On January 31^st, the Madison County chapter held a citizen lobby training as KFTC’s lobby season swings into high gear. Anyone interested in making his or her voice heard in Frankfort was invited to the training, and around a dozen people from Berea and Richmond showed up to learn about the issues and the legislation making their way through the Frankfort legislature. KFTC members leading the training opened with a discussion about the importance of citizen lobbying and strategies for effective lobbying before moving on to talk about the major bills KFTC is sponsoring this legislative session. Among these bills are the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (HB 167) and the Stream Saver Bill (HB 231). Members of the Madison County chapter hope that holding trainings like these will educate politically concerned Madison County residents and inspire them to go to Frankfort where they can personally fight for a fairer Kentucky.

   

Yesterday, members of the Berea community, the Madison County KFTC and the City Council gathered to celebrate the creation of a Human Rights Commission in Berea. The Human Rights Commission was established to investigate claims of illegal discrimination, and the Berea Fairness Coalition is hoping that the HRC will be a bridge to broader anti-discrimination laws that will protect Berea’s citizens from discrimination in employment and housing based on their sexual orientation. In order to open up a dialogue between community members and the human rights commissioners on the issue of fairness, Berea’s Fairness Coalition invited the commissioners to a reception where they would be able to meet and mingle with the public. 

Berea Mayor Steve Connelly addresses the community members gathered at BC&T

The reception, which was held at Berea Coffee and Tea, attracted over 80 people from the community, who packed into the small coffee shop for a chance to meet the new commissioners. Chris Hartman, a representative of the Kentucky-wide Fairness Coalition, complimented the work of the Berea City Council, expressing his hope that Berea would be the first city in this part of Kentucky to pass a fairness ordinance.

Student activist Ethan Hamblin also commented on what he saw as a successful event: “The reception was a stunning success. We appreciate all of the community and youth that attended the event.” Even with the inauguration of the Human Rights Commission, Bereans For Fairness and the Madison County chapter will continue to fight for the right of all people to live without fear of discrimination.

The Madison County chapter joined the voter empowerment work going on statewide tonight by hosting a Get Out The Vote phone bank. Several members volunteered and dozens of KFTC members were called and encouraged to vote in Tuesday's election!  The chapter is hosting more phone banks over the weekend and on Monday night!  KFTC members Lisa Harrington and Cory Lowery are pictured below heating up the office phone lines!

Voter Registration Deadline Today

Today was the voter registration deadline and KFTC members and staff across the state worked to double and triple check to make sure that we've gotten all of our cards turned in safely. 

The only snag in our operation today was that office workers in the Berea Madison County Clerk's office refused to accept several marginally incomplete cards, and refusing to accept any at all without an accompanying spreadsheet of information, not called for in Kentucky Law.  We're looking into the issue to see how we might be able to fix it in future elections.

If you need to register to vote today, there's still time so long as you can get a letter postmarked to the correct County clerk's office today.

Gubernatorial Candidate Debate Tonight

Candidates David Williams, Steve Beshear, and Gatewood Galbraith will all appear tonight in Richmond at 7pm Eastern.  It will be widely broadcast on radio and TV, so check your local listings.  This is a rare instance where all of the candidate for Governor will appear together to debate.  Unfortunately, no public questions will be allowed, but the answers can help people inform their vote come Nov 8th. 

Please Don't Call Me Homeless.  I Don't Call You Homed

This powerful play about homelessness will be performer at the Lexington's Kentucky Theater tonight at 7:30pm.  The play is almost entirely performed by Kentuckians who are homeless or have been in the past.  Some politicians have recently called into question whether people without addresses should be allowed to register to vote, so we expect this issue to be a part of the discussion tonight.  We'll also be interviewing several people.  Feel free to come join us.

"No Voter ID For Black Woman in Tennessee"

And finally, there was a powerful news story a few days ago about a woman in Tennessee who has been unable to vote in the wake of new state laws mandating people have photo IDs to vote.  An estimated 10% of American citizens of voting age have no such IDs and it can be challenging to acquire them.  Photo ID voting laws have recently been suggested in Kentucky and might come up in next year's legislative session.    Read the full story Here.

As election season approaches, the Madison County KFTC is partnering with student groups from Berea College to register people from around the College and the community to vote. With the assistance of Berea College’s Bereans For Appalachia and the College’s Student Government Association, the Madison County chapter was at Berea College’s dining hall and Mountain Day festival to encourage people to register to vote in the upcoming election. This registration drive is a final attempt to get people to register to vote before the October 11^th deadline. The Madison County chapter also plans to hold a candidates’ forum on major issues at Berea College on October 26^th, with the assistance of the Harvey Milk Society student group, where Berea City Council candidates will voice their views on major issues in Berea

As voters go to the polls in Berea this November, one of these major issues will be the fairness ordinance in Berea. The candidate elected to the Berea City Council will likely have to vote on a fairness ordinance, so a candidates’ position on the fairness issue will be an important factor as voters choose who to vote for. A fairness ordinance would make it illegal for businesses to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, and has been a major initiative in Berea for the past several months. The Fairness Coalition, which includes the Madison County KFTC, has continued to fight for a fairness ordinance in Berea. Supporters of a fairness ordinance made a showing at a Berea City Council meeting, where students from the college and members of the Fairness Coalition spoke in support of a fairness ordinance, urging the City Council to vote in favor of the law.

 Two of students testified about the assault they suffered while they walked around Berea (for the story in the Lexington Herald-Leader, please click here. 

 People in a passing car shouted expletives and slurs at the students due to the students’ perceived sexual orientation, before throwing a bottle of water at the two. The students encouraged the City Council to take a stand against this behavior by passing a fairness ordinance.  

Here are some of the first pictures of today's huge, powerful, and fun Fairness Rally and March in Berea.

And if that's not enough pictures for ya, click here for the full gallery.

Many thanks to all of you who came!

Expect another blog entry soon to go into better detail about the event.

By Steve Boyce, Madison County KFTC Member

Customers of Berea Municipal Utilities who want to invest in solar photovoltaic panels will soon have an opportunity to do so by choosing to participate in a program called Berea Solar Partners. 

"If this seems to go well in Berea, there may be other small towns around Kentucky attracted to establishing similar community-based efforts to move gradually toward greater reliance on clean, renewable sources of electrical energy. " 

The City is establishing the Berea Solar Farm, arrays of PV panels to generate electricity.  Customers will be invited to become Berea Solar Partners by leasing up to two 235-watt solar panels from an initial array of 60 panels.  The one-time lease fee of approximately $700 will cover a 25-year period.  In return, customers will receive credit every billing period for the electricity generated by their panels.

The Solar Farm is one of three projects supported by a $125,000 Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant to the City of Berea.  The purpose of the grant is to enable Berea to take small but critical first steps in a decades-long movement toward a better energy future. 

One of the other two projects funded by the grant will model improved energy practice in City operations by upgrading lighting in five municipal buildings.  The third project involves starting several energy efficiency programs at Berea Municipal Utilities (BMU) in hopes of making clear how such programs can return important value to the community.  With no history of energy efficiency programs in Berea, getting started in a way that demonstrates their potential value – to the City and its people - is as challenging as it is important. 

Getting back to the Berea Solar Farm, one of the major advantages of the program is that the utility will site, install and maintain the solar panels.  Participating customers will gain access to solar generation at less than $3 per watt, less than the typical installed cost of a home PV system after state and federal tax credits.   It is estimated that at current rates, one 235 watt panel will produce a little over $17 worth of electricity per year.  Assuming that Berea’s electricity rates increase 5% per year on average, the panels have estimated payback in the neighborhood of 23 years.

Steve Wilkins, a Berea KFTC member who plans to lease panels, says “The opportunity appeals to me in part because I’d like to reduce our carbon footprint through some solar PV generation, but we have a lot of shade all around our house.  So installing panels at home is not a possibility.  I also expect the price of coal-fired electricity to continue to sky-rocket, so I’m attracted to locking in 25-years worth of PV-generated electricity at today’s cost.  And I just like the idea of supporting Berea’s effort to make this kind of option available to its utility customers.”     

The program is ideal for customers who want local opportunities to invest in clean energy but have homes, apartments or businesses – owned or rented – not well suited for solar installations due to directional orientation or shade.  It also provides an opportunity for those who would like to invest in solar energy but can’t afford the relatively large cost of installing an entire system on their property. 

One of the exciting features of this Berea Solar Farm approach is the extent to which it is scalable, both for the City and for individual customers.  For the City, adding additional arrays to the 60-panel beginning can be done in small steps over time in response to customer interest.    The “pay as you go” model means that any future growth will be funded by customer participation.  Customers who choose not to participate will not be asked to subsidize those who do.

Some benefits of the Berea Solar Partners Solar Farm
•    Allows more people at all income levels to participate in solar energy options, regardless of site issues such as shade or directional orientation.
•    The program is self-sustaining and supported financially by only those customers who choose to become Berea Solar Partners.
•    Participants get peace of mind for supporting renewable energy and receive credit  for the energy their panels generate
•    The cost of participating is less than $3 per installed watt, less than the typical cost of installing home solar systems after state and federal incentives
•    For BMU to generate some of its own electricity means less money leaving Berea to pay wholesale electric bills to our multinational corporate wholesale supplier

For some customers, the scalability could take the form of budgeting over time to offset some percentage – possibly all - of their electricity use by periodically adding one or more solar panels.  To enable broad participation, customers are limited to leasing no more than two panels among the first sixty.  But beyond that, if additional arrays are added, customers will be free to lease as many as they wish. 

Another major benefit of this panel-by-panel leasing approach is the ease of transferring credit for the electricity generated by leased panels.  Since the panels are maintained in a central location, the electricity they generate need not be tied to a specific address.  In the event a participating homeowner or renter moves within BMU’s service territory, the electricity credits can simply be transferred to the new location.  If the move is to a location outside the BMU service territory, the leaser would need to sell or donate the energy generated by the panels to a BMU customer.  If such a move involves selling a house, the house value could be enhanced to the extent that the panels serve increasingly to lower utility bills as coal generated rates increase over time.  Some may find it attractive to support a local non-profit – a school or church, for example – by leasing one or more panels and assigning the billing credit to that organization.

Another aspect of this approach to solar generation that seems exciting is the extent to which it lends itself to local effort.  We are hoping, for example, that many people in Berea will share Steve Wilkins' interest in community members coming together to take greater responsibility for their own energy future. 

If this seems to go well in Berea, there may be other small towns around Kentucky attracted to establishing similar community-based efforts to move gradually toward greater reliance on clean, renewable sources of electrical energy.   

15 Madison County KFTC chapter members traveled to Floyd County over the weekend to visit with members of the Floyd County KFTC chapter.  They met at KFTC member Rick Handshoe's home in Hueysville.  Rick took them on a tour of his home, showing first-hand the destruction that has been caused by the mountaintop removal mining happening in his holler.  He then led them on a hike of his land where he pointed the changes to the land and community he has seen since the mining began. Madison County chapter members asked lots of questions, trying to gain a better understanding of the extent of the impact.  The tour and chapter exchange was a great way to build connections among KFTC's statewide membership -- crossing county borders.  They were reminded that we are all connected to the land and in this together!

 The healthcare overhaul that happened in Congress this year has many benefits for youth. 

• It means that more youth will have insurance coverage regardless of income by expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  
• It means that young adults can stay on their parent’s insurance until they’re 26, a change which will support many young professionals in finding meaningful employment even if that employer isn’t able to offer health coverage immediately -- more than two million young people will benefit from this – including me.  This provision is the only reason I have health insurance right now, I have a job where my employer can’t afford to pay for health insurance.  Thankfully, through this provision, I have a few years to stay on my parent’s insurance until I can get a job that does provide health insurance.  
• This healthcare bill also means that health insurance companies cannot deny coverage to any child because of a pre-existing condition.  It means more funding for community health centers that make good medical care available across income levels.

 While the healthcare reform legislation had many good provisions, it didn’t solve every problem and could still go further.  There are more than eight million uninsured children in America – that is one in ten.  Every 42 seconds a child is born uninsured.  Health care costs for working families are still high, making it difficult to afford insurance or access to timely care.

As a KFTC member, I believe in a single-payer system –that sets up an affordable healthcare system that is based on need, and not ability to pay.  A single-payer system – similar to the Medicare system – would mean that one entity, our government, would collect all healthcare fees and put out all healthcare costs.  This alone reduces administrative waste and saves money, which can be used to provide and insurance to those who currently don’t have it.

Jack Conway and Rand Paul are talking about healthcare – and on this issue there seems to be a real difference between the two.  Rather than talking about improving upon the healthcare legislation that passed, Rand Paul is calling for the repeal of the law – and says the “free market” will bring healthcare to almost all of us.  Jack Conway, however, supports the healthcare reform that passed and wants to improve upon it. – one example he gave is about helping control the cost of prescription drugs.

Regardless of where the candidates stand, one thing is clear – healthcare came a long way when reform was passed this past March.  However, lots more still needs to done to make sure that everyone who needs and deserves healthcare, can have it.

The Madison County Voter Sound Car just returned from covering miles upon miles in Madison County -- spreading the message that today was election day and letting people know where their polling place is.  Thanks to volunteers Megan Naseman, Patrick Dunn, and voter empowerment organizer Greg Capillo for taking the voter sound car out for spend. 

The chapter right now is wrapping up some last-minute ride to the polls and getting ready to head off to watch election return results!