The ACLU team had a busy week in Frankfort during the fifth week of the 2020 legislative session. Our team is always working in a number of issue areas. Below are some specific highlights about key pieces of legislation we are following and what our team accomplished the week of February 2 to February 8.
SMART JUSTICE
Senate Bill 8 - Requires all school resource officers to carry a firearm
Smart Justice Advocate Keturah Herron testified Tuesday in the House Education Committee in opposition to SB8. Watch here (start at 1:13:00).
NEW BILL ACTIVITY
- February 4: Passed in House Education Committee
- February 7: Passed in the full House and is headed to the Governor's desk. Representatives defeated two amendments. The first would have required all armed SROs to wear body cameras. The second would have allowed schools to choose how they would arm their SROs (e.g. firearm, taser, baton, etc.).
PAST BILL ACTIVITY
- January 27: Passed in Senate
House Bill 284 - Allows people on probation to earn credit for education, community service, and more, just like people on parole already can
NEW BILL ACTIVITY
- February 5: Passed unanimously in House Judiciary Committee. Bill now goes to full House of Representatives for vote. If passed in House, bill heads to Senate committee.
House Bill 327 - Upholds principle of innocent until proven guilty by removing charges from peoples' records if they are acquitted or charges are dismissed
Smart Justice Advocate Keturah Herron testified Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee in favor of HB327. Watch here (start at 00:31:00).
NEW BILL ACTIVITY
- February 5: Passed unanimously in House Judiciary Committee. Bill now goes to full House of Representatives for vote. If passed in House, bill heads to Senate committee.
Senate Bill 87 - Ends automatic transfer of some detained youth from the juvenile justice system to the adult system
SB87 is a good step in the right direction, but it needs to be expanded to protect all Kentucky kids.
NEW BILL ACTIVITY
- February 5: Passed in full Senate. Bill now goes to committee in House of Representatives. If passed in House committee, bill heads to full House for vote.
Smart Justice Advocates
Smart Justice Advocates are a group of formerly incarcerated individuals who have come together to inspire change and drive action. They've built a collective voice on justice issues. They meet with different legislators on a weekly basis to build bridges with lawmakers to proactively craft legislation that would reform Kentucky's system of injustice. See what they did this week here.
Vera Institute of Justice's "Rural America's Hidden Jail Crisis"
ACLU-KY Smart Justice Advocate Amanda Hall was an expert panelist at Vera's forum at the U.S. Capitol. See what Amanda did here. Learn more about Vera's work on this issue here.
IMMIGRATION
Senate Bill 1 - Family Separation Bill
We phone banked against SB1 on Monday evening. ACLU-KY board member and U of L Brandeis College of Law professor Enid Trucios-Haynes was a panelist for a discussion about SB1 at Guding Light Islamic Center.
NEW BILL ACTIVITY
- February 4: SB1 passed the full Senate. Bill now goes to committee in House of Representatives. If passed in House committee, bill heads to full House for vote.
View the full list of bills we are tracking and take action.
