Although 2007 saw the AGC of Kentucky along with the Kentucky Construction Coalition push forward a major legislative initiative with the passage of HB-490, the Fairness in Kentucky Construction Act — this year we enter the session with more modest expectations. Granted much of this session may involve remaining vigilant for any potential threats to last year’s successful legislative initiatives and a few small steps forward for the construction industry.

During the 2008 session to date much attention in Frankfort has been focused upon the dire state of the Commonwealth’s budget with consensus forecasters predicting shortfalls which have led the new administration to propose cuts of 12% or greater in higher education. Revenues are projected to be $121.1 million less than previously expected for the current fiscal year, while several state agencies say they’ll need $166 million extra just to keep the lights on through June. It remains to be seen how the financial pressure placed upon policy makers to reconcile the current significant budget deficit with an infusion of additional tax monies or casino licensing fees will ultimately play out.

There have been a number of construction related bills introduced during the 2008 session related to construction. Here is a bulleted summary of just a few of the more than 400 bills we are following this session. For more details be sure to subscribe to our weekly legislative update which is sent to AGC members each Friday during the session.

• Electrical licensing bill (HB-310) to change the annual registration for electricians.
• A number of bills have been introduced which relate to undocumented workers including HB-95 and HB-304.
• Two bills (HB-111 and HB-177) relate to postsecondary and university debt bonding.
• Bills relating to local Tax Increment Financing (HB-430) and performance bonding (HB-481) have been introduced.
• There have been a number of bills introduced that could raise your cost of purchasing health insurance including Chiropractor fees (HB-148), provider reimbursement for dialysis treatment (HB-433 and SB-39) and various new “mandates” on health care coverage including HB-162 and SB-196.

The introduction of HB-537 casino gaming legislation other bills which could affect the construction industry were introduced to considerably less fanfare and attention or progressed through the legislative process by either reaching the floor of the House or Senate or by passing committee’s.

On Thursday of last week Rep. Yonts (D-Greenville) introduced HB-534 which is intended to address a problem of ensuring appropriate notification occurs when a workers compensation insurance policy has lapsed, expired or been cancelled. In short a general contractor or subcontractor must be notified by the insurance carrier when a workers’ compensation policy held by a sub-sub contractor is cancelled.

The week also saw significant progress on the issue of “functional equivalency” through the successful passage of SB-100 (Sen. Tapp, R-Shelbyville) by the Senate State & Local Government Committee and is expected to be voted upon by the full Senate next week. This legislation which AGC of Kentucky supports would amend the current definition of “best value” to allow for items of equal quality or durability to be used if they “perform equally the function imposed by the general design for the public work being contracted for or the material being purchased; and it conforms substantially, even with deviations, to the detailed requirements for the item in the specifications.”

AGC of Kentucky’s efforts to support the small business communities ability to purchase health insurance for employees made progress this week as well with the introduction of HB-533. The legislation expands on the current ICARE (Insurance, Coverage Affordability and Relief) program and increases the number of eligible companies who might qualify for the tax credit for health insurance purchases. The proposal would allow companies with between 2 and 50 employees to participate in the ICARE program the previous maximum number of employees was 25.

Archived in: 2008 Session, Budget, Functional Equivalency