Coursey: Jobs a top issue in 6th House District

Above, Will Coursey

Despite budget woes that present “the biggest task by far” for the 2010 General Assembly, jobs are a major priority for Will Coursey.
The legislature convened Tuesday for its regular 60-day session facing a predicted $1.5 billion shortfall over the next biennium. Coursey, a Democrat from Elva, represents the 6th House District, which includes Lyon County.
“Getting people back to work is the top issue in our district,” he said. “While I believe our economy is on the mend, we have to do what we can to promote jobs so that recovery happens as quickly as possible.
“I will work to do that by seeing if there are ways we can help more of our friends and neighbors go to college; by working with my colleagues on economic development measures benefitting western Kentucky and by moving forward on road projects our district needs,” he said.
Though grappling with a predicted shortfall over the next two years won’t be easy, Coursey remained optimistic the deficit might be less than Gov. Steve Beshear expects.
He noted that during the past two years, about $800 million in cuts were made, “which means it will be especially tough to cut further in the upcoming two-year budget.
“The state’s economists recently predicted that we will see about 3.6 percent growth during each of the next two years, so there is hope that the amount we have to overcome is not as high as $1.5 billion,” Coursey said. “The legislature’s budget staff is still assessing the figures to see just where we stand. Still, there will have to be some hard decisions between now and mid-April when the General Assembly finishes its work.
“My top priorities are education and critical health services,” he said. “We may be able to find savings by increasing alternative sentencing to reduce the amount we spend on jails while still ensuring proper punishment is given. In 2007, the state had the fastest prison growth in the country.”
Coursey likened Kentucky’s budget issues to those of many other states.
“Our needs have grown faster than our revenue, a situation that has become more pronounced with the economic crisis,” he said. “We are adding about 3,000 people a month to Medicaid for example, and our jail costs have gone up significantly this decade.
“Those two things alone are a key reason why we are in the shape we are in,” he said. “There is also no doubt that unemployment has been a major factor as well because more than 100,000 Kentuckians have lost their jobs since this recession began. I think the worst is behind us, but we still have a long way to go to get where we need to be.”
Though a 1-cent hike in the sales tax produced about $1 billion over two years when it was added to support education reform in 1990, Coursey said he doesn’t support such an increase now.
“I don’t think you’ll find many in the House or Senate who do, even on a temporary basis,” he said.
Regarding other issues, Coursey said he has prefiled a bill aimed at improving “the way we use our rivers and lakes to help our businesses move their products.”
“We have a lot of potential to expand this area,” he said, noting that he co-chairs the General Assembly’s Subcommittee on Waterways.
He also plans to reintroduce legislation to ban the sale of salvia, a mind-altering product that is sold legally in Kentucky, but has been banned in some other states. He first introduced the legislation late in the session last year after a delegation of Lyon County Champions members visited him in Frankfort and made him aware of the product’s effects. The bill passed the House, but there wasn’t time for it to work its way through the Senate.
“I have also cosponsored legislation that would allow judges to order electronic monitoring devices for the most dangerous domestic violence offenders,” he said.
Expanded gaming has been a priority for Gov. Steve Beshear since he took office in 2007, but Coursey think it’s unlikely, there will be any movement on it this session.
“Any action on that will have to first take place in the Senate, and that seems unlikely,” he said. “I don’t think the issue is dead, but it will probably be another year before it comes up again. The need to help our horse industry and the tens of thousands of jobs it provides is still a major concern, however.”