It is Hot Girl Legislative Interim Summer
Can I get a yee-haw?!
Hey, y’all, happy Interim Legislative Session Eve to those who celebrate! Tuesday kicks off the 2024 interim in Frankfort because I know everyone missed needing to monitor what their lawmakers are up to (or paying me to do it for you).
First up this evening, though, I think I owe y’all a quick apology. I told everyone to expect a newsletter last Thursday, but then decided to postpone that to the weekend because, um, Trump happened.
And then when I went to write said newsletter over the weekend, I felt, as I described on Twitter, “v much not feeling like a hot girl” and pushed the newsletter to tonight. (In my defense, I’ve experienced some mild COVID-like symptoms over the past few days and finally took a test and am negative, so that’s nice.)
Now, here’s a rundown of tonight’s newsletter:
A fun lil recap of recent ~news~ in the Kentucky politics world, including JCPS.
An explainer of what exactly the “interim” is and why you should care and what is on the agenda this week.
A few takeaways from the survey re: The Gallery Pass’ future (if you haven’t filled it out, there is still time — here’s the link. Plz share your thoughts!)
So, the news!
We have some ground to cover, so let’s go rapid-fire:
Remember those primary election recounts I mentioned last time around? The Secretary of State’s office finished those recounts last week and the results have not changed, so that means Aaron Reed has won the GOP primary over Sen. Adrienne Southworth and Dem Woody Zorn won his primary for a Louisville-area House seat *by five votes.*
SOS Michael Adams and the state board of elections still have until June 10 to formally confirm all of the results, but I’m not seeing anything about additional recounts, sooooo.
Houston, we have an emcee: Lexington-based Father Jim Sichko will be this year’s Fancy Farm emcee. Basically, he will be in charge of the infamous political speaking portion of the WKY church picnic where politicians and candidates try to roast each other amid hundreds of screaming people and some BBQ. (Is it inappropriate to say “thoughts and prayers” rn?) (...thoughts and prayers.)
$$$ heading to WKY: Speaking of west Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday that around $223 million is heading to parts of the region devastated by tornadoes in late 2021 to build housing meant for moderate and low-income people and families.
There will be more than 950 units spread across Graves, Christian, Hopkins and Warren counties once complete.
Construction is supposed to start, at the latest, by next spring — more than three years after the tornadoes.
Hi, interim, hi task forces: Several task forces have been created ahead of the interim legislative session, should you be interested. Basically, these are groups tasked with reviewing a certain topic or issue between now and the next legislative session so, ideally, lawmakers have a more in-depth understanding of some critical issues before they try to consider legislation on said issues. Among the ones happening this interim:
Workforce Attraction and Retention
Artificial Intelligence
Kentucky Housing
And the “Efficient and Effective School District Governance” one, aka the one looking at splitting up JCPS.
So, about JCPS…
Tuesday is the last day to register to run for school board in Kentucky (and maybe a few other races, but definitely school board.) You have until 4 p.m. local time to file your papers, should you be interested.
Y’all know me, so I’ll be watching the JCPS board elections after the last, um, hell of a year they’ve had (and continue to have, and probably will continue to have). Especially considering that there is a state legislative task force to examine whether or not the state’s largest school district is “effective and efficient” and potentially recommend splitting the district into smaller pieces during the next legislative session. (More on that in a sec)
JCPS has seven school board seats, four of which are up for grabs this year. If you don’t know which seat is yours, try plugging your address into this handy tool from JCPS. (Oh, and by the way, school board races are nonpartisan)
Again, the filing deadline isn’t until 4 p.m. Tuesday, and there tend to be some last-minute sign-ups, but here’s what we’re looking at so far:
District 1 (West End): Two people are running, including incumbent Gail Logan Strange, who stepped into the office roughly six months ago after former Board Chair Diane Porter stepped down for health reasons. The other candidate is Mark Gatton.
District 2 (The Highlands and some surrounding areas): This one is the most competitive rn. Incumbent Chris Kolb is running for another term, and faces two challengers: Tricia Lister and Abby Berthold.
District 4 (South Louisville): Incumbent Joe Marshall said previously he doesn’t plan on running for another term, and so right now, there’s only one candidate: Trevin Bass.
District 7 (Parts of the East End): Incumbent Sarah McIntosh is rolling off the board, too, and again, there is only one candidate filed to run: Taylor Everett.
Meanwhile at the state level, we have an idea of who will be on the aforementioned task force to examine JCPS and ponder whether or not it should be broken up (which cannot actually happen until current state law, just FYI) (and when lawmakers tried to create a pathway for said thing to happen earlier this year, it went nowhere, again, just FYI).
Under state law, the task force must include:
Two state Senators picked by the Senate President (aka the GOP).
These have been announced: Sen. Mike Nemes, who generally covers Bullitt County, and Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, who moreso covers Oldham County, are the GOP’s picks.
Two members of the House picked by the Speaker of the House (again, aka the GOP)
One state Senator picked by the Dems
One state Rep picked by the Dems
The state auditor
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg
Two taxpayers in the boundaries of JCPS
Who don’t currently work for the district,
But “have competency and experience or knowledge in the field of education,”
And either have active JCPS students or are parents to recent JCPS grads.
One person with some level of financial experience
One active JCPS teacher with at least five years of classroom experience
One person from a shortlist of recommendations from Superintendent Marty Pollio.
Those last four categories are supposed to be picked by the LRC, which is the nonpartisan group of folks who make the Capitol actually run. I haven’t seen any task force selections other than the Senate GOP’s, so I’ll circle back later with a bigger list.
This task force is required to meet at least twice a month from now-ish until the 2025 session in January. Any of their recommended changes are due to the LRC by Dec. 1, 2024.
Yeah, so, what is the “interim” and why I keep mentioning it
OK, finally, the moment everyone has been waiting for: the interim!
Basically, the interim session is the time from June to mid-December when the legislature is not in session (aka they can’t pass bills) but lawmakers still go to Frankfort to chat about things.
Typically, but not always, those things are either updates on how certain laws or institutions are holding up or they’re deeper dives into things that could turn into legislation in 2025, so it is important to keep an eye on it.
To be clear, when I say “lawmakers,” I mean the folks who were in office earlier this year during the legislative session. Even if they’re leaving office or lost their primary, they’ll be in office until the end of 2024, so they’ll be part of the interim (I mean, unless they leave early or just, like, protest by not showing up).
This year’s interim starts Tuesday. The full interim calendar is right here. Please note that it is likely to change, especially as those task forces I mentioned get added into the schedule.
It is best to track what is happening when and what will be on the agenda when it does happen through the LRC’s weekly calendar. You may remember that this was a daily legislative calendar during the session and then you had random suddenly called meetings to watch for on top of that. The interim, thankfully, is (knock on wood) much more predictable.
The interim is also just generally more chill. If you’re trying to build a strong base of knowledge on a certain legislative topic or just navigating Frankfort in general, the interim is a good time to start. It is also a good time to start building relationships with your lawmakers, if that’s something you’re interested in. Everyone is generally less stressed out.
This is also a really, really, REALLY great time to practice navigating the Capitol cafeteria. (I firmly believe the Capitol cafeteria is the closest thing Frankfort, if not Kentucky, has to a NYC bodega. #orangedrink #iykyk) It and the snack shop (both in the basement of the Capitol Annex, where the meetings are held) are supposed to be open during the interim.
You can show up in-person to Frankfort (unless otherwise noted in the calendar I linked above, everything is in the Capitol Annex) or watch live/on replay via KET or the LRC’s YouTube page.
Another thing to note: During the session, there are House and Senate-specific committees. During the interim, they combine into “interim joint (insert topic) committees.” So everyone meets less frequently (once a month vs once a week) and when they do meet, both sides meet together, like one big happy family.
Nothing on the agendas for this week’s meetings look particularly thrilling on my end, but you can check things out for yourself here. To get to meeting notes or presentations (which are a bit more likely to be posted publicly ahead of the meeting, yay), just click on the name of the committee, then click “meeting materials” on the right side of the screen.
Here’s what’s on this week’s docket:
Tuesday:
11 a.m. — Education
1 p.m. — Transportation
Wednesday:
9 a.m. — Two budget review subcommittees
10:30 a.m. — Two other budget review subcommittees
1 p.m. — A&R (aka money)
Thursday:
9 a.m. — Agriculture
11 a.m. — Judiciary
1 p.m. — Natural Resources and Energy
So, like, what’s next?
On top of the interim session, the Kentucky Board of Education is scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday in Frankfort this week.
7 days until the Secretary of State and State Board of Elections need to certify this year’s primary results (June 10)
20 days until my birthday, yee-haw (June 23)
28 days until a new fiscal year and when new Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher officially takes over (July 1)
42 days until most new laws go into effect (July 15)
61 days until Fancy Farm 2024 (Aug. 3)
155 days until the general election (Nov. 5)
218 days until Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session (Jan. 7, 2025)
And now for a TGP status update
I didn’t mean to take up so much of your evening with actual content, so I’ll keep it brief with ~some programming notes~ coming out of the “help, what do you want from me” survey. Which, again, if you haven’t filled it out, please fill it out. Help me help you.
As for right now, here are a few things:
When and how often TGP comes out
Y’all are generally mixed on how often the newsletter should come out when the session isn’t going on AND whether or not I should post on a regular schedule.
Personally, I’d like to get back to a regular posting schedule in some capacity just so everyone knows when to expect me and I feel less guilt and shame about moving the newsletter around (even though I am my own boss).
Right now, the survey and the news cycle are signaling keeping TGP to once a week during the off-season is best. That definitely depends on how insane the interim session gets, but I don’t think I’ll consistently have enough content to fill two solid newsletters a week.
And survey says that Thursday is actually the best day for y’all to get the newsletter. After reviewing the current interim calendar, I think Thursday evening newsletters make the most sense. There are rarely Friday meetings, so writing up everything Thursday and sending it out that evening/night would give me the best opportunity to cover everything that happened that week plus what’s to come.
So, for now, and I reserve, as always, the right to change things as needed, I’m planning on making The Gallery Pass a once-weekly newsletter that comes out Thursday evenings for the time being.
But, that said, please continue to be flexible with me. TGP is just a little over five months old, and apparently babies don’t start crawling until at least seven months.
New paid subscriber perks
OK, paid subs, I know not everyone wants a friendship bracelet (even if it is made with love). That said, I’m open to new perk ideas, hence why I asked about them in the survey.
One of the biggest themes is having some sort of live event where we all just hang out and maybe try a new craft beer and have a lil chit-chat. But one issue I’m quickly realizing with that concept: y’all are kinda scattered across the state? So, if I had an event in Louisville, that would be out-of-reach for many of you. And I don’t want to have an event and have no one show up because I’ll cry in public.
Some of y’all suggested just having subscriber-only reporting. That makes sense, and I’ve done that once or twice in the past. But, and hi, some personal news, I’m beginning to freelance for Queer KY (Happy Pride, y’all!), so the bulk of my original reporting will go to them. And, as I mentioned earlier, I’m worried there won’t be enough content coming out of the interim/summer to go around and not double-dip/waste people’s time.
So, I have more thinking to do on this (and more friendship bracelets to make). Again, please fill out the survey if you have ideas!
I’ll have more thoughts to share over the coming weeks as I more thoroughly analyze the survey results.
Where to find me
Twitter: Follow The Gallery Pass and my personal/professional account for all newsletter-related updates.
TikTok: Right here.
Venmo: … if you’re interested.
Subscribe: Just in case you’re seeing this and not subscribed, please do so.
OK, I’ve taken up enough time, talk soon, byeeee!