Thankfully, R. Crimm, L. Belcher, B. Linder's HB19/FN  is was recently vetoed by Gov. Bevin. The initially well intentioned ACT relating to the promotion of organ and bone marrow donation would have created a new section of KRS Chapter 141 to establish the employers' organ and bone marrow donation tax credit; amend KRS 141.0205 to provide the ordering of the credit; declare short title to be the Living Organ and Bone Marrow Donor Assistance Act of 2016.

This bill took a completely unrelated turn when when Rep. A. Kerr porked a floor amendment amending KRS 153.450 to allow an urban-county government to impose an additional 2.5 percent local transient room tax to fund the renovation, expansion, or improvement of a convention center; require proceeds to be used for repayment of debt associated with the project; and require the levy to sunset upon completion of the project and repayment of all associated debt.

Kentucky House Reps.' T. Burch, T. Riner, L. Belcher, B. DeWeese, J. Glenn, M. King, M. Marzian, D. Watkins, B. Yonts ACT relating to colon cancer prevention by declaring it an emergency is now law.
 
It amend KRS 214.542 to include eligible underinsured individuals in the colon cancer screening program; direct the Department for Public Health to promulgate administrative regulations to develop a schedule of income-based fees that may be charged for screening, examination, treatment, and rescreening and a data collection system to document the services performed under the program.

Amendments were made to retain original provisions of the bill except to state that treatment and surveillance may be provided if funds are available and change a data collection system "to document" to a data system "including." 

Signed in to Kentucky Law April 18th 2016, Senators' B. Yonts & J. Richards bill is AN ACT relating to public pension plan reporting.

​This Bill amends KRS 6.350 to specify that the actuarial analysis required on retirement legislation shall include the impact on funding levels and unfunded liabilities over time; specify the qualification requirements of the actuary completing the analysis; amend KRS 7A.240 to require the state-administered retirement systems to pay the cost of actuarial services required by amendments to KRS 7A.250; amend KRS 7A.250 to require the Public Pension Oversight Board to retain an actuary to perform an actuarial audit of the state-administered retirement systems at least once every 10 years and to review state-administered retirement system budget requests prior to each budget biennium; amend KRS 21.440, 61.670, and 161.400 to provide that all state-administered retirement systems shall include in their actuarial valuation a description of funding methods utilized or required by state law in the development of the valuation, a description of any changes in actuarial assumptions and methods that have occurred since the last valuation, the actuarially recommended employer contribution rates for the upcoming budget period, a 20-year projection of employer contribution rates, funding levels, and unfunded liabilities, and a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impact of changes in key assumptions on employer rates, funding levels, and unfunded liabilities; require the systems to conduct an actuarial experience study at least once every 5 years and to perform a 20-year impact of the proposed changes to the systems' employer rates, funding levels, and unfunded liabilities; require the systems to perform a 20-year impact on employer rates, funding levels, and unfunded liabilities for any changes in assumptions, funding methods, retiree health subsidies, or other changes enacted by the board of trustees of the systems that impact system liabilities; require the actuary certifying the results of the annual actuarial valuation and the 5 year experience study to be a fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries or a member of the American Academy of Actuaries; require electronic distribution of actuarial valuations, experience studies, or analysis of changes made by the boards of trustees to the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) and require LRC to distribute information to chairs and committee staff of committees with jurisdiction over the systems; make technical amendments; require completion of the actuarial valuations by November 15 following the close of the fiscal year; amend KRS 48.040 to provide that on or before August 15 prior to a budget session, that the state-administered systems shall prepare a preliminary projection of the actuarially required contribution rates for the upcoming budget biennium and to provide updated values by November 15 of the same year once the actuarial valuation is completed; require submission to the state budget director's office and the LRC and require LRC upon receipt to distribute information to chairs and committee staff of committees with jurisdiction over the systems.
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Amendments were made to retain original provisions except to require performance of the actuarial audit of the state-administered retirement systems once every five years. And additional addendum was made from the floor to retain original provisions except to require performance of the actuarial audit of the state-administered retirement systems once every five years and create the Kentucky permanent pension fund for the purpose of addressing the Commonwealth's unfunded pension liabilities.

Now Kentucky Law, Senators B. Smith, R. Alvarado, J. Carroll, G. Neal, W. Schroder"s SB225 is AN ACT relating to homelessness prevention. It amends KRS 194A.735 to expand eligibility, subject to sufficient funding, for the homelessness prevention project to individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness who have been admitted into hospital emergency departments at least 10 times annually, individuals in the top 10% of hospital users in hospitals at which over 10% of the patient census are diagnosed with severe mental illness, individuals being paroled, individuals aging out of foster care for up to two years after exit, and individuals outside of Oldham County; move support of the project to the Division of Behavioral Health.
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Floor Amendments were made to ensure the bill retain original provisions; clarifying that expanded eligibility for the Homelessness Prevention project applies only to those with serious mental illness, those being released from mental health facilities, those with high utilization rates of the healthcare, mental healthcare, and judicial systems, those being released or paroled from state-operated prisons, and those aging out of foster care; and codify the establishment of the Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Now Kentucky Law, B. Montell, L. Belcher, A. Koenig, S. Riggs, bill know as HCR13 directs the staff of the Legislative Research Commission to study municipal bankruptcy.

On April 8th Senator T. Buford's B54 was signed in to law, it is AN ACT relating to donated clothing, household items, or other items. The bill created a new section of KRS 367.650 to 367.670 to require proper labeling on donation boxes and donation drop-off sites when the donations do not qualify as charitable contributions for federal tax purposes; amend KRS 367.668 to require lettering to be not less than 2 inches in height; amend KRS 367.665 to grant the county attorney concurrent jurisdiction and powers with the Attorney General and allow the county attorney to impose penalties which shall be paid to the county.

Now Kentucky Law, D. Keene, A. Koenig's  HB124 is AN ACT relating to law enforcement amends KRS 16.220 to allow funds from the sale of confiscated firearms to be used to purchase body-worn cameras and establish guidelines therefor.

On April 13th SB186  sponsored by M. Wise was signed in to law. It is AN ACT relating to boat liens and creates a new section of KRS Chapter 376 to allow a marina to enforce a possessory lien on a boat; establish notification requirements for the enforcement of a possessory lien on a boat; establish sale requirements following judgment in favor of a marina to enforce a possessory lien on a boat.

This session Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin vetoed Senator W. Westerfield's SB153 which sought to amend KRS 403.212 to establish new amounts in the child support guidelines table and delete the old amounts.

Now Kentucky Law SB56 sponsored by D. Parrett, D. Carroll, R. Thomas is AN ACT relating to driving under the influence and declaring an emergency which amends various sections in KRS Chapter 189A, relating to driving under the influence, to double the defacto probationary period or "look-back window" for prior offenses from five years to 10 years is also amends KRS 189A.330 to expand the window for quarterly monitoring of pending DUI cases.

​Will the prospect of 'holding paper' over the heads of chronic alcoholics who are serial offenders reduce the number of drunk drivers on the road?  Will the states revocation of driving privileges deter serial offenders from driving to work, the liquor store or anywhere else? Evidence suggest that it will not, in fact data from other states who have extended their "look-back windows" to "get tough on drunk driving" shows that most individuals in violet of these stringent statutes are individuals who achieve a period of sobriety and relapse years later, forcing them to be punished again for offenses already atoned for. Does this not create a discriminatory paradox for alcoholic individuals under the guise of public safety?

Many libertarians are sometimes quick to dismiss the "harms no one but themselves" aspect of offenses when public safety is concerned out of personal fear and unknown probability, especially when the offense involves a individual deemed 'morally less-than' in society's eyes. The reality is compounding punishment for any offense expost facto is not only constitutionally questionable but realistically only serves the interest of the state who's role in cases like this is to punish and extort through the court. All this bill has really accomplished is insuring that the state can "reach back and fuck someone for something they were already punished for" according to one anonymous recovering alcoholic, "This bill is more about taking the states licensure privileges away from second-class citizens than deterrence and it will do little to dissuade individuals in active alcoholism from hanging up their keys for several reasons"