With special elections for four open Kentucky House seats slated for March, a razor thin majority in the chamber, and an absent speaker Friday, Democrats are feeling the heat these days in Frankfort. But party officials are promising that unpredictablity won’t derail the legislative process.
As possible leadership and procedural battles loom, House leaders are working to keep the 2016 legislative session from stalling out as members await election results that could flip chamber control from the Democrats to the Republicans for the first time since 1920.
Still, Speaker Greg Stumbo told cn|2 Thursday that he plans in the coming weeks to move forward with House Bill 1, bonding $3.3 billion to shore up the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, along with minimum wage and smoke-free legislation – issues he doubts will move the needle in the elections.
"I'm sure there's going to be talk about those, but special elections in my judgment... aren't really issue-driven. They're more party driven," he said. "They're local issues and whatever those local issues... I think will trump whatever the state issues are."
But House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover notes that Democrats have already lost what’s called a “constitutional majority” – at least 51 members – and that could alter the way bills move on the floor.
"With the lack of a constitutional majority, a lot of things change because the House Democrats cannot suspend the rules as long as all Republicans vote not to suspend the rules. They don't have the votes to do that. And there are a lot of other issues that they simply cannot pass or even consider addressing in my opinion because of the tight margin, 50 to 46," Hoover explains.
Hoover has also alluded to what he said could be a “historic day” on Monday, offering no further comment.
Meanwhile, Stumbo missed both the annual Kentucky Chamber Day in Lexington Thursday and the legislative session Friday to travel to Florida for attend a meeting of his law firm, Morgan & Morgan.
