LRC’s Capitol Notes: Drug control bill,
transportation funding plan both advance

From Kentucky Legislative
Research commission
 

Tuesday, April 17
 

The House Judiciary Committee has approved legislation that would crack down on illegal prescribing of controlled substances.
 

House Bill 1, sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and House Judiciary Committee Chair John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, would require pain management clinics in the state to be owned and operated by providers licensed to practice in Kentucky. Providers would be required to enter prescribed or dispensed pain medications in KASPER (the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting drug-tracking system), which would be moved under the bill from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the attorney general’s office.
 

HB 1 would also set mandatory standards for disciplining licensed providers who improperly prescribe controlled substances and would allow the Attorney General to impose an annual fee of up to $50 on providers to pay for maintenance of KASPER.
 

HB 1 now goes to the full House for consideration.
  

House panel approves transportation funding plan
 

A bill to pay for the $4.7 billion two-year state road plan cleared the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.
 

House Bill 2, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, which includes the state Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget for fiscal years 2012-2014, was approved after brief debate by lawmakers and Transportation Cabinet officials on the funding scheme for replacement of two bridges between Louisville and Indiana.
 

“Before us today is the language that had been agreed to between the House and Senate” during the 2012 Regular Session, which ended last Thursday, Rand said.
 

The two-year road plan, found in House Bill 267 which was approved by the House and Senate during the 2012 regular session, includes: Over $1 billion for state construction, around $1.4 billion in federal highway construction and maintenance, around $250 million in federal funds for bridge replacement (including bridges on small county roads), around $200 million for improvements to I-65, and funding to complete base realignment and closure (BRAC) bond improvements at Fort Knox, among other provisions.
 

The General Assembly and its administrative arm the Legislative Research Commission encourage citizen involvement in the workings of their branch of government, and maintain several means for them to do so.
 

The Legislature’s website — lrc.ky.gov – includes comprehensive information about legislators, the legislative process, and the progress of work during the session. Contact numbers, daily meeting schedules, bill summaries and full texts, bill status information, and other information to get you involved are all posted there.
 

To leave a message for any legislator: 800-372-7181
 
 
To check the status of a bill: 866-840-2835
  

To check meeting schedules: 800-633-9650
 
 
For further information, contact scott.payton@lrc.ky.gov
 
 
The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission (LRC) was created in 1948 as a nonpartisan, fact-finding service agency. The commission operates as the administrative and research arm of the General Assembly. LRC provides these regular news updates during the annual Kentucky legislative sessions.