http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/28/historic-drug-law-reform-passes/FRANKFORT — Kentucky lawmakers, seeking to curb fast-rising prison costs, wrapped up work Monday on legislation to bolster treatment programs and alternative sentences to keep nonviolent criminals from clogging prisons.
The Republican-led Senate voted 38-0 in a show of bipartisan unity for revamping the state's drug laws. The Democratic-controlled House quickly followed with final passage on a 96-1 vote after accepting Senate revisions to the version it previously passed.
The measure -- becoming perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the legislative session that's more than two-thirds complete -- now goes to Gov. Steve Beshear.
Beshear promptly hailed the bill as "historic" and signaled he's eager to sign it into law.
"It is critical to find sensible ways to be smart on crime while remaining tough on criminals, and Kentucky will surely be held as an example for other states to follow," the Democratic governor said in a statement praising the bill.
Kentucky has been saddled with one of the nation's fastest-growing prison populations, and as a result taxpayer spending on corrections has soared by more than 300 percent since 1989.
Supporters said the measure could reap $422 million in gross savings over a decade. About half that would be reinvested into treatment, probation and parole programs to reduce the ranks of repeat offenders crowding prisons.
"We will be giving offenders a better chance to really change and become productive citizens and taxpayers rather than tax burdens," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom Jensen said during the Senate debate.
The bill also features a corrections assistance fund to help financially strapped counties.
The net savings from the legislation is projected at $147 million over 10 years.
Supporters hailed the bill as a way to constrain corrections costs -- the second-fastest-growing segment of Kentucky's budget. It trails only Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program covering low-income and disabled people.
Jensen, who shepherded the measure through the Senate, assured his Senate colleagues that the bill preserves tough sentences for violent offenders and serious drug criminals.
The bill seeks to reverse the state's escalating prison population by steering more nonviolent drug offenders into alternative sentences and treatment rather than prison time.
"Being tough on crime doesn't always mean prison time, said Jensen, R-London.
He said the proposal will reduce repeat offenses, hold criminals accountable and control corrections costs.
Senators also talked about the human toll taken by drug abuse, and the hope offered by treatment programs.
Senate President David Williams predicted "lives will be changed and opportunities will be given" with the bill's enactment. He said it recognizes "the possibility of forgiveness and redemption and change in people's lives."
Williams, R-Burkesville, called it "one of the best days" he's seen in his long legislative career.
Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said the bill would give badly needed help to rural areas hard-pressed to offer treatment programs that keep pace with the spread of drug addiction.
She said the treatment offers hope that "the power of addiction can be overcome."
Much of rising prison population is from the state's growing scourge of illegal drugs.
After the Senate vote, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, predicted the measure's impact "will be felt for years to come." Tilley and Jensen teamed up as the bill's most ardent advocates in steering it through the General Assembly in an election year that will be highlighted by the governor's race.
"To have such nonpartisan and enthusiastic support is just more than I could ask for," Tilley said.
While maintaining harsh penalties for serious drug offenders, the bill sets a proportionate scale of penalties so trafficking in larger quantities of drugs is punished more severely than sales of small amounts for personal use.
Efforts to better assess risks posed by offenders would be among changes in probation and parole policies.
The measure allows deferred prosecution or a presumptive probation sentence for first- and second-time drug possession offenders. It seeks to enable parole and probation officers to focus on those most likely to become repeat offenders.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers said the sweeping bill should be just a start in revamping Kentucky's criminal code.
Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, said decades of revisions have resulted in an "irrational penal code."
Neal said the legislation headed to Beshear "is a step toward common sense." Looking ahead to next year's legislative session, he added: "We need to build on this and we shouldn't take our eye off this."
Tilley predicted the next phase of the review will look at such issues as sentences and classification of felonies.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110228/NEWS0101/302280120/Kentucky-house-votes-legalize-fireworksMany fireworks that have been prohibited in the state for years would become legal under a bill passed Monday by the Kentucky House.
House Bill 333, which passed on a 92-6 vote with two Republicans and four Democrats opposed, would allow the sale and use of fireworks that explode or shoot up into the air – fireworks that have been banned in Kentucky since at least 1982.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain. Senate Republican spokeswoman Lourdes Baez Schrader said the Senate is focused on other issues.
Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, said he sponsored the bill after attending a Tennessee event where fireworks were being sold.
“Most of the people there were from Kentucky,” said Bell, who said Kentucky is losing lots of tax money. Since many people already shoot off fireworks in violation of the law, he figured the state might as well make it legal for them.
Bell also said state fire officials are concerned that they don't know what fireworks are being sold and stored now in Kentucky, often at roadside tents around Independence Day. Bell's bill would require that those selling fireworks notify the fire marshal in advance about where fireworks would be sold.
Under the bill, sellers would have to obtain a license costing $250 annually for seasonal vendors and $500 for year-round vendors.
The bill would require those who use large “display” fireworks to have a permit from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Anyone over the age of 18 would be allowed to use “consumer” fireworks as long as they aren't within 200 feet of a structure, car or another person.
Generally speaking, Bell said, “consumer” fireworks are shorter than 1.75 inches and have a small amount of explosive material in them.
Fireworks that would be made legal under Bell's bill include firecrackers, bottle rockets and roman candles.
Currently, only a few fireworks are allowed in Kentucky, including sparklers, fountains and torches with pyrotechnic material, wheels that are nailed to trees and ground spinners.
Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville and a nurse, a co-sponsor of HB 333, said she favors requiring vendors to obtain permits and report where their fireworks are being stored. But she said she doesn't like the portion of the bill that legalizes currently prohibited fireworks and hopes to come back later and make them illegal again.
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