Two bills need a push to get out of the House

Two bills that are important to KFTC members and all Kentuckians continue to linger on the House floor despite receiving committee approval weeks ago. House leaders are not calling these bills for a vote even though both enjoy broad support.

We ask that you call House leaders and ask that they allow these bills to be voted on. Time is running out with less than two weeks left in the legislative session before their veto break.

1.  House Bill 566: The General Assembly has a chance to pass a measure that would help more than 350,000 lower-income working families. HB 566 establishes a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that will help correct the imbalance in our current tax system that now asks people who earn less ($14,000-$26,000 a year) to spend more (10%) of their income on state and local taxes than do our highest income families (less than 6% for incomes more than $289,000). It would buy school clothes, repair a refrigerator, or help fix the clutch on Kim Stinson-Hawn's car so she can depend on it to drive to work.

HB 566 also restores a Kentucky estate tax on estates worth than $3.5 million to fund the EITC, so it will not cut any further into the state's revenue shortfall.

For years, we've seen broad support for the EITC from both political parties, but HB 566 is being ignored by House leaders. They need to hear from Kentuckians who don't accept being complacent about poverty.

2.  House Bill 70: There are 24 cosponsors and broad public support for legislation that would ask voters to decide if former felons who have completed their sentences should automatically have their voting rights restored. HB 70 passed out of committee on February 5 but House leaders have held it on the floor as they considered what constitutional amendments to propose. Now that it is all but certain casino gambling will not pass, it is time to act on HB 70.