Proving a Point I Made Earlier

When I posted in support of the amendment to return the KY General Assembly to biennial meetings, I received some criticism on Bluegrass Roots.

I was told that the amount of time spent on gay-bashing and joining church and state would shrink in comparison to the good work that could be done if our legislators were given more time to meet.

My response:

I am not convinced that longer sessions would lead to proportionately smaller time spent on bad bills. I think the panderers would do what they did in 2004 with the anti-marriage amendment, which was to bring it up again and again until they got what they wanted. Meanwhile, the budget languished.

The 2008 Assembly is proving this point. Jody Williams is still looking to see if he has the votes to pass the casino bill (even if the House cannot agree on one version!).

His only worry is his lack of time:

Time is running out for the legislation, and Richards acknowledged that “momentum has been lost on it, no question about it.”

But he added, “A lot of our members would like to see that bill, that amendment pass.”

Longer, more frequent sessions would just give him time to twist more arms. In the meantime, the legislature is resistant to other approaches that would bring KY revenue because they would be unpopular with a much larger group of people.

As long as certain officeholders view the Assembly as one long campaign commercial, this sort of crap will continue. Either the legislature should be limited in its ability to hurt Kentuckians by keeping its sessions short, or some way of limiting non-budget-related bills and floor amendments should be devised.