We’ve entered the home stretch of the 2014 regular session of the General Assembly. By law, lawmakers have to finish their wok by April 15.
In a lot of ways, this year’s session is noteworthy for what didn’t happen:
- The local-option sales tax initiative failed.
- A plan to double attorneys’ fees in workers’ comp cases failed.
- The governor’s call to expand the sales tax to include services failed.
This measures would have significantly raised the cost of doing business in the commonwealth.
In other news, small business helped pass House Bill 84, which includes provisions to create an online system to notify businesses if a subcontractor cancels its workers’ comp insurance. Existing law makes the business liable for subcontractors’ workers’ comp coverage, an expense that can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. “On behalf of our members, I want to offer special thanks to Rep. Mike Denham and Sen. Jared Carpenter for their strong efforts on behalf of small business,” said Tom Underwood, state director of NFIB/Kentucky.
PHOTO: Daderot/Wikipedia
