Dignity of life, education, gun violence and criminal justice top Kentucky’s bishops’ list of legislative priorities for the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly, which convened Jan. 2.
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky, which represents the bishops on matters of public policy, is closely following a variety of measures — some have its support while others have drawn its concern.
Part of the CCK’s work is to promote laws “ensuring folks on the margins have what they need to thrive,” said its executive director, Jason Hall.
During an interview about the current legislative session, he said, “We have a moral obligation as a society. How we treat the most vulnerable among us defines how just a society we are.”
Senate Bill 34, a so-called Momnibus bill because of its many provisions for mothers and children, will help, said Hall.
“It’s 45 pages, a lot of provisions, but virtually every provision in this is something we’d strongly support,” he said.
The bill is sponsored by Republican lawmaker Sen. Whitney Westerfield, who also has worked on bills to ban abortion.
Hall noted that Westerfield has “said we succeeded in abortion legislation,” which effectively banned abortion in Kentucky. “We need to now do the other side and help mothers and children. That’s the impetus for doing a lot of it.”
The bill includes provisions that support mothers postpartum by expanding insurance coverage and providing Medicaid coverage for breastfeeding support and supplies. It also extends eligibility for public assistance programs to the maximum allowed by law.
Hall noted that the bill also creates a presumption of innocence for benefit recipients suspected of fraud.
“The paperwork is complicated and not always fraud; people shouldn’t be punished for mistakes on paperwork or misunderstanding eligibility,” he said.
The measure also expands accessibility to childcare and provides for the expungement of eviction records once certain criteria are met, enabling families to find a safe place to live.
“It’s a wish list of a lot of the things we could do to help economically vulnerable people,” said Hall.
The CCK is also closely following a proposal that would temporarily remove firearms from someone in crisis as a means to prevent self-inflicted harm and harm to others.
The Crisis Aversion and Retention Act allows law enforcement to seize the weapon under a temporary order that is reviewed every 90 days.
“It’s very targeted. Someone must be in crisis,” said Hall. “And it’s temporary.”
Hall said studies have shown these measures reduced suicide rates in other states. And there’s hope that such provisions could reduce mass violence as well, he said.
“If someone attempts suicide and survives it, that is typically a wake-up call for those who love them, and they get what they need. And they tend not to die by suicide later,” Hall said.
“The bishops of the United States have called for a long time for greater attention to gun violence in our society,” he added. “It should be a major concern when it comes to the sanctity of life. This bill is targeted and it’s drafted very much with the culture of Kentucky in mind.”
School choice, an issue the CCK has worked on for decades, will be in front of lawmakers again this session. A rally in support of school choice legislation is set for Jan. 25 at the capitol in Frankfort, Ky.
The Kentucky Supreme Court struck down bipartisan school choice legislation passed in 2021, finding it violated the section of the Kentucky Constitution that prohibits the state from raising money for non-public schools.
The CCK supports an amendment to the state’s constitution to pave the way for school choice through a ballot referendum.
“The church teaches that parents have the right and responsibility to direct their education,” said Hall. “The church has taught in many different ways that access to education is a justice issue. We believe a part of that is empowering parents. Education options bring that into reality. People with financial means already have choices, we’d like to extend that choice to people without financial means.”
The CCK is also interested in supporting proposals that promote affordable housing, said Hall. And it supports House Bill 38, which would abolish the death penalty.
In contrast, the CCK is concerned about some provisions in House Bill 5, slated as the Safer Kentucky Act.
“We are concerned about numerous provisions of the bill. Our approach right now is to try to get our big concerns addressed and maybe some more positive stuff put in. If it remains in its current form we would oppose it,” said Hall.
He said the measure emphasizes incarceration as the answer to many of Kentucky’s problems.
“The idea that the answer to homelessness is incarceration, that the answer to drug abuse is incarceration. These are the solutions that are being offered,” he noted.
“That is not the answer. Kentucky is near the top in the country when it comes to the percentage of children with an incarcerated parent,” he said.
Hall said that in every session of the General Assembly for the past 50 years, lawmakers have expanded penalties.
“That has societal costs,” he said. “Dangerous people need to be separated from the public. But when you’re talking about homeless people and drug abuse, criminal prosecution is not the answer to the problem.”
Hall said some rhetoric about crime is fomenting fear without cause.
“There’s this idea that crime is out of control. We are near historic lows on crime rates. It’s a fraction of what it was in the 70s and 80s. It went up a little bit in the last couple years with COVID, but we’re down from that,” he said, noting that the Kentucky State Police reported a drop in crime from 2021 to 2022.
In the meantime, Hall noted, lawmakers are working on the budget this year, so many of their decisions will be driven by budgetary concerns.
The CCK opposes the General Assembly’s plan to gradually reduce the income tax in the commonwealth over concerns that the state will eventually face a budget crisis and the most vulnerable people will suffer.
Hall said that plan is also incompatible with the emphasis on incarceration in the Safer Kentucky Act.
“Incarcerating people is the most expensive thing you can do to solve social problems,” Hall said. “So those two goals are in conflict. It makes me very uncertain what’s going to win out as we go forward.”
Thank you for your constructive comments about gun violence and the destructive impact of presenting incarceration as the solution to all social problems. I wish these messages were heard from pulpits every week.