Last week, the 2025 Legislative Session got underway when the Kentucky General Assembly convened in Frankfort. The first 2-3 days were busy, with several bills being introduced by legislators in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Look elsewhere in this week’s edition for details on what some of those bills are proposing, and continue reading here for some details on others that caught my eye…
The Republican representative from Kentucky’s 65th District (part of Kenton Co.), Stephanie Dietz, is sponsoring a bill that proposes creating a new section within the Kentucky Revised Statues, chapter 29A, that would “require the Administrative Office of the Courts, in cooperation with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, to develop a brochure, pamphlet, or other brief document that contains information for jurors regarding how to obtain mental health treatment.”
The bill, HB 100, goes on to propose that judges be required to provide jurors with the brochure or pamphlet “at the conclusion of a jury trial involving an offense that would classify a person as a violent offender,” or “at the conclusion of any trial if the judge believes the jurors may have been traumatized by his or her service.”
As soon as I read this, I was reminded of a story I read not too long ago while lending a hand with helping judge another state’s press association awards submissions. I don’t remember the state that we were helping out – Wisconsin, or maybe Arkansas – but the story was about jurors who experience significant emotional trauma as a result of their service. Frankly, this was something that, despite the fact that it happens every single day in communities all across the country, I had never really given much thought to.
The only time that I have ever had to actually serve on a jury up to this point was a brief affair. It dealt with a land dispute that myself and my fellow jurors thought was pretty straight forward. There was no real argument as we took 15-20 minutes to discuss the verdict before re-entering the court room to deliver it to the judge. We were able to complete our service in a single afternoon.
I imagine that many trials are like this, but sometimes citizens are faced with the task of sitting on a jury that will be hearing difficult testimony that recounts horrific acts of abuse, neglect, or even murder. They may even be asked to look at disturbing images, or view gut-wrenching video footage of some type.
Back in October, our very own Timothy Wyatt wrote a column in this newspaper that talked about how difficult it was for him personally to cover the recent case related to the death of three-year-old Amoura Smallwood, who was strangled, sodomized and ultimately killed by her mother’s boyfriend after the mother, Alexandra Ward, had left the child in his care.
As a professional working in the news business, Timothy is used to hearing about tragic situations all the time, but this one was especially difficult for obvious reasons. Imagine being an unsuspecting citizen, though, and suddenly finding yourself serving as a juror in a trial dealing with this type of crime. It very well could be the most traumatic experience of your entire life. For this reason, I think HB 100 is a great idea. It is a simple concept that could really help a lot of people, in my opinion.
A couple of others…
A pair of western Kentucky Republicans in the Senate – the 1st District’s Jason Howell and the 3rd District’s Craig Richardson – are co-sponsoring a bill (SB 28) that proposes the creation of a new agricultural economic development program within the Department of Agriculture. If you read the special op-ed by Agriculture Commissioner Johnathan Shell in last week’s edition, then you know there is a lot going on with agri-business in our state. I generally support anything that we can do to expand upon that, and I will be eager to see what comes of this bill after it was sent to be looked at by the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
Finally, the Senator from Kentucky’s 14th District, Republican Jimmy Higdon, is sponsoring a bill (SB 59) that seeks to create a new section of KRS chapter 100 in order to “allow religious institutions to develop affordable housing without submission to review by a planning unit if the development is approved by a local government.” In my column last week, I said that I hoped to see some serious conversations taking place during this legislative session regarding the ongoing housing crisis and the growing problem of homelessness in our communities. I don’t know if this specific proposal will go anywhere, but at the very least, it provides us with something to think about as we seek to find ways to get people housed and stabilized. The bill has been sent to the Senate’s Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Labor.
