A bill to make a large pay raise contained in the state budget for Kentucky State Police and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers a permanent part of state law was approved by the Kentucky House this week.
House Bill 259 is sponsored by Rep. Scott Lewis, R-Hartford, who described its contents on the House floor.
“It provides for a $15,000 pay increase for state troopers and commercial vehicle enforcement officers, who are below the rank of sergeant, and a 10% pay increase for those at or above the rank of sergeant,” he said.
“According to the latest Department of Criminal Justice Training survey in 2021, this would increase the starting pay of troopers from the current $40,888 to $55,888 a year, making the KSP a top five law enforcement agency in the state, when compared to other departments across our Commonwealth.”
The bill was adopted on an 87-2 vote. The no votes came from Democrats Attica Scott of Louisville and Kelly Flood of Lexington.
In other action, the House approved a measure, HB 101, that would allow the Freedom Flag to be flown on Patriots Day, Sept.11; HB 202, to allow personalized vehicle license plates to be issued to registered recreational vehicles; and HB 345, which would provide specified military members who are state employees, leave of absence up to six months without penalty, if they are physically disabled as a result of performing active or inactive duty training or entitled to incapacitation pay.
In addition, the House voted — 57-37 — to revamp rules for unemployment benefits, increasing work-search requirements and tieing the length of time recipients get benefits to the unemployment rate. This provision could but the number of benefit weeks by more than half.
House Bill 4 would also create a method to report benefit recipients who fail to show up for job interviews or turn down job offers and offers inducements of extra benefits for laid-off workers participating in job training or other education programs.
The bill has been sent to the Senate.
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It would be great if the General Assembly would extend similar pay raises to Kentucky’s underpaid school teachers. Teachers are truly front-line, essential workers all the time, but especially during the pandemic. Teachers have been magnificent in adjusting to the difficult challenges that come with keeping hundreds of students safe at school or engaged at home, and helping to keep extracurricular activities on track.
Teachers are the key to successful students and successful schools, just like State Police are essential to public safety, and they should all be fairly compensated for their great work.