Time now for a week review of some major political news this week, especially what's happening in Frankfort during the legislative session.

And we have with us on this Friday, Kelsey Coots, who is with Blue Dart Consulting.

And, of course, you always see him around Trey Watson, who's Capital Rains PR, and he's the founder there.

Good to see you all.

Spent a week, hasn't it?

It's been a much better month as we get this near the halfway mark Kelsey of the session.

You know, the pace has been somewhat different than in previous sessions, but we are seeing a ramp up this week.

The Senate, a Senate committee, Senate Education committee did take up Senate Bill six, which is the D-Ii bill that affects Kentucky's colleges and universities and restricts D-I policies, particularly when it comes to discriminatory concepts, as the bill now defines for classes and orientations, trainings, etc.. Tell us your thoughts about this bill and how Democrats are responding.

Something that was interesting to me as last night whenever I was catching up on the news and scrolling through, I saw reported, you know, on the same day that this anti the bill passed committee, Alex Nyquist of the Herald-Leader had reported separately that President Stivers had said he always dreamt of positioning Kentucky as a leader in university research.

And he went on and he said, tell me why the state of Kentucky cannot emulate that type of dynamic.

Like Boston, who is a biomedical hub.

And so, you know, I am not I am in the business of talking about the place that I believe that he can be.

And so while I like that idea, you know, one obstacle that I think would be in the way of us creating that type of dynamic, like he wants to see, is passing bills like SB six.

I don't think that we can get rid of fluoride.

Something else that that passed yesterday or advanced yesterday do things like ban abortion, attack teachers and say that we don't want to honor the experience of others who are different than our own and then create a Kentucky that works for all.

It will be hard to attract and retain the very best talent if we continue to do these things that people see as divisive.

So, Jerry Watson, your perspective on this being an economic development issue.

Does it boil down to that?

I don't think so.

Look, SB six brings us largely brings us in line with a recent US Supreme Court decision that struck down affirmative action.

It's it's about creating a level playing field.

And it's not it's not about one race, one section.

It's it's about leveling off for everybody because there's people that have varying levels of complaint.

You know, once you start divvying up and putting the things in, there's going to be winners and losers in every process.

This is about making sure that Kentucky can attract the best and the brightest, regardless of what they look like, where they come from, what the background may be, and even then even the playing field for everybody so that we can attract those people and we can grow the economy and and be a leader in all these sectors.

Well, we know there are a couple of other bills to address this.

You know, there's a K through 12 one that even addresses belonging and informed trauma care.

Trauma informed care.

And there's another one by Stephen Meredith also, too, that deals with this.

So we'll keep our eyes on those bills.

Another bill that's been filed by the House speaker.

I'm going to ask Trey this question first.

This is a redo from a rejection by the Kentucky voters in 2022 to allow the General Assembly to call itself in a special session.

It is more nuanced than that.

So explain let's back up a little bit.

We're one of the very I think there's only four states in the country that don't have a way for the legislature to put checks and balances on the governorship when they're not in session.

If we are not in the in the majority, we are in the minority and states in that, and then even worse, states to fix that since the pandemic, too, where when you have instance, like where we had we saw a 2020 legislature couldn't come back and then participate in the process because the governor held all the keys when he when he the legislature's out and he wasn't calling them back in for anything.

So it's a it's a way to put checks and balances in.

I think it's good policy regardless of party for this matter.

Democrats would really love this if it was a Democrat legislature and a Republican governor.

They'd want to weigh the checks and balances.

I think it's good government.

The problem with the ballot question before it is just confusing.

It was.

And also, remember, people going in the abortion, then it was on the people were geared up to vote against amendments.

And so I think that really hurt it.

I think it's something we need to do.

But whether this is the right process, the right avenue to do it, I don't know what the voters will decide, will probably pass.

But I do think it's important that we get that check and balance on the governor's power in moments of emergency.

And we should say that House Speaker David Osborne did follow this bill and there was a Republican.

Yes.

And the governor's office.

So, Kelsey, what say you about this bill?

I say that giving the party that rolls back our gains in health care tramples workers rights and undermines public education more time and freedom to do that is a bad idea in voters in 2022.

I thought so too when we voted down Amendment One.

Then I also don't really like what it means for candidates or potential candidates.

It's already difficult enough to find folks who can run for office.

And so creating conditions that have sort of varying date when session will be, I think, will deter more folks from running for office.

And so if our goal is representative democracy, we need multiple perspectives and people from all walks of life to be able to run and be in our elected body.

I do think we've talked about this a couple of weeks ago on the show is are we looking at a move towards the potential of a of a permanent legislature, though?

Are we talking we've seen members go and join the Metro Council because they have staff, staff.

They're full time staff and better pay.

I think, you know, this could be another step towards, if not a full time legislature, at least the professional professionalization of broadening of the support staff that they have to be able to handle extended time there.

But Democrats would say, Kelsey, that this is a power grab.

It's trying to expand the power that the legislature has and take away from the governor even more so.

Is that true?

Yes, I absolutely believe that.

I heard Troy some say something about checks and balances earlier.

But again, since since this governor has been elected and he's been popular since the beginning, they have worked to chip away at his executive powers and in things like emergencies, you know, he needs to be able to execute and govern in times of immediate crisis.

And so this is just another power grab to take power away from him and give it to the GOP controlled legislature.

But to another point about one of the budget bills that advanced a couple of weeks ago, the House Bill 262, does address the fact that that the governor needs to spend more than $75 million on a disaster, an emergency.

He need to call a special session.

And for the lawmakers to approve that, this is all a part of that expansion of legislative power and being able to respond to emergencies that the people who voted for, those in the General Assembly should be able to do.

That is that we've co-equal branches of government and right now they're not equal except for the 60 or 30 days the legislature is in session.

This is purely this is just a good government thing.

And I said we are in the minority of states that don't have something like this already in place.

We need to join the majority.

All right.

Well, we'll have to leave it there, but it's always a good conversation.

Quick but good.

You guys are great at doing that.

Kelsey Coons, thanks for joining us by Skype.

And, of course, Terri Watson, always good to see you in person.

Have a great weekend, guys.

Thanks.