Tagged: 2013 KY General Assembly

As the 2013 legislative session winds down, the top priorities for each chamber are still stuck in the process and not yet law.

A bill moving Medicaid managed care late payments to the Department of Insurance's review process has overwhelmingly passed the state House. The measure passed on a unanimous vote of 99-0.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo is the bill sponsor and says his goal is to make sure health care providers start getting paid by Medicaid managed care organizations, which has been a problem since the MCO system was implemented.

"Because if claims are in fact being withheld unfairly, this will remedy that," Stumbo said. "If claims are being changed as far as the criteria goes in the claims process after they've been submitted this will change that."

Legislative pension reform is progressing through the Kentucky General Assembly. Senate Bill 7 would keep new legislators from participating in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System. It is aimed at preventing the addition of new burdens to Kentucky's pension system, despite the fact that legislator's pensions are generally well-funded.

Senate President Robert Stivers praised the bipartisan effort in his chamber to solve Kentucky's underfunded pension problem.

The House has narrowly passed two bills dealing with the state's underfunded pension system, but not without controversy.

The House passed an amended  version of Senate Bill 2, which keeps the pension systems as a defined benefit and creates a new oversight panel for Kentucky's many pension plans. It passed on party lines 55-45, with Democrats favoring.

It also passed House Bill 416, which takes revenues from the potential expansion and legalization of Instant Racing, from online lottery sales and a new Keno game.

That bill passed with 52 votes, but many Republican members argued that the action was illegal, since revenue bills take a House supermajority of 60 votes to pass in odd-year session.

Legislation that would institute a statewide smoking ban in restaurants and other public places has been sent to the House Judiciary Committee for further review, making it unlikely to pass this legislative session. 

House Speaker Greg Stumbo says he doesn't expect the measure to make it back to the full House for consideration.  The bill has proven divisive in Kentucky, one of the nation's top tobacco-producing states.