On Thursday, the Central Kentucky chapter spent its meeting reviewing legislation that KFTC endorses, and also learned from our allies at Lexington Fairness which bills they're lobbying for during the 2010 General Assembly.

Central Kentucky members Katie Meyer, Martin Mudd, Jenn Myatt, and Susan Williams each led a breakout session on one of KFTC's legislative priorities. Members then broke down into small groups and spent ten minutes at each "station."

In Katie's group members celebrated our work on Wednesday during the "Bake Sale for the Budget" big lobby day. They also learned about the progressive tax reform legislation proposed in House Bill 13.

Susan Williams led a group on sustainable energy policies. She shared information about the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance (KySEA), and how the policies proposed by the alliance will

benefit all  Kentuckians by saving ratepayers money in the short and long-term, creating local jobs and businesses, improving our health and environment through cleaner electricity sources and by helping families struggling with rising energy bills.

In the voting rights break-out members had a chance to learn about where we are with the restoration of voting rights legislation (HB 70) and to prepare for our big voting rights lobby day on March 4.

The fourth break-out group, led by Marty Mudd, focused on the history of the Stream Saver Bill. There were several first-timers at the meeting who kept Marty on his toes by asking important questions like, "How do you make an issue like protecting streams in Appalachia important to someone who lives in Lexington or Louisville?"

KFTC also has a history of supporting ally organizations' work in Frankfort as well. The chapter invited Joey Rose from Lexington Fairness to share with them which bills they are working on right now. Lexington Fairness is a local LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer) organization. There are four bills that they are lobbying for during this session;

1. Statewide Fairness Bill (House: HB 117): This bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity throughout Kentucky in employment, housing, public accommodations, insurance coverage, and credit. The House bill also includes sexual orientation and gender identity provisions in the powers of state and local human rights commissions. Right now only residents of Metro Louisville, Lexington/Fayette County, and Covington are protected by city ordinance against discrimination.

2. Hospital Visitation Bill (House: HB 118): This initiative would allow any adult hospital patient to designate another individual to be treated as a member of the patient's family with regard to visitation.

3. Fair Marriage Bill (House: HB 17): This bill would repeal the 2004 anti-marriage amendment by returning the issue to Kentucky voters.

4. Dual Parent Adoption Bill (House: HB 95): Allows non-married couples to adopt.

There will be a fairness lobby day on Wednesday, February 24. Starting at 9 a.m folks can gather in room 131 of the capitol annex for training.

To learn more about these bills and how they're coming along, visit the Kentucky Fairness Alliance's Legislative Action Center at http://kentuckyfairness.org/getinformed/legislation.htm

The Central Kentucky KFTC Chapter meets the third Thursday of every month from 7-9 p.m. at the Episcopal Diocesan Mission House at the corner of 4th Street and Martin Luther King. If you're interested in helping to plan our chapter meetings, please contact the CKY Organizer Ondine Quinn at ondine@kftc.org

We had our first big KFTC meeting in Northern Kentucky last night, inviting existing members and friends from Campbell, Boone, and Kenton counties to talk about KFTC and our statewide issue campaigns, and allow them to get to know each other.

Incredibly, more than thirty people came out to this first meeting and it was a broad group in terms of issue interest and familiarity with KFTC.  One thread that united them all seemed to be a deep commitment.

Taking some time to get to know each other with an extended icebreaker was important to the group.

"I don't think anyone there really knew more than five other people at the meeting, so making some time to make those connections was key," said Joe Gallenstein, long-time KFTC member in the Central Kentucky chapter who recently moved back to Northern Kentucky and has been working hard to bring a KFTC group together there.  

A big piece of the agenda focused on KFTC's major issues through the lens of lobbying in the General Assembly, along with a brief lobbying workshop.  The group talked about Mountaintop Removal Mining, Voting Rights, and Revenue Reform and many people shared good information about each campaign and found threads of connection between them. 

"I joined this group for a singular issue, to restore voting rights to ex-offenders, but I've learned a lot about these other issues tonight and I'm excited about working on them," said Tom Jones.

Apart from just defining KFTC in terms of issues, folks spent a lot of time hearing different people in the room explain how they think about KFTC and how they define our work.  Many members talked about the value of grassroots, member-led organizing, coupled with a multi-issue approach.

"KFTC has helped me become politically empowered on a level I'd never really imagined just a few years ago.  We're a great organization," said Joe Gallenstein.

The Northern Kentucky group is anxious to start an official KFTC chapter and already has a few upcoming events on the calendar.  Feel free to join them if you're in the area!

Upcoming Northern Kentucky KFTC Events

NKY KFTC Meeting – Tuesday, February 16 at 7 p.m. at the Boone County Public Library, Main Branch.  We tentatively plan to meet on the third Tuesday of every month.

Euchre for Justice at Joe Gallenstein’s house - Saturday, Feb 27 – $5 for everyone to play.  We'll couple this fundraiser with action steps people can take to have an impact on the General Assembly. 

On Monday night more than 20 Madison County chapter members gathered to meet with State Representative Lonnie Napier.  Chapter members discussed with him KFTC's 2010 legislative agenda -- everything from fair tax reform, voting rights, clean energy policies, the stream-saver bill, and even our campaign to stop the construction of a a proposed coal-burning power plant.  Representative Napier agreed to support our tax reform and voting rights legislation.  He also agreed to meet with us further to discuss our policy proposals related to increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy options in the state. 

"I thought it was a good meeting.  Rep. Napier agreed on a lot of our issues and was also realistic with us about what the session may hold," said Madison County member Megan Naseman.

The chapter's meeting with Rep. Napier was part of a series of at-home lobby meetings the chapter was having leading up to the legislative session.  Rep. Harry Moberly met with the chapter in August.  Senator Worley declined to meet with the chapter in the district.

On Thursday November 5, KFTC members Vanessa Hall and Suzanne Tallichet participated in A Forum on Coal in Kentucky. The daylong event hosted by the University of Kentucky Department of Mining Engineering and the Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments sponsored the event as “a balanced discussion regarding the past, present and future impacts of coal on our state’s economy and environment.”

Set up as a debate between those supporting the coal industry and environmentalists against coal, the “discussion” was presented through four daytime sessions, Economics and Coal in Kentucky, People and Coal in Kentucky, Aspects of Coal in Kentucky, Environment and Coal in Kentucky and the evening session, Impact of Coal, Today and Tomorrow.

Along side the presentations of the experts in economic, science and research was the highly charged political views of coal, which often crept over as in the case of Kentucky Historian Ron Bryant, “Pollution, land destruction, that can be studied; I want you to think positively about coal and the future of Kentucky.” In presenting the history of coal in Kentucky, Bryant failed to mention the effects of the broadform deed or the citizen led movement residing in a constitutional amendment abolishing it.

Leading coal politicians such as former Governor Paul Patton, Pike Co. Judge Executive Wayne B. Rutherford and House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins played to the majority of the 300 attendees supporting the industry, painting the industry as the object of a vast conspiracy plotting its downfall. “Coal is not the villain, coal should be the hero of this country,” railed Rutherford, “We have to give coal the credit it deserves!” Governor Patton pronounced, “Coal is the favorite whipping boy of the media,” adding that Kentucky’s, “central location, hard-working people, and cheap electricity makes Kentucky attractive to economic activity”, alleging that the states in the northeast of the country want to destroy Kentucky and West Virginia’s economic edge.

Jason Bailey of MACED, Suzanne Tallichet and Vanessa Hall brought compelling and often unwelcome reasons to the audience for Kentucky to question many assumptions about coal and Kentucky’s economic future

The PowerPoint presentations of the various research and economic experts can be seen at www.coalinkentucky.com. The speeches of Patton, Rutherford and Adkins are unavailable.

The CKY chapter development work team met last night at the Lexington office to plan the agenda for their July chapter meeting. About the work team meeting itself, CKY member and, steering committee representative Susan Williams said, "Our chapter development meetings are crucial to making sure that our chapter meetings run smoothly and are on time. By getting together  in advance, we have time to really make sure that everything that needs to be addressed, will be"

That is exactly how it went, as the work team chose voter empowerment to be the theme of their July 16th chapter meeting.

The second half of the evening was devoted towards making posters to carry on the Lexington 4th of July parade.

The CKY chapter plans on both marching in the parade and having a booth at the festival. If you're interested in participating, please contact Ondine Quinn at  ondine@kftc.org.

   In KFTC, hitting a big goal often means throwing a big party to celebrate!  We have a LOT to celebrate across the state as 2007 draws to a close and the Central Kentucky Chapter threw a huge bash last night with over 60 members participating, great food, games, live music (compliments of Hot Jam Trio!), and stories. 

   Members cited victories, memories, stories and accomplishments too numerous to repeat, but including:

   - The creating and phenomenal work of the UK KFTC student group on campus

   - The Legislative Mountain Witness Tour just a few weeks ago

   - Winning a Minimum Wage increase victory in Frankfort this year

   - A great campaign against the Special Session and subsidies for liquid coal that brought a lot of attention to Mountaintop Removal Mining.

   - Registering over 1,300 voters and contacting over 10,000 voters three times leading to the General Election in a campaign that included great voter guides, door-to-door work, events, phone banks, and so much more!

   - Bringing over 200 citizen lobbyists out to I Love Mountains Day

   - A tremendous year of over 100 community outreach events including tabling at festivals and special events across the city.  The Fourth of July and the Roots and Heritage Festival

   - Passing the Restoration of Voting Rights Bill out of the Kentucky House and laying a lot of groundwork to get it through the Senate in the coming year.

   - Building a 2,400-person group on Facebook as a totally new method of reaching out to youth

   - Great Concerts including the Last Waltz, Concert For The Commonwealth, and Bluegrass Green-Earth

   - An energetic campaign for Robinson Forest to raise awareness and deter future stripmining plans for the forest. 

   - Immigrants Rights ally work in support of KCIRR, including lobby days in Frankfort and public testimony in Lexington.

   - A KFTC presence at Fancy Farm, led by CKY members. 

   - The evolution of our website including this very blog!

    But perhaps the biggest news of the evening was that KFTC hit our incredible expansion goal of reaching 5,000 Members and $200,000 in grassroots fundraising at the end of a three-year push.  Members took a lot of pride in hitting the goal and were all-smiles, talking about what kind of impact we can collectively make in the coming year with that much added strength and support.

   It'll be a huge year ahead, with a 60-day Legislative Session and extremely lively elections on the local, state, and national levels and lots of important ground work in the service of democracy.  But for now, take some time to celebrate a year done good.  You've earned it!