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Looking to give families more opportunities to succeed, the Kentucky House Democratic Caucus unveiled a legislative platform at a press conference today focused on five key areas: public education, household economics, healthy communities, workers’ rights, and public safety and justice reform.
“We’re calling this ‘Kentucky Forward: A vision for our families,’ because families are at the center of every one of our bills,” Caucus Leader Pamela Stevenson said. “Our proposals are also united by the fact that they are popular, affordable, and deserve to be enacted this year.”
Several of the bills align with Governor Beshear’s legislative agenda, with the highest profile being five percent raises for public school employees and authorizing pre-K for all four-year-olds.
“I’m proud to be the primary sponsor of the bill expanding preschool access because more than half of incoming kindergartners aren’t ready when they first step into a classroom,” state Rep. Anne Gay Donworth of Lexington said. “Pre-K for all would help reverse that troubling trend while saving money for many families who are having a tough time with childcare costs.”
She added that giving dedicated raises to all public school employees is also long overdue. “While I am happy that many districts have boosted pay, we still have a long way to go to bring salaries up to where they should be. The schools don’t have the resources to do this, but the state does, given our significant budget reserves.”
The caucus’ third education proposal would call for fully funding mental health services in our public schools so that goals in the law become a reality for our students. “As a parent, I know children are under incredible stress, from social media to worrying about their very lives,” she said. “It has been several years since the General Assembly called for more health professionals to tackle these and other issues. We believe our students should not have to wait another year.”
State Rep. Joshua Watkins of Louisville spoke about the need to ease the strain on families’ pocketbooks. “For a lot of families, finding and affording a home is their top concern,” he said. “There are a lot of great ideas both locally and nationally showing promise, and we’ve put several in a comprehensive policy we’re calling ‘homenibus.’ There is also a bill to protect Kentuckians facing utility shut-offs during extreme temperatures, and one of my colleagues has a proposal to make sure food and medicine are never subject to the sales taxes. We fear there will eventually be a push to add these taxes down the road, which would hurt a lot of Kentuckians.”
Rep. Watkins also spoke about needed justice reforms. “Our juvenile-justice system is in desperate need of a strategy to save our children, and we must address deeply troubling reports regarding the care of those under state supervision,” he said. “Other bills in this plank would extend workers’ comp coverage to first responders facing PTSD to help them overcome horrific things they may have experienced and removing criminal history questions from employment applications. Those who have paid their debt to society should have the chance to rebuild their lives and participate in the economy.”
State Rep. Adam Moore of Lexington covered the caucus’ plan to improve Kentucky’s collective health. “A key part of this work is building on what we have done to provide a healthier environment for our mothers and children, because Kentucky has a frightening level of maternal and infant mortality,” he said. “Last year’s law in this area gives us a good foundation, but there is much more that can be done, from including midwives in the Medicaid program to expanding care for post-partum depression. Our caucus also believes we should cap costs on life-saving EpiPens, much as we did recently for insulin, and to expand the qualifying conditions eligible for Kentucky’s medical cannabis program. Right now, eligibility here is the most restrictive in the country.”
State Rep. Adrielle Camuel of Lexington spoke about the platform’s plank on improving workers’ rights. “Public support for unions is back at levels we haven’t seen in at least six decades, and that’s because many agree workers should have the right to unionize so that wages and benefits rise and more families can flourish,” she said. “Our caucus also believes it is past time to raise the state’s minimum wage, so that more working Kentuckians have a livable wage, and to codify Governor Beshear’s recent executive order granting paid parental leave for state employees who have a new child in their lives or need time off to care for a loved one.”
Caucus Chair Al Gentry of Louisville said the caucus platform “really puts families front and center, and we stand ready to work with our colleagues across the aisle to pass these vital measures. Several have been filed, and those that haven’t will be soon.”
Caucus Whip Lindsey Burke of Lexington said there were many other bills that could have been in the caucus platform and that would still be filed. One, for example, would make the legislative process more transparent and accessible to the public.
“We understand that there is a limited time when it comes to passing new laws, but the General Assembly has enacted 200 a year since 2021,” she added. “Every single bill in our platform deserves to be on that list for 2025.”
