FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky House Democrats want to pass changes to help the working class. They're using Labor Day to push their slate of bills forward as they prepare for the 2024 legislative session.
“We will do all we can to turn these bills into law during the next legislative session and hope we can celebrate their passage when next year’s Labor Day arrives," said Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Leader Derrick Graham. "Kentucky workers deserve no less.”
The proposed legislation ranges from boosting employee benefits, such as ensuring sick leave, to establishing a statewide fairness law so workers would not be at risk of being fired because they are a member of the LGBTQ community.
A major priority for the Democrats is also raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.
"When we have things like minimum wage [which] hasn't budged at all since 2009 - it just makes it really hard for families to cope," said Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson. "And we shouldn't have families that are working their guts out - having to work two or three jobs - in order to make ends meet."
A related proposal would also give local communities the flexibility to raise the minimum wage in their jurisdiction.
The Democrats are also pushing to restore pro-union and other pro-worker measures and repeal laws such as Kentucky's Right-To-Work Law.
“Six years ago, the Republican-led legislature regrettably made Kentucky a ‘right-to-work’ state, when the term should be called ‘right-to-work-for-less,” House Democratic Caucus Whip Rachel Roberts said. “The legislature also took away prevailing wage, which better ensured workers on state and many local public-works projects are paid what they should be, and the legislature also has reduced labor’s voice in other ways, such as this year’s move to stop payroll deductions for union dues that many public workers pay. These protections never should have been taken away.”
"We know that our economy works best when we have a strong middle class," said Stevenson. "Labor unions have been such an important part of helping us build the middle class, which has helped us again to build our country and our Commonwealth."
Other proposed bills would:
- Bar businesses from asking about felony status on initial job applications
- Enable workers who are victims of a crime to take time off to attend court proceedings
- Penalize employers who reduce wages or benefits either by not paying employees for all hours they work or by intentionally misclassifying workers as contractors
- Reverse a 2018 law that made it much tougher for coal miners to qualify for black-lung workers’ comp benefits
- Require state economic-development incentives to be awarded only for jobs that pay a living wage
- Improve retirement benefits for first responders and teachers to encourage more to take those jobs
- Have state agencies give extra preference to Kentucky- and U.S.-made products when possible
