1/3 in the books

The 2020 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly passed its one-third mark last week and when the chambers adjourned on Friday, concluded the twenty-third legislative day of the 60-day session. After a slower pace in January, the legislature started this month in a different gear with lots of bills moving through committee and longer time in chambers considering bills on the floor. Much of that activity this week surrounded the budget, priority bills and contested legislative proposals.

Budget

Budget Director John Hicks appeared before back-to-back hearings of the Senate and House Appropriations and Revenue Committee and gave the committees more detail on the spending and revenue proposals outlined in Gov. Beshear’s budget address. The budget and revenue proposals filed as HB 352 and HB 351, respectively are summarized HERE by the Office of the State Budget Director. Legislators raised a number of questions and House A&R Committee Chair Steven Rudy indicated that both the House and the Senate would make significant changes before the entire matter likely ends up in a Free Conference Committee. 

The week also saw numerous meetings of the House Budget Review Subcommittees as various agencies appeared before legislators on their specific budgets. This process will dominate much of the remainder of the month before the House produces its version of the budget. We have prepared an overview of the process which can be viewed HERE.

Priority Bills

SB 1, Sen. D. Carroll’s sanctuary city bill passed the Senate, largely on a party line vote, and has been received in the House. Other Senate priority bills seeing action this week included SB 8, the school safety bill that passed the House 78-7 and SB 7 remaking school councils and dealing with principal selection passed the Senate 20-15. 

HB 1, Speaker Meade’s proposal to revise public assistance programs didn’t move in the process this week, but continued to receive scrutiny and was the subject of various meetings. The concerns are with its provisions for moving individuals off Medicaid and onto employer health insurance rolls. We expect the bill to move in the coming week, but we are also expecting a committee substitute moving away from an employer mandate to provide group coverage and towards a subsidized individual market plan. 

Contested Legislation

Perhaps the most significant activity of the week was in the Senate Health & Welfare Committee. The Committee heard and favorably reported SB 30 (Sen. S. Meredith) to limit the number of Medicaid Managed Care organization (MCO) contracts to three. SB 30 is posted for passage in the Senate on Monday. The Committee also favorably reported Sen. Wise’s SB 50, the Medicaid pharmacy carve out bill. The bill passed committee despite warnings from advocates for rural hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers that the bill will have the unintended consequence of harming access to rural healthcare by jeopardizing the 340-B pharmacy program. SB 50 has two readings and can be put before the Senate for a vote at any time.  

The sports wagering bill, HB 137 (Rep. A. Koenig) did not move in the House. The bill was favorably reported by the House committee on January 15 and posted for passage on January 17, but has not been called for a vote. Gov. Beshear and Rep. Koenig held a press conference this week in an effort to get the bill moving. Even if the bill is voted and passes the House, its prospects in the Senate are uncertain. In published reports, Senate leaders expressed different opinions with President Robert Stivers being quoted as doubtful of its support in the Majority Caucus, while Leader Thayer and Caucus Chair Adams expressed optimism that it could also pass the Senate. The Governor’s budget proposal includes $37 million over the biennium in revenues assuming this legislation reaches final passage.

HB 136, the bill of Rep. J. Nemes and more than thirty co-sponsors to legalize medical marijuana remains in the House Judiciary Committee and, although it has not been posted for committee hearing, is rumored to be undergoing revisions and may be heard in Judiciary next week with amendments solving some questions raised by the House GOP caucus. 

Big I Legislative Update

Activity on insurance related bills continues to be very light with neither the Senate nor the House Committee meeting during the week.  

HB 313 (Rep. J. Fischer), a bill to expand the insurance fraud reporting immunity to the NICB and to update insurance code discounts for auto security devices passed the House and has been assigned to the Senate B&I committee. 

Key Bills

Introductions remained slow and there were no significant bill filings during the week. Here is a quick view of the main bills we are monitoring as the legislature closed out January. As always, please let us know if a bill of interest has been omitted or if you have any questions.

SB12 - R. Alvarado

SB84 - R. Girdler

HB53 - M. Prunty

HB313 - J. Fischer

HB173 - M. Cantrell

HB272 - S. Riley

Legislative Calendar

The Legislative Calendar for the session is available online, but here are a few dates to keep in mind under the current calendar: