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2020 September PUBLISHED BY LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH COMMISSION Volume 33, No. 5 LEGISLATURE.KY.GOV/LEGISLATION/PAGES/DEFAULT.ASPX Lawmakers discuss COVID-19 transportation guidelines for schools by Jordan Hensley FRANKFORT – Last month, the Interim Joint Committee on Education heard testimony from educators advocating for clearer guidelines and more fl exibility and autonomy when it comes to reopening schools. Th is month, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) shared their COVID-19 transportation guidelines with committee members for schools that grant individual school districts fl exibility. “We are encouraging districts to use a good faith eff ort to use that social distancing where it is feasible and practical to do so,” Robin Kinney, associate commissioner for KDE, said during a Sen. Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, asks a question during the Sept. 15 committee meeting. Sept. 15 meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Education. KDE worked with the Kentucky Department for Public Health and utilized Centers for Disease Loading buses from back to front if possible as well as cleaning the buses between uses is also Control and Prevention guidelines when draft ing recommended. Assigned seating is also recommended in the event a child on a bus tests positive for its guidelines for Kentucky schools, according to COVID-19 and contact tracing is needed, Kinney said. Kinney’s presentation. “It will really be a district decision,” Kinney said. Taking many factors into consideration, such as school district size and fi nances, social distancing Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfi eld, said he appreciated the fl exibility the districts have in with one child per seat every other seat is ideal, implementing the transportation guidelines. Kinney said. However, for districts where this is a “I just appreciate the fl exibility in this and recognizing every school system is diff erent and we have challenge, other mitigating strategies can be used if unique challenges,” Meredith said. bus capacity cannot be kept low. Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, expressed concerns about how struggling school districts will be able to Th ose mitigation strategies include requiring aff ord to implement the guidelines. students to wear masks, check their temperatures prior to boarding the bus and using hand sanitizer, Kinney said Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds the school districts according to Kinney’s presentation. received can be used to off set the cost. THE KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1 Testimony outlines pandemic concerns in long term care facilities by Jordan Hensley FRANKFORT – Emotions ran high during testimony on the COVID-19 death rate in long term care (LTC) facilities during the August 26 Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare and Family Services meeting. Betsy Johnson, president and executive director of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities (KAHCF) and Kentucky Center for Assisted Living (KCAL), shared data showing that more than half of Kentucky’s COVID-19 related deaths have occurred in LTC facility residents. “COVID deaths in long term care settings have nothing to do with the quality of the facility,” Johnson said. “Some of the hardest hit facilities here in Kentucky are our best facilities. Facilities I have recommended to my parents. Finally, we still need help. We need a lot of help, mainly funding to retain our workforce, which has been decimated.” More funding is also needed for personal protective equipment and additional COVID-19 testing, Johnson added. According to her presentation, the top three reasons why staff have quit are: fear of contracting COVID-19, childcare needs and fear of exposing high-risk individuals at home. At the beginning of the pandemic, KAHCF and KCAL Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, asks a question about how long term care facilities sent a request to Gov. Andy Beshear for a Medicaid rate in other states are addressing the COVID-19 pandemic during an August 26 meeting. Moser add-on of $55 per Medicaid resident per day, according to Johnson. In April, the organizations learned their request is co-chair of the Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare and Family Services. was denied but facilities would receive an additional $270 for COVID-19 positive beds only. Johnson said the additional funding decisions made by the state have not been adequate enough to address the issues LTC facilities are facing. Aft er a question from committee co-chair Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, about how LTC facilities are addressing an outbreak, Johnson claimed there’s been issues with working with local health departments and the state department for public health. “Th ere’s a lot of ‘you shall do this,’ rather than, you know, understanding that our skilled nursing facilities have been managing infectious disease in their buildings way before COVID,” Johnson said. “Th ey care for these individuals and it’s not a one size fi ts all kind of solution. So it would be nice to have more of a listen to what we need and you all provide support rather than dictating what should happen inside that building.” Mackenzie Longoria, the director of public policy with the Greater Kentucky & Southern Indiana Alzheimer’s Association, and Johnson also put in a request for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to hire full-time coordinators on dementia and long term face facilities to advise the state in operations and to aid in securing grant funding. “I think we’ve also noticed that there’s been a serious lack of understanding of how skilled nursing facilities operate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Johnson said. Committee co-chair Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, stated she was supportive of Longoria and Johnson. “I think that’s a great idea,” Moser said. “And I think this all really highlights the need for that — the inadequacy of the funding or the application of the funding just being inappropriate or not taking the time to listen to those who are in the trenches is what bothers me.” Although there have been some issues addressing the pandemic in LTC facilities, Johnson said expansion of telehealth has been extremely helpful as well as state and federal government waiving some regulatory requirements. 2 2020 Interim LEGISLATIVE RECORD Legislative panel briefed on Lawmakers express general election costs By Jim Hannah concerns over proposed Frankfort – Kentucky’s top election offi cial is estimating $5.42 million in cost overruns associated with running November’s general election. increase in food “I know that is a lot of money, especially right now, but I believe that is a bargain for a successful presidential election held during a manufacturing fees pandemic,” Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said while testifying before the Sept. 16 meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on by Jordan Hensley Appropriations & Revenue. Adams said the overruns would have been FRANKFORT— Lawmakers spoke out against proposed changes to the permit and fee structure for greater without $4.5 million in federal relief aid food establishments and food manufacturing businesses during the Sept. 17 meeting of the Interim Joint left over from May’s primary. Committee on Agriculture. Rep. Lynn Bechler, R-Marion, asked how the estimated overruns compare to prior “I’m extremely concerned about our small farmers,” Rep. Joe Graviss, D-Versailles, said. presidential elections. Adams said it historically costs Kentucky $10 million to run an election. In June, the Kentucky Department for Public Health fi led the proposed Kentucky Administrative He said the extra expenses associated with Regulation changes. Th e public comment period for the proposal ended Aug. 31. the upcoming election range from $4 million to cover postage for more absentee ballots to According to Julie Brooks, regulation coordinator for the Department for Public Health, the $500,000 in miscellaneous costs, including the department received more than 400 comments on the proposed regulation changes with most of the purchase of 1.2 million ink pens for one-time submissions expressing concern over the increase in fee amounts. voter use. Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, asked Originally, the new fee structure was based on risk of the food being produced or stored instead of when results of the general election in Kentucky square footage of the facility. Brooks said aft er reviewing the submitted comments, a fee structure based would be released. Adams forecasted Kentucky on risk and income is in the works. would have 75 percent to 80 percent of the votes counted on election night. He added that A suggested revision to the original proposal would require food manufacturers whose income is results would come in quicker than during the under $100,000 and are at the highest risk level to pay $400 per year. Currently facilities 1,000 square feet primaries because of more in-person voting and and under pay $120 while the larger facilities pay up to $600 per year. additional processes to speed up the counting of absentee votes. Th e suggested revisions to the original proposal show some food manufactures, depending on income “We are not going to have fi nal results and risk level, could pay hundreds more in fees in 2021 if the changes are approved. election night,” Adams said. “Th ey are going to be unoffi cial ... but it will be enough for us to “I think it goes against the spirit and the intent of (House Bill) 129 to protect our farmers,” Graviss project some outcomes and give some fi nality to said. “Some of the fees they’re going to experience, the increase is more than their income for the year.” the candidates and voters.” Rep. Myron Dossett, R-Pembroke, HB 129, dubbed a “public health transformation” by lawmakers, was an eff ort to improve Kentucky’s highlighted a mobile voting precinct in Hopkins public health system through new funding models and operational changes.

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