A Weekly Legislative Update from the Kentucky Rural Water Association

Deadlines for New Bills Pass

The deadlines for the introduction of new bills in both the House and Senate expired this week. Several new bills have been added to our tracking sheet as a result of legislators hustling to get their bills in the hopper. However, as we have reported previously, this has been a down year as far as the number of bills introduced during the session. There have been 594 House Bills, 225 House Resolutions, 232 Senate Bills and 198 Senate Resolutions introduced before this session of the legislature. This total of 1249 bills and resolutions in 2010 compares to a total of 1613 bills and resolutions that were introduced in 2008, the last long session.

Our energies this week were directed toward soliciting KRWA member responses to Senate Bill 167 and House Bill 474, which we alerted you to in the last issue. Thanks to all who responded to our request for feedback! There were many good points brought up regarding both bills.

Most of the calls regarding SB 167 have been unsupportive.  However, it has brought some very good organizational issues to the forefront. It is now our understanding that this legislation will not be pursued during this session.  Nonetheless, we expect that these issues will be brought up at a future legislative session.

We have received a wide array of responses to HB 474, both positive and negative. The majority of those responding indicated that they do not wish for it to be mandatory for utilities to join KY811. Most believe that it should be the utility’s individual business decision on whether or not to join. Several utilities want to continue to operate as their own protection notification center, as allowed by the current law. They view mandatory membership as an additional expense with no anticipated extra benefits. Mandatory membership in KY811 is viewed as another unfunded mandate.

Historically, our Board of Directors looks at legislative issues by asking the question “Will this bill do any harm to our membership?” As stated earlier, current law allows utilities to decide for themselves whether they operate as their own Protection Notification Center or join Kentucky Underground Protection, Inc.  This allows KRWA members to choose how to best utilize their limited resources. HB 474 would take that choice away from our members. On that premise, KRWA opposes HB 474 as currently filed.

HB 474 is expected to be heard before the House Military and Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday, March 10.  Please contact your representative to voice your opposition to HB 474 and its mandatory requirements!

We have abandoned our traditional legislative tracking sheets in favor of a simpler method of tracking the activity of the General Assembly. Each issue will be available in pdf format and will contain summary information for each bill that we track with a section that details the most recent activity with the bill. We will continue to highlight timely legislative news that is important to our members in each issue. If you would like to suggest that we include a bill for tracking, please contact KRWA. Here are the bills that have been pre-filed and those that have been introduced thus far that affect our members:

.

Keeping up with the Legislature has never been easier! The state has updated its Legislative website: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/legislation.htm. From this site, you can view all bills and resolutions, contact legislators by email and check on legislative committee schedules and calendars. You can reach a legislator in person by calling 502-564-8100 (not toll-free).

The toll-free meeting schedule information line is 1-800-633-9650. The toll-free message line is 1-800-372-7181, to leave a message for a legislator or an entire committee. The TTY message line is 1-800-896-0305. En Espanol, el nombre es 1-866-840-6574. The toll-free bill status number is 1-866-840-2835.

Every issue of e-Liaison will contain summary information for each bill that we track with a section that details the most recent activity with the bill. We will continue to highlight timely legislative news that is important to our members in each issue. If you would like to suggest that we add a bill to the e-Liaison for tracking, please contact KRWA. By clicking on the bill number it will link you to the bill summary on the LRC’s website.