Report to the People
By: State Senator Ernie Harris

The historic session of the 2001 General Assembly has come to an end, and a number of bills passed that will benefit all Kentuckians. Some of the highlights of the session include environmental legislation, mine safety legislation, tax reform, more protection for schools, assistance for high heating bills, and many more.

Perhaps the most important bill to come out of the session is Senate Bill 2, the so-called "brownfields" legislation. This bill establishes a voluntary cleanup program for  contaminated industrial sites, known as brownfields, and will lead to economic development in all parts of Kentucky. A similar program in Pennsylvania led to the cleanup of over 800 polluted sites and to the creation of over 20,000 jobs. SB 2 also created a fund to help cleanup abandoned tobacco warehouses and turn that land into usable commercial space.

Another important piece of legislation revamped the Mine Safety Board. The existing Board will retain the powers of education, training, and regulatory functions, but the ability to levy penalties against those violating mine safety laws will rest in the Mine Safety Review Commission. This new Mine Safety Commission, made up of three people with qualifications of appellate judges, will bring greater accountability to enforcing the regulations that keep our coal miners safe. Kentucky leads the nation in coal mine fatalities, but by toughening penalties for those who violate mine safety laws, we will hopefully improve on that horrendous statistic.

Tax reform is another issue the Senate dealt with this session. There is universal agreement that our Commonwealth's tax code needs to be revamped so it is fair and more in line with surrounding states. To do so, the General Assembly created the Tax Policy Issues Subcommittee to look at our tax code and report its recommendations before the 2002 regular session of the legislature.

Those major initiatives were flanked by several other excellent bills. Law enforcement agencies can no longer practice racial profiling; we passed legislation that will help prevent utility cut-offs and help low-income households limit the percentage of income spent on home heating bills; we protected schools by increasing the penalty of making a bomb threat against a school or government building; we improved access to higher education by providing foster children or adopted children with free tuition to any Kentucky university or college; and we've adjusted the standards on practicing psychology that will increase accessibility to mental health
services in rural areas of Kentucky.

We were also able to lay the groundwork for the 2002 session. An example of that is the debate surrounding black lung. Reforms dealing with black lung will require countless hours of research. The Governor claimed that actuaries have estimated the annual cost to the coal industry to increase from about one million dollars a year from anywhere between $3.8 to $5.7 million dollars. He also stated the proposed changes will not affect the cost of workers' compensation for non-coal employers.

However, other evidence that was offered during a hearing of the Economic Development, Labor, and Tourism Committee indicated more than $100 million in additional claims could result for both coal and non-coal businesses. The truth is probably somewhere in between those numbers, but all of these cost estimates need to be investigated before we make any changes in the current system.

Since we intend to act responsibly regarding changes to workers' compensation, we have begun to study this issue to determine what changes need to be made specifically regarding black lung. You will recall that during the 2000 Session of the General Assembly, Senate Republicans doubled the benefits to the truly disabled workers while keeping premiums affordable for businesses. 

The 2001 session of the General Assembly ended with several important pieces of legislation being enacted into law. We also laid the foundation to begin working toward the 2002 session. Over the next nine months, I encourage you to contact me and share your thoughts on issues. Your input will enable me to make the right decisions on the issues affecting our Commonwealth. You can call and leave me a message at 1-800-372-7181. Or you can contact me at home. My number is 502-241-2821. I look forward to hearing from you soon.