Los legisladores de Kentucky se reúnen esta semana para la sesión legislativa de 2024, y un nuevo informe encuentra que los representantes estatales están acelerando cada vez más la legislación al tiempo que erosionan la participación ciudadana. El análisis de la Liga de Mujeres Votantes de Kentucky encuentra que los legisladores están reemplazando las versiones originales de los proyectos de ley con versiones sustitutas de último momento, dejando poco o ningún tiempo para que los ciudadanos revisen o comenten antes de la votación del comité. Janie Lindle, de la Liga, dice que la táctica a menudo destruye el lenguaje original de un proyecto de ley y lo secuestra para un propósito completamente diferente.

"Lo que realmente vimos fue que, a partir de 2002, pero especialmente aumentando desde 2014 hasta 2022, ha habido una prisa cada vez mayor por ciertos proyectos de ley que se convierten en ley y la gente no puede participar," enfatizó además Lindle.

El Proyecto de Ley 10 de la Cámara de Representantes, aprobado en 2022, eliminó la obligación de compartir los proyectos de ley pre-presentados en el sitio web de la Comisión de Investigación Legislativa, lo que significa que los ciudadanos ya no pueden obtener una vista previa de la legislación pendiente y, posteriormente, tener tiempo para considerar o participar en las discusiones sobre el proyecto de ley durante los meses antes del inicio de la sesión. Según el informe, el año pasado el 32% de los proyectos de ley que fueron aprobados en la Cámara de Representantes de Kentucky y el 24% de los que fueron aprobados en el Senado fueron acelerados de manera que eliminaron la voz del público.

También ha habido un aumento en el número de legisladores que realizan votaciones en el pleno de la Cámara o el Senado el día en que los proyectos de ley reciben la aprobación del comité, reduciendo la cantidad de tiempo que incluso los ciudadanos más comprometidos tienen para comunicarse con sus legisladores, en algunos casos hasta unas pocas horas. Lindle añade que los habitantes de Kentucky tienen derecho a tener tiempo para comprender completamente el texto de un proyecto de ley y expresar su opinión al respecto.

"Los ciudadanos merecen participar en todo lo que les afecte. Entonces, la deliberación de la legislación que nos afectará es parte del principio democrático, de que si uno se ve afectado por ella, debe tener voz en ella," indicó también la entrevistada.

Lindle asegura que los defensores quieren que la Asamblea General tome medidas para fortalecer las oportunidades de participación ciudadana, incluso garantizando que hayan tres lecturas de proyectos de ley después de las audiencias del comité, haciendo que los proyectos de ley sustitutos estén disponibles en línea antes de una reunión del comité y permitiendo al menos un día intermedio entre la acción final o votaciones en el pleno sobre proyectos de ley.

Apoyo para esta historia fue proporcionado por la Carnegie Corporation of New York


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The long-delayed Farm Bill could benefit Virginia farmers by renewing funding for climate-smart investments, but it's been held up for months in Congress.

Some lawmakers want this bill to expand funding for such programs as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, which gives financial and technical help to farmers and ranchers to make conservation a priority. About $250 million was allocated for the program, but more than 9,000 applications were submitted, bringing it to $475 million.

Gabrielle Walton, federal campaign associate with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said these programs' popularity proves their necessity.

"This money allows them not only to practice more efficiently - and to preserve the environment that they love so much and they're so attached to - but it also saves them money that they can devote to other concerns," she said, "and provides them stability for their pocketbooks going forward."

One issue with the new Farm Bill is a proposed increase in so-called "reference pricing," which critics have said only benefits large farming operations and would come at the expense of more widely used social and climate-smart programs.

Walton said she thinks political divisiveness and competing priorities have held up the new Farm Bill.

The previous Farm Bill was extended to this September, but lawmakers have said they aim to have a bill ready by Memorial Day. Along with climate-smart investments, the Farm Bill also funds social safety-net programs.

Geoff Horsfield, a policy director at the Environmental Working Group, said people don't always know how helpful nutrition programs are to families.

"There's a misconception that things like SNAP only benefit urban communities," he said, "and we just know that that's not true - that folks in all counties rely on nutrition assistance programs, some of these social programs, to be able to make ends meet."

SNAP and other nutrition programs received 75% of funding in the 2018 Farm Bill. More than 876,000 Virginians use SNAP and EBT benefits, since food insecurity has been a longstanding issue in the state.

Today, groups working with lower-income families in Connecticut are raising awareness about the state's "benefits cliff" with a day of action.

The benefits cliff is when a person might get a raise, have a kid with a part-time job, or some other income increase which then makes them ineligible for certain benefits. The changes can have severe impacts on communities and disproportionately affect families with children.

Stephen Monroe Tomczak, professor of social work at Southern Connecticut State University, said it is part of a larger workforce problem.

"People, particularly people of low income, are in a sense disincentivized to participate in the labor force and denied adequate jobs and income when they try to do that," Tomczak explained.

Several General Assembly budget bills could have dealt with the issue but most failed, which inspired today's action, a mock funeral procession to the governor's office to eulogize the bills, including the refundable Child Tax Credit, a housing voucher funding boost bill, and a bill eliminating the asset limit on the HUSKY C medical insurance program.

Social service advocates know the bills will resurface in next year's budget process.

Rose Ferraro, program lead of health justice policy advocacy for the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said people are taking alternate steps like going to food banks or avoiding medical care to cover lost benefits.

"Folks will lose their rental assistance and then, they will sort of have to make some tough decisions," Ferraro noted. "'Do I put food on my table or do I make sure to pay rent?' And, so it becomes a sort of untenable position."

Ferraro added interwoven state and federal funding makes it hard to reach the core of the issues leading to benefits cliffs. One eulogized bill would have established a benefits cliff pilot program. For two years, it would have provided subsistence for people who've reached the benefits cliff.

New York towns are reaping many benefits since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.

Along with funds for larger clean energy projects, the state was awarded $158 million for the IRA's Home Energy Rebates program.

Smaller towns and villages use these grants to implement their climate action plans.

Brighton Town Councilmember Robin Wilt said an IRA grant they applied for will help upgrade the town's HVAC system.

"We will be implementing geothermal and then use a solar array to make the system close to net zero, not quite," said Wilt. "I think we'll get 55% of our energy back with the solar panels."

The bureaucratic process to access the funding was challenging, but some groups are working with the Department of Energy to improve it.

Wilt said feedback on the clean energy projects has been positive. Future projects using IRA funding include increasing walkability and sustainable redevelopment.

Critics have said the IRA includes multiple provisions to increase fossil fuel production.

Towns nationwide are using IRA grants to bolster clean energy projects.

Joel Hicks is a council member for the Borough of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

They've just applied for a grant to work on energy efficiency and solar projects with Harrisburg. He said this will have positive impacts beyond establishing clean energy.

"We were really excited at this potential," said Hicks, "because we saw that the cost savings we would have for putting in substantial solar projects on our public property would actually fund many of our other public municipal goals."

These include purchasing an electric vehicle fleet and having more efficient solid waste programs.

One thing Hicks said he wants to see in future is state and local governments helping small towns and municipalities with putting together their IRA grant proposals.