Monday, 29 June 2009
The Lost Session
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The legislative session ended last week and it was a complete waste of time and money. What did they accomplish? They passed a bill allowing Beshear to cut the budget. Something he already had the authority to do. They also passed a bill that provided a whole bunch of tax breaks. Turns out we couldn't even afford those tax breaks.
But then again the special session wasn't for budget cuts or tax breaks. No. The special session was all about an unconstitutional slots gaming bill. One that had no chance of passing from the onset. They had to put all kinds of goodies into the measure just to get it out of the house. And as expected it died in the Senate on a 10-5 vote by the budget committee. Is anyone really shocked that it died in committee? Especially when Sen Williams predicted as such months in advance.
At the end of the day, the session was pointless. An exercise in futility. A waste of taxpayer money. A waste of legislators time. A waste of a lot of things. It was a lost session.
State officials are still trying to determine how much the state must cut from its budget because lawmakers approved a host of tax breaks included in a bill that was signed into law on Friday by Gov. Steve Beshear.Normally, I don't have a problem with tax breaks, but did they have to be passed right now? Couldn't they have waited until the January session. It's not like the state is rolling in money. We didn't need a special session to spend money that we don't have. We can do that just as effectively in a normal session.
The measure includes tax breaks for active-duty military personnel, those who buy new cars and for people who buy newly built homes. Beshear signed the bill, which also included an overhaul of the state’s economic incentive programs that Beshear pushed, despite misgivings about the the impact the tax breaks added by lawmakers will have on the state’s shaky finances.
But then again the special session wasn't for budget cuts or tax breaks. No. The special session was all about an unconstitutional slots gaming bill. One that had no chance of passing from the onset. They had to put all kinds of goodies into the measure just to get it out of the house. And as expected it died in the Senate on a 10-5 vote by the budget committee. Is anyone really shocked that it died in committee? Especially when Sen Williams predicted as such months in advance.
At the end of the day, the session was pointless. An exercise in futility. A waste of taxpayer money. A waste of legislators time. A waste of a lot of things. It was a lost session.
Posted by at 9:53 PM in Kentucky Politics
