By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
After some two hours of debate, an omnibus anti-crime bill dubbed by supporters “The Safer Kentucky Act,” was approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives this week.
The measure, House Bill 5, is sponsored by Rep. Jared Bauman, R-Louisville, and has 49 co-sponsors.
Bauman told the chamber the measure was the result of nine months of collaboration with stakeholders, including crime victims and their families.
“With this bill, we are reasserting some simple truths: the difference between right and wrong, that criminals are accountable for their actions, and that society has the right to protect itself from the criminal element.
“The first duty of any civilized society is to protect its honest citizens from those who prey on the innocent. House Bill 5 is ensuring that we have the strongest and most effective policy possible.”
Here are some of what appears in the measure:
• It includes a so-called “Three Strikes” provision, meaning that a person convicted of three violent felonies would receive a life prison sentence.
• Someone convicted of fentanyl trafficking where the drug user dies, would be subject to a manslaughter charge.
• Street camping would be banned except in designated areas.
• Those convicted of killing a police officer could face the death penalty.
• Carjacking would be a class B felony, with a 10- to 20-year prison term. It is currently considered robbery in Kentucky.
Rep. Sarah Stalker, D-Louisville, was among those speaking against the measure. “This bill, in my opinion, lacks compassion for our most vulnerable population experiencing homelessness.”
She added: “This policy laid out in this bill along with cuts contemplated in the House budget, is going to put us as a state in a real predicament, when our number of incarcerated individuals increases, putting us in worse shape than they were before.”
The measure passed 74-22 and now heads to the Senate for its consideration.
Another view
Kaylee Raymer, policy analyst for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy released the following statement after the passage of House Bill 5:
Even before House Floor Amendment 27, House Bill 5 was a collection of dangerous, tried-and-failed policies that would increase incarceration and hardship in the commonwealth. The amendment made changes to the bill that will further increase harm while adding minimal improvements.
Rather than improving public safety, HB 5 would grow poverty and hardship, further increase the risk of overdose deaths and massively swell spending on prisons and jails that could be better used for investments that actually work to prevent crime.
Research tells us that HB 5 takes the wrong approach when it comes to decreasing violent crime, reducing overdose deaths and supporting the unhoused. Data tells us violent crime is coming down in Kentucky and across the country after a temporary rise spurred by the pandemic. And the racial composition of Kentucky’s prisons, which are 21% Black despite the state’s population being only 7.7% Black, tells us that HB 5 would disproportionately harm Black Kentuckians.
As the bill moves to the Senate, we remain committed to working with partners and lawmakers to demonstrate that an effective approach to reducing violence would focus on policies that create safe and healthy communities, not doubling down on failed policies that will increase incarceration and harm the most vulnerable in Kentucky.