From the “My Old Kentucky Podcast” newsletter come two stories about bills dealing with transfers: transfers of juveniles to adult court, and transfers of money from dedicated funds to the general fund. Jazmin Smith and Robert Kahne lay out the details. (And if you’re not signed up for their newsletter, you should definitely do that.)
SB 87: Juvenile Transfer Bill – Jazmin
- SB 87 is a juvenile justice bill that gets rid of automatic transfer to circuit court (also known as “being tried as an adult”).
- Currently a child can be transferred automatically at age 14 if there is probable cause that a felony was committed and a firearm was used in the commission of the felony. It doesn’t matter who used the firearm. And “use” does not mean “fired.” “Use” can mean pointed, pulled out, or shown in one’s waistband. I’ve even seen cases transferred where there was evidence that the firearm was actually a BB gun and the case was still transferred because all that was needed was probable cause that it was a firearm.
- Probable cause is a very low standard.
- SB 87, sponsored by Whitney Westerfield, would give discretion back to judges in deciding whether all of these children should be transferred. Currently, there are other types of felonies that can be transferred, but unlike the automatic transfer law, judges get to look at eight different factors in deciding if the individual child should be treated as an adult (seriousness of the offense, prior record, child’s maturity as defined by environment, etc.)
- SB 87 would remove the automatic transfer portion and make “whether a firearm was used” an additional factor for the judge to consider. It also contains language that would require the child in question to be the one who used the firearm.
- The bill originally drafted also contained a provision that prevented transfer of children with IQs below 70. I’ve been told that the bill would not pass with this provision, and it was removed. BUT, Westerfield later filed an amendment that would make whether the child has a “serious intellectual disability” one of the factors to consider.
- The bill passed the Senate 36-2 with the amendment.
- I feel like there has been a shift in the General Assembly when it comes to criminal legal system issues (See HB 327 and 284). I don’t think that attitudes around criminal justice have changed much, but reform seems to be a bigger priority. We did get another expungement bill passed last year, but I consider that a somewhat minor reform in the grand scheme (it made prior expungement legislation slightly better).
- Reasons for this shift?
- Bevin is no longer Governor, maybe?
- It’s an election year and there are some vulnerable suburban Republican seats.
- Maybe having specific criminal legal system organizers from the ACLU in Frankfort has made a difference:
- Keturah Herron – Juvenile Justice Field Organizer
- Amanda Hall – Smart on Crime Organizer
- Reasons for this shift?
- The bill is now in the House, assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
Resources:
Fund Transfers and Sweeps – Robert
- Gov. Beshear released his budget a few weeks ago now, and one point of contention with the legislature is the use of “sweeps,” or fund transfers.
- “Sweeps” are when the general fund is balanced by taking money intended for a specific purpose, such as environmental protection or specific industry regulation, and putting it towards the general fund.
- For example, the state receives money in the form of fees paid to licensing boards for hairdressers and real estate agencies. Those fees are supposed to be used to regulate those specific professions. However, that money can be “swept” into the general fund and used to balance the whole of the Kentucky budget.
- Nobody likes sweeps, but every governor uses them. Republicans have been saying that this budget is the “return of sweeps.” They are claiming that sweeps were a favored tactic of Democrats in the past, but Josh Hicks (Gov. Beshear’s budget director) claimed that Governor Matt Bevin’s two budgets “swept” $609 million and $622 million.
- I believe the point of contention for the GOP is that Democrats swept fees from industry fees, while much of Matt Bevin’s sweeps came from places like the Kentucky Employees Health Plan.
- Beshear’s budget doesn’t take any money from KEHP, which is a change from past Governors from both parties.
- The Governor’s team claims that the budget is only taking sweeps from agencies with surplus budgets. However, Senate Budget Chairman Chris McDaniel said that these sweeps would require agencies to raise fees on their members.
- One group with strong opposition to the sweeps is the Kentucky Resources Council, which is opposed to sweeping the Petroleum Storage Tank Environmental Assurance Fund, which is slated to lose $93 million over the budget. They say that the sweep would hurt Kentucky’s economy and environment.
- Hicks said that the budget would replace much of that money using a bond.
- Many of these problems stem from having dedicated funds in the first place. Dedicated funds are always at threat of being “swept,” which is why I prefer to have all fees and monies go towards the general fund, and to use the budgeting process to set priorities. (See: Sports Gambling bill).
Resources
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