This Tuesday was a big ordeal because the Legislators met in the old Capitol downtown in honor of Lincoln’s birthday. They only passed one resolution and the rest was ceremonial. Thursday was a huge day in Kentucky Politics because Governor Brashear proposed two bills to the General Assembly on the issue of gaming. I haven’t found out who will sponsor them yet but I know that will be a bigger ordeal because this might determine who will vote in favor of the bills. In the past, leadership sponsored the governor’s bills but since the Senate is controlled by President Williams and the Republican Party and Speaker Richards is in favor of only one of the two bills it will be interesting to see who will sponsor them.  Another interesting thing was the subcommittee for Health and Welfare dealing with Human Services. In subcommittee’s you tend to have mainly testimonials and a particular bill is not the focus but instead a broader theme. Health and Welfare is always pretty emotional but the subcommittee was even more emotional. For instance yesterday there were approximately 6 or more different advocate groups for Human services. Since this is also a time where citizens are allowed to voice their opinion you might have screaming and shouting while some one is giving their testimonial. It’s definitely an experience. The General Assembly was also more lively than usual as the Republican leadership stood up against the speaker. The issue was a member of the minority Republican caucus was pretty much shut down by speaker Richards because of an issue dealing with Rules. Minority leader Rep. Hoover thought that Richards handled the situation inappropriately and expressed his sentiments to the Speaker. It was really great to see how the different parities viewed this issue.