1998 General Assembly a boon for family
A flurry of pro-family legislation characterized this year's state legislature
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, April, 1998

You would think that a bill defending the idea of traditional marriage would have an easy time in the state legislature of a conservative state like Kentucky. Think again.

House Bill 13, the Defense of Marriage Act, became one of the most controversial bills of the 1998 Kentucky General Assembly session. With the support of a majority of state lawmakers, why did it have such trouble making it through the process?

In Frankfort, the views of a majority of Kentuckians often take a back seat to the political agendas of a few members who happen to hold powerful leadership positions.

The bill, House Bill 13, began its tortuous journey through the legislative process with a surprise. The day before the bill was to be debated on the floor of the House, it was pulled from the Judiciary Committee and sent to the Health and Welfare Committee, where it was expected to die a slow death at the hands of an unfriendly committee chairman. The move outraged many pro-family legislators and resulted in a bloody fight on the floor of the House between rank-and-file House members of both parties and Democratic Party Leaders.

House Majority Floor Leader Greg Stumbo was the chief antagonist. It was he who arranged to have the bill reassigned to the unfriendly committee.

After the daily session adjourned, House Republican leaders met with a handful of other Republican members behind closed doors to plot strategy to counter Stumbo’s move. The group finally settled on a parliamentary tactic that they were unsure would work.

The next day, Thursday, Feb. 26, Rep. Sheldon Baugh, the sponsor of the bill, took his microphone and made a motion to reconsider the vote of the previous day. The move apparently took House leaders by surprise.

Stumbo contested Baugh’s motion, saying that a vote of the members was never taken. But Baugh countered by observing that by the Speaker lowering the gavel and indicating there were no objections, a vote was deemed to have taken place and all members, including him (Baugh) were deemed to have voted for it, giving him the right to move for reconsideration. “He’s right,” Stumbo admitted.

In the ensuing hour, those viewing the House proceedings were treated to a fiery debate between conservatives, who charged House leaders with abuse of power, and liberals, who defended killing the bill by appealing to tolerance.

Baugh assailed House leaders for killing what he maintained was legislation that was important to average Kentuckians. He charged Stumbo with arrogance “who has been quoting Karl Marx. But we have a Majority Leader who has been acting like Karl Marx.”

Stumbo’s reply, an impassioned piece of oratory invoking his own religious beliefs about tolerance and diversity, surprised many. “On Judgement Day,” Stumbo told the assembly, “you will be judged by how you treated all God’s children, each and every one.”

“I’d like to ask the Majority Leader,” countered Republican Ricky Cox, “if he really believes God doesn’t judge people, to pick up his phone and call the city of Sodom and see if anybody answers.”

Stumbo’s attempt to hold his forces in line failed in the end, however, and he found himself on the losing side — a rare position for Stumbo, whose power in the House is almost unchallenged.

So fearful was Speaker of the House Jody Richards of the consequences of his vote against the more powerful Stumbo that after stepping down from the chair, he told several members, “Well, there goes my speakership.”

The rare defeat of Stumbo on a floor vote had Republicans flushed with the adrenaline of victory, and showed in no uncertain terms the political power of the issue. The direct result of the vote was to place HB 13 back into the Judiciary Committee.

Proponents of the bill knew they had a majority of votes on the committee. But in a rare move, Bowling stepped down from the rise and sat down at the table facing the committee.

Stunned into silence, the audience listened to Bowling’s slow and careful speech, in which he launched into an impassioned argument against the bill on the basis of his beliefs about the constitution.

His speech made it clear once again how important the issue was to some House leaders.

The committee voted 12-to-2 to pass the bill out with favorable expression, sending it on its way to the floor. Stumbo, however, vowed his continued opposition to the bill, saying he would not call it for a vote on the House floor.

But Republicans once again decided to press for the bill’s passage. They once again prepared for a showdown on the floor. But as word leaked out concerning the Republican’s plans, rank and file Democrats, who would once again be placed in the difficult dilemma of either voting against a powerful leader or making a decidedly unpopular vote, started sweating.

On the day Republicans were expected to make their move, a crowd of HB 13’s supporters lined the stairs to the House chamber, cheering as lawmakers entered. The pressure was too much. House Democratic leaders called an impromptu caucus and the membership voted by a large majority to call the bill for a vote on the floor.

The bill passed 84-9. The rest of the bill’s history, is, well, history. In fact, the remaining steps seemed almost perfunctory. Senate members, probably unenthusiastic about a painful fight like the one just witnessed in the House, apparently decided to quickly push the bill through. Only two senators voted against it on the House floor: Ernesto Scorone, a Democrat from Lexington, and David Karem, a Louisville Democrat.

Despite the lackluster final days, it was shaping up to be the defining issue between conservatives and liberals in a session marked by a host of ideological battles.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst