Legislative leaders still don't have an easy solution for rejecting the pay for the days they didn't work in Frankfort. House members have been the most outspoken about not accepting pay, saying they don't believe they were really ever in session. At least a half dozen house democrats had returned their legislative paychecks to the House Speaker's office by late this afternoon. But the closest and legalest (is that a word?) solution may be for house and senate members to vote to refuse pay for a certain number of days in the next special session or regular session to offset the pay they shouldn't have received this month. They get about $300/day while in session. The problem is that the extra pay affects retirement and they still have to pay taxes on it, even though they don't want a dime. It's confusing with plenty of legal twists, all brought on by a special session that, democrats argue, should never have been called by Governor Fletcher.

House Speaker Jody Richards is upset with my comments on "Comment on Kentucky" last week. I agreed with reporter Stephenie Steitzer of the C-J who didn't find any difference in what Peabody Energy officials told legislators in a meeting last week and what they've been saying all along. In other words, why walk out of the special session before, but agree to one now?

After that meeting, Richards and house leaders agreed there is "an emergency" and they need to approve incentives for Peabody to consider building a coal-to-natural gas plant in Kentucky this year, during a special session next month. Richards argues that having Greg Boyce, the company's C.E.O. say, in writing, that he'll recommend to Peabody's investors that they only study Kentucky for the plant, is far better than having a division president say the same thing. That's what happened a few weeks earlier when Rick Bowen told lawmakers he would recommend Kentucky if the incentives are approved. I didn't see any guarantee that the investors would go along with Boyce's recommendation but Richards says, during the meeting, Boyce essentially said "if I recommend it, they'll follow."
Richards also argues that Peabody must spend some money to get the incentives. The way I read Peabody's statement, they're only going to STUDY THE FEASIBILITY of building a plant in Kentucky in return for the incentives. Boyce refused to answer my question when I asked if Peabody would commit to building a coal gasification plant in Kentucky if lawmakers approved incentives for them. House Republican leader Jeff Hoover backed up Richards' claim by saying Peabody has gone further in its commitment to Kentucky than they had before the meeting in Louisville.

Partners: About 175 people rallied in the state capitol rotunda on Monday, sporting "save marriage" stickers on their chest. They believe lawmakers should immediately pass legislation banning health insurance benefits for the gay or straight partners of state employees. The Family Foundation's Kent Ostrander says there's "a constitutional crisis" because U.K. and U of L are violating the law by continuing to let a total of 68 employees who signed up for domestic partner benefits to keep them until the next insurance sign up period, in violation of an attorney general's opinion. An attorney at U of L says they're changing their policy to make it legal and U.K. says it has already done so by not requiring an affidavit that comes close to identifying an employee's relationship as a "marriage." But the group at the capitol wants an all out ban on any offering of health insurance benefits to anyone other than immediate family of state workers, saying anything else would violate the marriage amendment, which passed in 2004. State Rep. Mary Lou Marzian says the bill and the rally are aimed at keeping folks from getting health insurance and is the work of bigots. Ostrander and others deny they're picking on gays, just trying to defend marriage. The bill wasn't considered today and has virtually no chance of going anywhere if a special session on energy is called next month. But it's sure to be a hot topic in Jan. 2008 when lawmakers return for a regular session.