2008 Woodie Awards
Lawmakers tangle through session end
Associated Press
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
The clock on the House chamber wall Tuesday night stopped on 11:54 p.m. for more than an hour, while lawmakers scrambled back and forth and some shouted to go home.
Across the Capitol a wall clock in the Senate froze 10 minutes before the stroke of midnight. Lawmakers at one point erupted into a chorus of "Happy Birthday" in honor of state Sen. Julian Carroll.
While it may have appeared to the outside world that Tuesday had turned into the early morning hours of Wednesday, inside the Kentucky State Capitol time stood still.
"I've been here 24 years," Rep. Larry Clark, the House Speaker Pro Tem from Louisville, said. "It was the worst ending I've ever seen. I'm embarrassed to be part of leadership, embarrassed that it happened that way."
When the commotion ended and the General Assembly finally adjourned just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, lawmakers left with a number of measures unresolved _ from a proposed overhaul of the state pension system to about $200 million in proposed road construction projects. Kentucky lawmakers also failed to approve changes to the state's campaign finance law, or toughen the state's government ethics law.
Gov. Steve Beshear called it a "disappointing session," one in which his proposals to increase the state's tax on cigarettes by 70 cents and legalize casino gambling stalled. Beshear, a Democrat who took office in December, said lawmakers should have raised more revenue to offset the funding cuts for various government agencies and public universities set to take effect this summer.
Kentucky is facing a $900 million revenue shortfall over the next two fiscal years. Still, Beshear said, lawmakers had managed to approve some measures that would benefit people such as one to require youngsters under age 7 to sit in booster seats while riding in cars.
"It was partly disappointing because, I think, of the seeming dysfunction of the legislative process from time to time," Beshear said. "It's gotten so partisan that it is difficult to get anything done."
Across the Capitol a wall clock in the Senate froze 10 minutes before the stroke of midnight. Lawmakers at one point erupted into a chorus of "Happy Birthday" in honor of state Sen. Julian Carroll.
While it may have appeared to the outside world that Tuesday had turned into the early morning hours of Wednesday, inside the Kentucky State Capitol time stood still.
"I've been here 24 years," Rep. Larry Clark, the House Speaker Pro Tem from Louisville, said. "It was the worst ending I've ever seen. I'm embarrassed to be part of leadership, embarrassed that it happened that way."
When the commotion ended and the General Assembly finally adjourned just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, lawmakers left with a number of measures unresolved _ from a proposed overhaul of the state pension system to about $200 million in proposed road construction projects. Kentucky lawmakers also failed to approve changes to the state's campaign finance law, or toughen the state's government ethics law.
Gov. Steve Beshear called it a "disappointing session," one in which his proposals to increase the state's tax on cigarettes by 70 cents and legalize casino gambling stalled. Beshear, a Democrat who took office in December, said lawmakers should have raised more revenue to offset the funding cuts for various government agencies and public universities set to take effect this summer.
Kentucky is facing a $900 million revenue shortfall over the next two fiscal years. Still, Beshear said, lawmakers had managed to approve some measures that would benefit people such as one to require youngsters under age 7 to sit in booster seats while riding in cars.
"It was partly disappointing because, I think, of the seeming dysfunction of the legislative process from time to time," Beshear said. "It's gotten so partisan that it is difficult to get anything done."
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