2014 General Assembly Session Convenes

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In the 2014 Kentucky General Assembly session, several critical issues will be considered but two rise to the top of my list of concerns for families in our state.

First, after nine years of committee leadership deliberately killing ALL pro-life bills, will the House of Representatives work to get one to the floor for a vote? Most legislators believe any pro-life bill would pass the full House with a huge margin of victory. We know from experience that any pro-life bill would easily pass the Senate. The problem is that there are high-level manipulations in the House committees that prevent ANY pro-life bills from coming to the floor where the will of the people can prevail.

This matter is literally one of life and death for unborn children in Kentucky. Please consider calling the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181 and leaving a message with your legislators encouraging the support of any prolife bills. If you don’t know who your legislators are, the receptionist will be glad to tell you.

Second, after 20 years of attempting different kinds of gambling expansion, will this predatory industry finally succeed in 2014? Expanded gambling will hurt families in Kentucky. The impact has been documented in other states. Consider this excerpt from a study of gambling from the California State Library:

Social costs are the costs borne by society as a whole that result from the behavior of the problem gambler. Social costs includes such items as fraud, theft, bad loans, bad checks, lost work time, unemployment and welfare benefits, insured or publicly supported medical costs, and criminal justice system costs. Those types of social costs are easier to quantify than other types of social costs that result from gambling such as increased rates of suicide and incidence of child abuse. Social costs should also include lost productivity of spouses, impaired judgment and efficiency on the job, divorces, added administrative costs for unemployed, and the costs of depression and physical illness related to the stress and lower quality of family life.

Government should not sell “hunting licenses” to casino companies to prey upon the very citizens government was designed to protect. Please consider calling the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181 and leaving a message encouraging the defeat of expanded gambling.

I highly recommend using the materials available from The Family Foundation to help church members be informed of the issues during this 2014 legislative session. Their web address is www.kentuckyfamily.org. Also, keep a check on the KBC Public Affairs Committee blog at www.kbcpublicaffairs.org.

For righteousness’ sake, I pray that our unified voice will bring a renewed concern in Frankfort for the lives of unborn children, the health of families, and the well-being of all Kentuckians.

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