With little of worth happening in this General Assembly session, silliness has begun grabbing the headlines.
Silliness such as Sen. Brandon Smith's Senate Joint Resolution 99 and Rep. Jim Gooch's House Bill 421, two totally ineffective attempts to limit the federal Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of coal mining in Kentucky.
Smith's resolution would declare Kentucky a "sanctuary state" in regard to EPA regulation. Gooch's bill would exempt from Clean Water Act regulations mining operations involving coal that never leaves the state.
Since coal mining in Kentucky impacts rivers flowing into other states, thus making mining operations subject to regulation under the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, neither measure would accomplish a single thing other than letting its sponsor preen and posture in public while wasting other lawmakers' time.
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Senate Bill 15 represents a similar waste of time. SB 15, sponsored by five Republican senators, would require all public schools to set aside time each day for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance,
Current state law requires all school districts to establish a policy that allows students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Even though it doesn't require that a period of time be set aside for this recitation, the reality is that most schools do so anyway.
The bill prompted Sharron Oxendine, president of the Kentucky Education Association, to say, "I don't know why we have to pass a law to require something that every school district already does."
Because it gives the bill's sponsors an opportunity to preen and posture in public while wasting other lawmakers' time.
Silliness, pure silliness. Unfortunately, it's a dominant theme in this General Assembly session.
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