FRANKFORT, Ky. — After more than a month of work behind the scenes, Republicans in the Kentucky Senate are split on how they want to move forward on the Safer Kentucky Act.
During a Senate judiciary committee meeting Tuesday afternoon, two proposed committee substitutes were discussed to House Bill 5, which passed in the House back in January.
One came from State Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, who chairs the committee, and State Sen. John Schickel, R-Union. Schickel’s proposal is more in line with the House version while Westerfield’s makes changes that would lessen the reach of HB 5.
“I have a lot of concern about the language that you’ve got, and I’m not saying that what I’ve come up with here is the perfect solution, but I’m trying to address my concern in some meaningful way,” Westerfield said to three of HB 5’s House sponsors.
“We really don’t know what makes us safe, but we do know what justice is,” Schickel said in part in explaining his proposed committee substitute. “And when someone carjacks a car and there’s no consequences, or someone’s camping out in your front yard and there’s no consequences, or people are ruining your neighborhood with open drug use and things like that, that causes a community to spiral down.”
One difference between the two versions centers around adding to the list of crimes considered violent. These charges also come with a requirement that a greater amount of the sentence must be served.
Westerfield does not include first degree wanton endangerment involving the discharge of a firearm — calling it too broad.
“I don’t fault you for trying to bring something forward, but three-fourths of the bill casts a net that’s three times wider than it needs to be,” Westerfield said.
Schickel and House Republicans include it.
“We believe, and I’m not willing to move, that wanton endangerment involving the discharge of a firearm is a violent offense such that the person that does that should have to serve 85% of the sentence that the jury sentences them to,” State Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, said.
The proposals differ elsewhere on dealing with destroying guns used in homicides. Westerfield’s version allows weapons used in those cases to be destroyed at the request of a victim’s family. Schickel follows what the House passed and says those weapons shall be auctioned off by the Kentucky State Police, but the winner of the auction could elect to have the weapon destroyed. Money from those auctions goes toward purchasing police body armor.
The two proposals also differ on penalizing parents who don’t appear at juvenile court hearings.
Little time remains to find a compromise on HB 5 as a vote is expected by this committee Thursday, March 14. Westerfield indicated on social media, it doesn’t appear his plan has enough support to pass.