Herald-Leader on board against HB 184
You should log onto your e-mail, pick up the phone, collar your representative in person, or even take pen in hand to protest this bill. It is a license for government by the few, in secret.
HB 184 is arcane, legalistic and procedural. But what it essentially says is that when a few powerful House and Senate members get together to hammer out the final details of the budget that, in addition to fiddling with appropriations, they can change anything that's been passed that session.
It goes even farther, because they've already been doing that. It says those changes will be permanent, not just for the period the budget is in effect, as is currently the case.
If this bill passes, most legislators, and all ordinary citizens, will be locked out of the process of making the laws that govern us.
What's done in the open, through committee hearings, debate and compromise, could be undone in secret. History and human nature tell us that that would lead to government for the privileged few with access and power.
Kentucky's history is unfortunately littered with examples that prove the point. The fallout is everywhere around us: poverty, ill health, limited economic opportunity, lagging educational achievement and a damaged environment. The bill's champions, most notably its sponsor, Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, say it's really a simple matter, a way of setting things straight because courts can't seem to understand this is the way laws are supposed to be made.
The Kentucky Constitution says revenue bills are not supposed to deal with anything but revenue (Sec. 47) and that a bill should deal with only the one subject described in the title (Sec. 51).
Congrats! Good job!
