Here is the first paragraph of the Lexington Herald-Leader's article, written by Ryan Alessi, on a bill filed by 21 House Democrats that would prohibit state agencies from paying for the health benefits of live-in partners of their employees:
Two Democratic state lawmakers are dredging up a controversial proposal
to block public universities in Kentucky from extending health benefits
to unmarried, live-in partners of the institutions’ employees.
"Dredging up"? My, my. Are we not happy about this over at the state's second largest newspaper?
What has been amusing in all this is to see the shock and outrage among the Tolerance Police that such a bill could come from Democrats:
“I had expected it but not from those two,” said Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, who said he opposes the bill. “I expected it from Republicans.”
Burch was ringmaster of last year's Health & Welfare Committee circus in which the bill failed by an 8 to 8 vote. One thing Alessi and other reporters completely missed in this story--and perhaps the most interesting aspect of it--is that one of the two primary sponsors of the bill was the very person who caused its failure in last' sessions committee meeting.
Ancel Smith (D-Leburn), sponsor of this year's legislation, was the deciding vote that would have broken the 8-8 tie. When the meeting happened, Smith didn't. He wasn't there. It was later revealed (on my blog) that Smith had taken refuge in an annex suite, and was actually watching the bill fail on the KET broadcast.
Smith must have heard it from the folks back home. Now he appears to be fully behind it, saying that the votes are there to get it out of committee.
As others have pointed out, Gov. Steve Beshear has vowed to veto such a measure. Wouldn't it be interesting if Beshear's first veto was of a Democratic bill--and he lost? This is all being taken into account by the powers that be, of course, and one wonders what House leadership is thinking.
Are they wanting to stay close to the administration, or do they want to show their independence from the executive branch?
The number of sponsors to this bill indicates that the votes exist on the floor to pass this bill, which is one reason why the Kentucky "Equality" Federation is upset:
Are they crazy? There are over 550,000 Kentuckians without health insurance coverage!
So apparently the solution is to cover the ones who are shacking up. Such is the state of thinking over at Tolerance Central.
Stay tuned. This could get interesting.
