One lawmaker opposing the bill said it was troubling to criminalize protest when the First Amendment protects the right of " people to peaceably assemble and to petition government for a redress of grievances."
Coleman said the Beshear administration last week published an amended capital punishment regulation that would bring state “policy into full compliance” with earlier court rulings that identified constitutional and other flaws in the state’s regulations and protocols.
Amye Bensenhaver, of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition, said the bill is a reaction to recent rulings by Kentucky courts that discussions of public business conducted on private devices are subject to the state’s open records law.
In Kentucky, Beshear said the state has saved around $300 million by eliminating insurance industry middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers from its Medicaid program in 2021.
In this session, lawmakers are trying to flex control over everything from when they can meet in special session to decisions about permanent displays in the Capitol Rotunda.
