Winter 2013 E-Newsletter

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Legislative Session-2013

The formal Kentucky legislative session begins on Tuesday, January 9. However, many legislators have already prefiled bills, some of which are of special interest to the League of Women Voters of Kentucky. Representative Jesse Crenshaw’s bill (BR 166), which calls for automatically returning the right to vote to former felons who have served their sentence, is the same bill that did not pass in the last session. Our coalition partners and I think that the bill has a good chance of passing this year as there is new leadership in the legislature. We will lobby for this bill again in this session.

Another bill that we are supporting is Representative Jim Wayne’s bill (BR 233) calling for public financing of judicial campaigns, beginning with Supreme Court justices. Most citizens that we talked to last session agreed that judges should not be beholden to any special interest groups. We want our judges to be free of influence from anyone. The last bill that we are interested in is Senator Denise Harper Angel’s bill (BR 26), which has to do with dating and domestic violence. We are looking to National to inform us if we have a position on dating and domestic violence (more to follow).

When we have a “call to action” on the bills we are supporting, I would appreciate it if you would call the legislative message line (1-800-372-7181) and leave a message of support. Legislators like to know if there is real support from Kentucky citizens for the bills they introduce and champion. I hope that the upcoming session is a productive one and that the bills we support will become law.

Terry Naydan

LWV Legislative Liaison