While most of Kentucky was dealing with the cold and snow last week state lawmakers took up some controversial new bills on crime and race-based scholarships.
One bill that is prompting a lot of debate is house bill five which is known as the Safer Kentucky Act. The bill includes keeping felons locked up after a third violent offense, toughening penalties for knowingly selling fentanyl and giving business owners civil and criminal immunity in cases where they try to prevent theft or protect their store.
Supporters say this will help the state crack down on crime.
“With this bill, we are reasserting some basic and simple truths, and that is that criminals – not society – are accountable for their actions,” said Republican Jefferson County Representative Jared Bauman.
Critics disagree. They say the bill fails to address what leads to crime, like mental health. They worry it’ll just lead to more people being put in jail.
“What this bill will do is criminalize our homeless people, criminalize our mentally ill people, criminalize our addicted people – who are suffering from substance abuse disorder – and it will criminalize the poorest among us,” said Democratic Jefferson County Representative Nima Kulkarni.