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Former Member, Committee On Committees, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Former Member, Enrollment Committee, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Former Member, Judiciary Committee, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Former Member, Legislative Research Commission, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Member, Legislative Research Commission, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Former Member, Rules Committee, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives
Chair, Minority Caucus, Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives, 1999-2001
Member, Strategic Committee on Postsecondary Education, 1998
Member, Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee
Member, Joint Committee on Judiciary
Member, Joint Committee on State Government
Member, Judiciary Committee
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- X
2. Abortions should always be legal.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
6. Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
- No Answer
7. Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Education (Higher)
- Maintain Status
2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase
3. Emergency preparedness
- Maintain Status
4. Environment
- Maintain Status
5. Health care
- Slightly Increase
6. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status
7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Maintain Status
8. Welfare
- Maintain Status
9. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase
2. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase
3. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status
4. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status
5. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease
6. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status
7. Property taxes
- Maintain Status
8. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status
9. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status
10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
11. Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- Yes
12. Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
- No
13. Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
- No
14. Do you support an increase in Kentucky's cigarette tax to fund education?
- Yes
15. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support the current limit of terms for Kentucky governors?
- Yes
2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for Kentucky state senators and representatives?
- Yes
1. Individual
- Yes
2. PAC
- Yes
3. Corporate
- Yes
4. Political Parties
- Yes
5. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
6. Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
- Yes
7. Should Kentucky participate in the federal REAL ID program?
- No Answer
8. Do you support a constitutional amendment allowing casinos in Kentucky?
- No
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer
2. Support the death penalty in Kentucky.
- X
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
4. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
5. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer
6. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer
7. Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws.
- X
8. Support hate crime legislation.
- No Answer
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
- X
2. Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
- X
3. Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
- No Answer
4. Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer
5. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- X
6. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
7. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X
8. Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
- X
9. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X
10. Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Kentucky to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
- No Answer
11. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today?s job market.
- X
2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- X
3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X
4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
6. Include sexual orientation in Kentucky's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer
7. Include gender identity in Kentucky's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer
8. Increase the state minimum wage.
- No Answer
9. Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
- No Answer
10. Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
- X
11. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- X
12. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X
13. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X
2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc).
- X
3. Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops.
- X
4. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- X
5. Support funding for improvements to Kentucky's power generating and transmission facilities.
- X
6. Support funding for open space preservation.
- No Answer
7. Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
- No Answer
8. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- No Answer
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- No
2. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- Yes
3. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- No
4. Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes
5. Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes
6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X
2. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
3. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X
4. Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
- X
5. Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
- X
6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in Kentucky.
- No Answer
7. Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Should Kentucky recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- No
2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
- No
3. Should Kentucky provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
- No
4. Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
- Yes
5. Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
- Yes
6. Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
- Yes
7. Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
- Yes
8. Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions?
- Yes
9. Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
- Yes
10. Should Kentucky continue affirmative action programs?
- Yes
11. Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
- Undecided
12. Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
- Undecided
13. Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
- Yes
14. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- No Answer
Type: resolution Chamber: lower
Type: resolution Chamber: lower
Type: resolution Chamber: lower
By Gov. Matt Bevin, Sen. Robert Stivers, and Rep. Jeff Hoover "Keeping the Promise," our plan to save Kentucky's pension systems, keeps the promise made to Kentucky's current employees while also meeting the legal and moral obligations we owe to those who have already retired. Promises made are promises kept. Make no mistake: there will be no changes, clawbacks or reductions to the paychecks of current retirees, and there will be protections for healthcare benefits. That is a promise you can literally take to the bank. This legislature is committed to solving the pension crisis, and is ready to lead by example. Our pension legislation immediately stops the defined benefits plan for all legislators, moving them into the same plan as other state employees under the jurisdiction of the KRS Board. Future elected officials will be required by law to pay the full ARC amount, creating a new funding formula that mandates hundreds of millions more every year into every retirement plan, until they are fully funded. Looking to the future, the defined benefit plans of current employees and teachers will continue until they reach the promised level of service for their pension, with no increase to the retirement age. As new non-hazardous employees and teachers enter the workforce, they will be enrolled in a defined contribution retirement plan that provides comparable or better retirement benefits. Hazardous employees will continue in the same plan they are in now. We are also closing the loophole that has prevented the payment of death benefits for the families of hazardous employees. "Keeping the Promise" will improve the Commonwealth's rating with credit agencies. These ratings have steadily declined in recent years specifically due to our unfunded pension burdens. The right thing to do is often difficult, but we are determined to fix the pension problem. We are doing it in a way that will be of the most benefit to all Kentuckians. This is the most comprehensive and fiscally responsible pension reform plan in the history of the United States. We are confident that the rest of the country will pay close attention to this solution and that it will serve as a prudent model for others to follow. For those retired, for those working, and for those yet to be hired: we are truly fixing our broken pension systems. United we stand. Divided we fall.
By Gov. Matt Bevin, Robert Stivers and Jeff Hoover Kentucky's pension systems are in critical condition. While some state retirement plans are arguably in "better shape" than others are, every system is severely underfunded and rapidly spiraling downward toward a single outcome: no more money to pay Kentucky's retirees. Understandably, retirees and those nearing retirement are concerned. Over the past 10 years, Kentucky's pension systems have lost more than $7 billion in value. If we keep with the current pace, the only way Kentucky will be able to fund these systems will be through massive cuts to important programs, hurting education, health care, public safety and infrastructure. Without significant fundamental changes, our retirement systems will become bankrupt. Change will not be easy, but it is necessary. Our state's credit rating has been repeatedly downgraded in recent months and years as a result of our unfunded pension liability. We must stop kicking the can of financial responsibility down the road. We must solve this problem -- there is no other option. In order to fully understand the severity of this crisis, we hired an independent pension consultant firm to analyze each of our pension systems. At this time, we have received three reports from this independent group, all of which are currently under review by elected leaders in Frankfort. Going forward, these reports will help inform our difficult decisions as we prepare for a special session. Some of the recommendations will likely be adopted and others will likely not be adopted. Our consultants discovered the biggest cause of the shortfall was erroneous actuarial assumptions made by past members of the boards of these systems, which led to significant underfunding. Sadly, it seems past assumptions were often manipulated by the prior pension boards in order to minimize the "cost" of pensions to the state budget. Unreasonably high investment expectations were made, and funding was based on false payroll numbers. The result was to provide a false sense of security and justify smaller than necessary contributions to the pension plans. This was a morally negligent and irresponsible thing to do. We refuse to hide the problem by understating liabilities, as others have been eager to do. Going forward, we must require all of our state pension systems to use a funding method that cannot be so easily manipulated by politically appointed board members. This change alone will ensure a much higher funding level is provided to meet the legal and moral obligations we owe to our retired teachers and public servants. We also must make certain that retired teachers and other public employees are not negatively affected by any required pension changes. Those who count on their retirement today should be able to count on that same retirement tomorrow. We intend to meet the legal obligations we have to each retiree. Likewise, any changes made to our pension systems will not negatively influence the plans of those nearing retirement. The General Assembly will not pass any legislation with an emergency clause, which would make any changes immediately effective. Rather, public servants and teachers eligible for retirement will receive adequate time to understand and review any options they may have.Additionally, it is not our intention to strip away any accrued benefits from current public servants or teachers. We are fully committed to solving this very important challenge by making thoughtful, but necessary, changes. We refuse to allow continued manipulation of these plans for the benefit of a few well-connected individuals at the expense of taxpayers, hard-working teachers and other public servants. For those now retired, for those still working and for those yet to come, we are determined to save the Kentucky retirement systems. We will not kick the can down the road. We were elected to fix this problem, and we will. The fiscal abuse of Kentucky's retirement systems is over.
