Solar bill committee gets three new members, raising charges of 'vote packing'

A committee in Frankfort that has so far failed to take any votes on a controversial bill to curb solar power in Kentucky will be getting three new members — two Republicans and a coal-country Democrat.

Questions of vote packing immediately surfaced.

"It's troubling that the membership is being altered ... and the motivation as I understand it was, in fact, to help get a troubled bill out of committee," said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council. "And this is a bill that does not deserve or need to be passed out of committee."