved a bill to mandate suicide prevention training for teachers as part of their annual professional development.   It’s not much, just two hours of self-study reading material, but it will be crucial to picking up the signs of a depressed and suicidal student. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for school-age students, right behind car accidents.
We’ve approved legislation to allow all our four-year universities to create advanced practice doctoral nursing programs — in essence, to increase the number of nursing teachers. We’ve all heard about the woeful shortage of nurses across the nation, but the problem is not a lack of people seeking nursing degrees, especially not in this economy. We simply don’t have enough teachers for them, and by opening up this program beyond UK and UofL, we’ll have an advantage over our surrounding states.
Hopefully we can add to the number of good bills while we’re in Frankfort for our last two days. I know I have several issues, from domestic violence to education, that I’d like to see addressed before we adjourn.

FRANKFORT – Gov. Martha Layne Collins and Rep. Ted Edmonds renewed an old friendship in the Capitol Rotunda recently. Rep. Edmonds was involved with Gov. Collins’ campaign and administration. During her four years in office, the Martha Layne Collins Bridge was constructed near Kentucky Mountain Bible College. She reminded Rep. Edmonds that whenever she travels to Breathitt County, she makes sure to drive by the bridge that bears her name. Rep. Edmonds told her how much he appreciated her kindness and friendship, as well as her hard work for education and economic development for all Kentuckians. (Click image to enlarge)

our two-year state budget last week. We had hoped to have a plan to vote on Friday, but the gap was just too great to close in just one week. As I wrote last week, the House’s plan relies on job creation to help boost our economy, while the Senate focused on cutting spending. All is not lost, though — we have until April 15 to pass a budget in our last two legislative days. Any gubernatorial vetoes would stand, because we couldn’t come back to override them, but that’s a chance worth taking.
We did accomplish a great deal this last week, however. On a number of fronts, we moved to make Kentuckians safer and save the taxpayers’ money.
We passed House Bill 415, which will prohibit drivers under 18 from talking on their cell phone while driving. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for those ages 15-20, with more than 100 young people dying each week. This is partly because they’re still mastering their driving skills, and anything that distracts them from focusing on the road, whether it’s changing the radio station or talking to their friends, can be deadly.
HB 415 will also protect all Kentuckians, because it bans all Kentuckians from using your cell phone from texting or surfing the Internet on your cell phone while driving. Just as with young people talking on their cell phones, looking down to text or read a cell phone screen can be distracting and dangerous. The punishment will be minor — $25 for a first offense, $50 for repeat offenses — and there will only be a courtesy warning until January 1, but it’s an important message to send to our drivers.
HB 265 takes on a subject that’s especially important here in Eastern Kentucky: people who drive while high on drugs. It’s difficult to prosecute them and take away their license, because every drug is different. We don’t have a foolproof system to tell whether they’re impaired, like we do with alcohol. HB 265 will create a “per se” violation, meaning that any amount of prescription or illegal drugs in your system will result in a DUI charge, as long as you aren’t taking them as prescribed by your doctor. Like the previous bill, this could go a long way toward making our streets and highways safer if the governor signs them into law.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll fill you in more of the work we’ve done during this legislative session. We’ll return to Frankfort on April 14 for our final two days and one last flurry of bills. Hopefully, the budget will be one of them.
And as always, call me with your thoughts at 1-800-372-7181, or call my office directly at 502-564-8100, ext. 818.

State Rep Ted Edmonds

FRANKFORT — Hopefully by the time you read this, House and Senate leaders will have developed a compromise plan on our two-year state budget. As it stands right now, however, there are still some issues left on the table for them. It all started last week, with the Senate passing its own version of the spending plan. There were some stark differences in philosophy between the two, and it’s not surprising it has taken a few days for them to work out the details that both sides can agree on.
Essentially, the House and Senate disagree on how to best stimulate the economy. We included about a billion dollars in school construction, water and sewer lines, and other projects to create jobs and put people back to work. With interest rates so low and the economy so slow, we can get the best deals on everything from bricks to asphalt, saving money in the long run.
The Senate, however, put more of a focus on deep spending cuts and keeping our debt as low as possible. I understand and appreciate where they’re coming from, but our region desperately needs good-paying jobs, not to mention the infrastructure improvements contained in the House version of the budget.
Regardless, I hope that we’ll arrive at a final plan sometime this week, and I’ll report back to you when we do.
The budget isn’t the only item on the agenda, though. House and Senate leaders are also hashing out the details of House Bill 1, the domestic violence legislation that’s been a priority of Speaker Stumbo’s.
Meanwhile, we passed Senate Bill 105, which will help fend off anti-agriculture activists from other states deciding what happens on Kentucky farms. SB 105 will create the Kentucky Livestock Care Standards Commission, which will allow local farmers to decide the care that animals should receive, how they should be treated, and how farms should run. There have been efforts in other states by PETA and other groups to dictate animal treatment, and their standards are obviously much more stringent and non-sensical than ours.
We have only four days left in this session, including days in April after the governor vetoes any bills he doesn’t like. We’re in a time crunch, but our work continues at a faster pace. Remember to call our Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181, or call my office at 502-564-8100, ext. 818 to let me know how you feel about any of the bills waiting to be voted on.

State Rep. Ted Edmonds

FRANKFORT — It’s never easy to write the state budget, even in good times, because there are always more needs than we have money. This year has been by far the most difficult for our leaders and budget committee to design a state spending plan because of the tough economy. It’s a double whammy for us – at the same time we’re bringing in less revenue, the needs of our citizens are greater because of increased dependence on Medicaid, unemployment insurance, higher crime rates, and more people going back to school to get job skills.
With that said, I couldn’t be prouder of the budget we passed this week. House Bill 290 does what we need in this economy — it makes cuts where we can afford them, maintains spending the areas where we can’t afford to make cuts, and invests in necessary infrastructure like roads, schools, water lines in order to create construction jobs and take advantage of low interest rates and low prices.
The process is far from over, though. The Senate will produce its own budget plan in the coming weeks, and then members of both chambers, from both parties, will work together on a compromise plan that we can all live with. There’s still a long road ahead, but I’m confident that we’re up to the challenge.
In the meantime, I hope the Senate includes some of the needed projects that we were able to find for the 91st House District. In total, there is $1.45 million for water and sewer improvements in Breathitt, Estill, and Lee counties.
It’s not a pretty budget, not even close. It’s not the budget any of us would want if we had more flexibility, but the facts are pretty clear. Because of the economy, our tax base is shrinking while our needs are growing. At the same time, we can’t afford any tax or fee increases right now, because they would hit the people who can least afford them. Instead, we put a focus on spending our money more efficiently. It’s always a good time to trim the fact, but a year like this has made us re-evaluate our priorities and make sure that every dime of taxpayer money goes to something important.
To that end, we put in several provisions in the budget aimed at reducing the number of non-merit political hires — a good number of middle managers who can be eliminated without harming state services. The same goes for many state contracts for work that could be done just as well and more cheaply by state employees.
In these last two weeks of the session before we take a break for the governor to consider vetoes, we’ll be making a lot of last-minute changes to bills, making compromises, and seeing issues come out of nowhere. It’s more important than ever for you to stay in touch, so call our legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181, or call my office at 502-564-8100, ext. 818 to let me know how you feel about any of the bills waiting to be voted on.