Calling it “one of my most satisfying acts as governor,” Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law the Graduation Bill (Senate Bill 97), which will keep Kentucky students enrolled in school until they turn 18.

Beshear and first lady Jane Beshear joined educators and child advocates to fight for this bill’s passage for the past five legislative sessions. A late-session compromise among legislators led to the approval of SB97, which allows school districts to opt in to the higher dropout age immediately. Once 55 percent of school districts adopt the policy, all remaining districts must then adopt the standard within four years.

Pendleton County Fiscal Court meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., March 26, 2013.

Tentative agenda will go as follows: Call to order, prayer, pledge, approval of agenda, approval of minutes, approval of treasure's report, presentation of jail budget 2013-2014, KACO Bond amendment, Rural Aid contract amendment for blacktop, John Gosney contract for 2013-2014, contract renewal for Green Flag collections, contract for community service worker insurance, Catawba update, transfers, pay bills, closing remarks by Judge Bertram/magistrates and adjourn.

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The state Senate voted 37-0 to approve Senate Bill 1, which is based on Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ recommendations to protect military and overseas citizens’ voting rights.

The version of the bill passed by the Senate would allow military and overseas citizens to register to vote and update their registration online, ensure that military and overseas voters have sufficient time to vote in special elections and extend existing protections to state and local elections and National Guard members.

With only two days remaining to consider possible vetoes and some unresolved issues, the General Assembly completed much of its work this legislative session early last week.

Since the House and Senate only meet for 30 instead of 60 working days in odd-numbered years – and four of those are set aside to elect leaders and appoint committees – we spent the relatively short amount of time we had tackling a fairly long agenda.

Although our work is not done, we were able to pass quite a few bills that should help move the state forward in the months and years ahead.

Governor Beshear has already signed two of those into law.  One would let many of our public universities use their own revenue to build about $363 million worth of projects, with well more than half of that amount going to a new science building at the University of Kentucky and a major upgrade of UK’s Commonwealth Stadium.

The Butler City Council met on Monday, March 4. Members present in attendance were Dave Hopkins, Aaron Bonar, Gerald McElfresh, Paul Vanlandingham, Pat Taylor and Bonnie Bonar.

Bill Mitchell from Pendleton County Community Development presented to the Council the idea of a community forum at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 21. He told Council there should be a planning process for Butler's future. The forum will consist of the top five priorities for the city and what can be done or not done.

Flanked by a bipartisan group of legislators, Governor Steve Beshear signed into law House Bill 217, which makes some practical improvements to last year’s landmark prescription drug abuse legislation. The new law clarifies some protocols without diluting the original bill’s intent to attack the abuse of prescriptions in the Commonwealth.

“House Bill 1, which passed last year, was a remarkable and comprehensive effort to create real and substantial changes to upend prescription drug abuse, and it’s working,” said Gov. Beshear.  “Unlicensed pain management clinics have closed up shop. Prescriptions for the most addictive drugs have dropped every month since implementation. However, we recognized that a few issues needed to be worked out for the comfort of the most pain-stricken patients and for the practical needs of physicians, particularly in in-patient and long-term care settings. House Bill 217 makes those tweaks without reducing the impact of House Bill 1.”

By Janet Patton

A week after a first attempt, a hemp bill made it out of the Kentucky House Agriculture Committee with a nearly unanimous vote. But the bill still could die if House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, blocks a vote on the House floor.

Committee chairman Tom McKee, D-Cynthiana, said he hoped that the bill would move forward for the sake of farmers and for the jobs that he said hemp could bring to Kentucky.

McKee and state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who is pushing for the bill, both said they think the bill could pass easily in the House if a vote is allowed. The Senate passed the bill 31-6 this month.

“I’m voting for jobs,” says Chairman McKee

The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, voted 24-1 in favor of industrial hemp legislation.  Chairman Tom McKee (D-Cynthiana) made remarks prior to the vote stating “I’m voting for jobs and I’m voting for agriculture because if we truly see hundreds or even thousands of acres of industrial hemp grown, we are going to add to the receipts we now have.  It’s a crop we need to pursue.”

Rep. McKee presenting a resolution to retiring University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Dean M. Scott Smith is attached.  Rep. McKee, at center right, and Dean Smith are flanked in the back by other legislators on the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee.

In some ways, the end of a legislative session is not much different from the final weeks of the college basketball season: Both take months of preparation and teamwork to be successful; and both are at their most exciting as the clock winds down.

That proved to be the case last week as the House and Senate looked for common ground on a wide variety of issues with only a handful of days remaining to meet.

Some of the legislative session’s most pressing issues have already been signed into law.  Last month, for example, many of our four-year public universities were given the authority to begin building more than $360 million worth of projects.  On Tuesday last week, Gov. Beshear signed into law House Bill 217, a needed update to last year’s far-reaching legislation that is cracking down on prescription-drug abuse.

Outside the Capitol this week, falling snow betrayed the calendar. Inside, there was no denying it’s March in Frankfort. Committee meetings, chamber proceedings and work days stretched well past daylight’s end.  Debates and discussions lengthened and intensified. Bills were passed with urgency from committees, from chambers, from the Legislature to the governor. It all signaled one thing: the end of session is near.

Kentucky has in place a process for improvement for struggling schools. When the State Department of Education cites a school for being persistently low-achieving, there are several available options the school board including restaffing, allowing an outside management company to lead a turnaround effort, or even closing. Senate Bill 176 will add another option: the local school board can allow a petition to convert the school to a charter school.  Please keep in mind that these are extreme measures for extreme situations. Unfortunately, the fact is that we have schools that are graduating only a small percentage of students. This is unacceptable and we must give parents, teachers, and communities every tool possible to make sure our kids are college or career ready.