Eyes of Kentucky turn to the Senate

Publication Date: 2015-02-18

• Author:Editorial
• Publication:Lexington Herald Leader

...On Thursday and Friday, the House passed major legislation to:

-Amend the state constitution to both restore felon voting rights and allow voters to decide on local sales tax increases to fund local projects;

-Create a statewide smoking ban in public places;

-Provide civil protections for partners in dating relationships;

-Address the heroin epidemic (the Senate had already passed its own bill on this issue.)...

The smoking ban will face opposition in the Senate, where legislators worry that protecting the health of employees and others who are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places infringes excessively on the rights of people who choose to damage their own health by smoking...

Compromise is inherent to our system; we expect the Senate to debate and recommend changes. But these measures are too important to be torpedoed with disingenuous amendments or relegated to committees from which they never emerge...