January 30, 2003

COLUMN

SENATE WEEK IN REVIEW

Submitted by Senator Denise Harper Angel

FRANKFORT — The 30-day "short session" we hold in odd years may not seem like enough time to discuss and approve laws that could change the lives of ordinary Kentuckians, but we have managed to pass a significant number of important bills this year. The past week was another success story for the commonwealth, with proposals to help students stay healthy and take tougher courses in high school among the items we sent to the House.

We took a step this week to take dangerous drivers off the road. The state police lab reports that nearly two-third of all DUI cases sent there for testing last year came back positive for controlled substances. More than 20 percent of all auto accidents last year involved drugs as well. The number of DUI arrests dealing with drugs may soon surpass the number of alcohol-related arrests.

As the law stands right now, even if a person is clearly impaired it is difficult to convict the individual, unless they actually have the drugs in the car. Senate Bill 67 would close that loophole and give us another tool to battle the rising drug epidemic. The legislation would allow drug tests taken within two hours of a traffic stop to be used like breathalyzer and blood alcohol tests. If the tests show a certain level of drugs in their system, it would be proof that they were driving under the influence.

Senate Bill 67 will help us get drugged drivers off the road, and perhaps more importantly, get them the help they need while in jail. Along with Senate Bill 34, which provides for intensive drug treatment programs, we could really make a dent in our commonwealth's drug problem, which has touched nearly every family in Kentucky.

One of our overriding goals over the last few years has been to increase the number of Kentucky high school students going on to college and succeeding there. Senate Bill 46 is another step in that direction. The bill would allow high achieving juniors and seniors to apply their KEES money toward dual-credit courses that earn them college as well as high school credit. Our current system, where KEES money can't be touched until college, prevents many students from taking courses at their local college. We want to give our students every opportunity to pursue a challenging curriculum without regard to their financial circumstances.

Senate Bill 110, which we passed this week, addresses another growing epidemic — obesity. Today's children are the first generation in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, largely because of obesity-related health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Parents obviously bear a large share of the burden when it comes to teaching our children healthy habits, but our schools also play a significant role. SB 110 would require students up to 8th grade to get half an hour of physical activity each day during school — not through physical educations classes, necessarily, but by building exercise into other content areas and through structured programs at recess. Already, some schools have young children exercise while they learn to count, by saying the numbers out loud while they do jumping jacks. Keeping our children fit is not only good public health policy; it's also smart fiscal policy, because we'll cut down on future health care costs.

We have only six working days left before we return home and give the governor time to sign or veto bills. The next week will be a busy one as we turn our focus to House legislation, and the House reviews the bills we have passed in the Senate. Among the high-profile bills we'll be looking at will be restoration of projects the governor vetoed last year after we had adjourned.

There will be many late nights and plenty of debate over the bills before us as the session nears its end, and we need your comments and opinions more than ever as we discuss the issues before us. As always, I urge you to make your views known by calling our Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 or e-mail me at denise.harperangel@lrc.ky.gov. You can also follow our activities online at http://www.kysenatedemocrats.com.

Senator Harper Angel represents the 35^th Senate District in Jefferson County.

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