After the first week of the 30-day legislative session came to a close, KET Kentucky Tonight host Renee Shaw and guests discussed bail reform, education, and more expected to be tackled during the 2019 General Assembly on Monday evening.
Monday’s segment included a panel of Ashli Watts, senior vice president of public affairs for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; Anne-Tyler Morgan, member of the McBrayer law firm and senior fellow with Pegasus Institute; Terry Brooks, executive director of the Kentucky Youth Advocates; and Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
The panelists commended each other’s work on criminal justice reform and agreed on the need for bail reform. Watts stated that in 2016, more than 64,000 non-violent, non-sexual offenders sat in jail for an average of 109 days in Kentucky because of not being able to afford bail, costing local governments $130 million.
Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Dave Adkisson and Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Executive Director Bailey recently co-authored an op-ed on the topic of bail reform, The emerging consensus behind reforming Kentucky’s bail system, where they highlighted the need for reforms to modernize Kentucky’s system.
As education issues took center stage the first week of session with two key education bills passing out of the full Senate, panelists discussed those pieces of legislation and other education issues including Senate Bill 1, Kentucky Chamber-supported legislation to improve school safety in Kentucky.
Other issues discussed during the Kentucky Tonight segment were tax reform, legal liability reform, and infrastructure funding.
Lawmakers will resume the 2019 legislative session on February 5 to continue work of the 30-day session.
Watch the full Kentucky Tonight episode on the KET website here.
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