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RUSSELL While Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 47, making medical marijuana use and sale legal, it won’t take effect until 2025. Rep. Danny Bentley, R-Russell (98th District), takes credit for the delay.
Bentley, as the legislature’s only pharmacist, said he found 53 mistakes in the bill.
He said he’s for medical cannabis if it’s safe and effective, but he didn’t view that as the case yet. Health officials are making tweaks between now and 2025.
During Bentley’s speech at the Russell Rotary Club on Thursday, he emphasized his stance on medical marijuana and sports wagering (he’s against it), and he also touted a number of bills attached to his name.
The 72-year-old has been in Congress since 2016. He said 20 of his bills, including the Rural Hospital Bill, have been passed in that time.
According to Bentley, a total of 594 House bills and 286 Senate bills have been proposed over the last month. Very few pass through the legislature.
“I don’t think people understand how difficult it is,” Bentley said.
Bentley, a diabetic himself, also has focused a lot of his energy on helping folks with diabetes.
In 2022, he sponsored a bill that led to the formation of Kentucky’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.
Bentley also spoke about the income tax reduction bill. At the start of 2022, personal income tax went from 5% to 4.5%. In line with House Bill 1, the tax will keep falling until until it’s eliminated if the state brings in enough revenue each year.
The hope is to motivate more people to move to Kentucky.
Bentley said the legislative branch actually deserves more credit than the executive part for the income tax reduction.
He echoed that view — that executive leadership has received too much credit — throughout his presentation Thursday.
Bentley hangs his political hat on the Rural Hospital Bill, which he wrote after Our Lady of Bellefonte closed in 2020.
“A doctor in your community is worth $7-8 million in turnover money, so when Bellefonte closed, not only did Russell lose a lot of tax money, we lost a lot of economic power in our community also,” Bentley said. “I’m proud to say Bellefonte will open back up in January or February as a psychiatric hospital and detox center.”
Bentley was referring to the first part of Addiction Recovery Care’s plan to transform Bellefonte’s campus.
Bentley said he’s had his life threatened multiple times, including when he made his firm stance about medical marijuana and about Senate Bill 150, which pertained to transgender youth. Under SB 150, teachers and staff are not required to use a student’s requested pronoun. Schools can no longer allow transgender students to use restrooms, locker rooms or shower rooms that are reserved for students of a different biological sex than theirs, according to Spectrum News 1.
Bentley said he also heard a great deal of positive feedback.
Scott Hill, President of Russell Rotary, asked Bentley if there were any exciting economic developments on the horizon.
“I wish I could fire some people,” Bentley said.
The representative said Kentucky missed out on a meat-packing plant with 1,200 jobs in tow because “the people up here didn’t want to smell cow manure.” But meat-packing plants don’t smell like cow manure, he said.
Bentley said he knows the company “came down 67 (Industrial Parkway), but I was not with them. I think if I could’ve been with them, I could’ve gotten on my knees and said, I’m from this county, I need the jobs. … There’s a lot more to it.”
The meat-packing plant instead landed in Missouri, Bentley said.
(606) 326-2664 |
asnyder@dailyindependent.com
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