Legislators on Kentucky Tonight not only brought their verbal skills to the table Monday night; the discussion was replete with metaphors and analogies too, as both Democrats and Republicans took stabs (oops!) at explaining why the General Assembly hasn’t passed a much- needed public employee pension plan.
With only two days remaining in the session next week, both houses are mired in a debate over details of the plan and how pensions will be funded in the future.
Kentucky is staring a billion dollar unfunded liability in the current plan right in the face with no solution in sight. Negotiations between desperate House and Senate ideas are supposed to take place this week in order to avoid a special session of the legislature which the governor says he might call if a bill is not agreed to by March 26th.
There were other bills discussed last night—hemp, fixes to “pill mill” legislation passed last year, raising the high school graduation age from 16 to 18 and others which you can see and hear by viewing the full program.
Join me and my “Kentucky Tonight” guests at 8/7 pm CT on KET.
Our topic is the looming “Fiscal Cliff.” My guests are a panel of experts on the subject: Jason Bailey, director of The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy; Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions; Malcolm Robinson, economics professor and economics department chair at Thomas More College; and Tres Watson, chairman of the Kentucky Young Republican Federation. We’ll discuss what’s involved and how it might affect Kentucky families and businesses. Tune in and join the conversation:
WinterPledge finished up last night and everyone here at KET wants to say THANKS to all of you who called or went online to tell us you appreciate our programs and want to see them continue; it was our opportunity to step out of our regular programs and thank you for the support you’ve given us over the years.
Tonight, Monday, December 5th, Kentucky Tonight returns to its regular time slot at 8/7 pm CT. We’re tackling the tough subject of restoration of voting rights for convicted felons. This is Representative Jesse Crenshaw’s House legislation, which has passed the Kentucky House of Representatives several times, but failed in the Senate. Kentucky and Virginia have the distinction of placing tighter restrictions on voting than most other states; 48 states have some level of restriction, but if those are met, allow felon’s to vote in elections.
Our guests tonight are:
Ed Monahan, Kentucky Public Advocate
Dave Stengel, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Jefferson County
John Roach, a Lexington lawyer and former counsel to Governor Ernie Fletcher
Allen Trimble, Commonwealth’s Attorney for McCreary and Whitely Counties
Let us know how you feel by calling, emailing, or sending us a Tweet during the show! Send questions to kytonight@ket.org (please include name and town or county) or use the message form at the Kentucky Tonight website. For questions during the program, call (800) 494-7605.
