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Editor's Note: The House Committee today debated the bill discussed below, but took no action on it according to a report in the Lexington Herald Leader.  

Senate Bill 151 would change the make up of the Public Service Commission drastically, replacing the three appointed commissioners with seven elected  members.  The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 29-5.

The three senators who sponsored the bill are all Democrats and all from Eastern Kentucky. The Senate, controlled by the Republicans, doesn’t see many bills introduced by Democrats get such overwhelming approval. 

As provided in Kentucky’s Constitution, the General Assembly met briefly in early January, then adjourned and reconvened on February 1 for the longer part of the 2011 session.  With the three-week break in January, several businesses and organizations waited until February to start or increase their lobbying activities.

 For example, the Kentucky Optometric Association increased its lobbying group from four lobbyists employed in January to 18 lobbyists, including 13 who started on February 1. 

 The optometrists’ lobbyists supported Senate Bill 110, which increases the number of procedures which may be performed by optometrists, and which was introduced on February 7.  Opposing SB 110 were ophthalmologists, represented by the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians, who added seven lobbyists on February 10 to the three they employed in January.  By February 18, SB 110 became the first bill of the 2011 session to pass both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

AWARD-WINNING 3-D ART— Graves County High School sophomore Micah Huff recently won "Best of Show in 3-D Art" at the Regional High School Art Show sponsored by the Kentucky Art Education Association.

Paducah Middle School's team went undefeated to win the Paducah Regional Science Bowl at WKCTC on February 18. Team members are Reese Butler, Grant Hutcheson, Erin Burba, Parker Loyd, and Palmer Stroup. With the win they advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.

The competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. From January through March, high school and middle school students compete at regional competitions across the nation. The winners will compete at finals in Washington D.C. April 28th-May 3rd.