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Joe Sonka 😐

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Mar 8 • 11 tweets • 2 min read

Kentucky House and Senate have gaveled in for Day 42 of the session.

Kentucky House now taking up HB 51 to ban local school districts from having mask mandates.

Rep. Nemes speaks for the bill, but Rep. Koenig (R) speaks against it, says this should be up to local elected officials and not the state. Says legislature would be hypocritical to pass a bill last year to leave mask decisions to local districts, and now pass a bill reversing it

HB 51 would also ban mandates at universities and childcare centers, with the state legislature making that decision for all local schools and centers.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Sen. Southworth is the lone vote against the Dolly Parton Imagination Library bill.

Looking like narrow-ish passage for HB 28

(Relatively!)

HB 51 (not 28!) to ban mask mandates in local schools,l colleges and childcare centers passes 56-35.

12 GOP no votes were Banta, Dixon, Koch, Koenig, DuPlessis, S. Lewis, Massey, McCool, Petrie, Prunty, Timoney and Sheldon.

House now voting to concur with the Senate changes to HB 4, the bill significantly restricting unemployment insurance eligibility.

House concurs with HB 4 by a 58-36 to give it final passage and send it to Beshear's desk for his very likely veto. With 58 votes today, the chamber could easily override that veto when it comes back.

14 Republicans voted against HB 4, one less than the 15 that voted against it the first time. Unlike the heated debate lost time, HB 4 concurrence was very short with no debate.

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More from @joesonka

Joe Sonka 😐

@joesonka

Mar 9

Just about every college sports coach in Kentucky will be here in the rotunda for Gov. Beshear’s signing of the NIL bill at 10:30.

Cal, Walz, Kyra Elzy & Rhyne Howard seated by each other ahead of Gov. Beshear signing SB 6, the NIL bill

Sen. Wise says he hopes Sen. McGarvey takes this legislation to pass in Congress in perhaps his next position.

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Joe Sonka 😐

@joesonka

Mar 9

KY Senate budget committee going over changes made to HB 1, the House GOP’s 2-year budget plan

Budget passes committee on party-line vote. McGarvey says Democrats still haven’t seen the committee sub and were only briefed on it by McDaniel an hour ago.

According to McDaniel, the Senate version of HB 1 would leave $1.75 billion in the rainy day fund and would leave $1.278 billion unspent after those two years, even accounting for the $1.015 billion of tax rebates in SB 194.

Read 6 tweets

Joe Sonka 😐

@joesonka

Mar 8

Just In: The Kentucky Senate budget committee will finally take up and vote on HB 1 tomorrow morning, the 2-year executive branch budget bill passed by the House in mid-January.

This will undoubtedly be a committee sub that we learn the contents of shortly before it is voted on in the 9am meeting.

Also Just In: House Education committee will meet tomorrow night after adjournment, taking up SB 83, the bill banning transgender girls from girls athletics, and HB 277, which creates a student loan forgiveness program for teachers.

Read 4 tweets

Joe Sonka 😐

@joesonka

Mar 8

KY House State Govt committee about to meet. They will take up HB 28, the original version of which would have prohibited governments, colleges & private employers from enacting rules requiring employees/customers of disclosing vaccine status & prohibiting discrimination on that

The committee sub for HB 28 that I've seen completely throws out the prohibition on private employers doing so. This one is sponsored by Rep. Savannah Maddox and has been a big cause of the anti-vax/mask mandate crowd going back to last year.

Committee is also taking up two mystery shell bills that we'll learn the contents of soon: HB 516 related to state government and HB 594 related to economic development.

Read 12 tweets

Joe Sonka 😐

@joesonka

Mar 8

https://twitter.com/joesonka/status/1500961741630586883

And there it is, HB 28 to ban private employers from having vaccine rules is scheduled to get a hearing and vote in House State Govt committee tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/joesonka/status/1500961741630586883

In addition to the economic development mystery shell bill I mentioned earlier, this State Govt committee will also have an additional mystery shell bill in HB 516. I’m also told HB 28 will have a committee sub that isn’t public yet.