Over the strenuous objections of Senate Democrats, the upper chamber pressed forward with a full slate of legislation Thursday – including an informed consent bill dealing with abortion, charter schools, and prevailing wage.
Minority members protested the majority’s decision to fast-track the measures by taking them up without the typical three day waiting period for new legislation. Senate Minority Leader Ray Jones cited in his objections Section 46 of the Kentucky Constitution, which requires bills be read on three different days before a final vote. The text goes on, however, to allow for a majority of the body to dispense with the second and third readings.
On the prevailing wage, Minority Leader Jones and Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer disagreed over the wisdom of doing away with a required pay rate for construction projects on schools totaling more than $250,000.
"I've always believed, Mr. President, that when you reduce the wages of working people that the final product is not going to be what you bargained for," Jones asserted.
"I think it's an insult to private sector workers to insinuate that because they're not paid prevailing wage that it's going to result in shoddy workmanship," Thayer later responded.
The Senate also approved a measure requiring physicians to perform ultrasounds and describe the results to patients before they undergo an abortion.
The new bills, versions of which passed the chamber in previous sessions, are all likely to stall in the Democratic-led House.
