The Chatter: New laws taking effect Thursday; State Rep. wants to allow alcohol sales on election day

According to The Kentucky Enquirer , Kentucky is one of two states that suspends alcohol sales on election days and a Kentucky State Representative would like to change that.

Democratic Representative Arnold Simpson of Covington says he will discuss with colleagues in Frankfort a bill he was championed for four years to do away with the commonwealth’s election day alcohol sales ban.

Covington restaurant owner Jimmy Gilliece said he loses about $2,500 each election day. Gilliece said the law dates to times when bars were often polling places and the statute is now dated.

Simpson said the state doesn’t need to worry as much about losing votes to alcohol as it does losing tax revenue to the ban.

Representative Simpson has been working on passing some form of the legislation in Frankfort over the past four years.

Over 100 new laws to take effect Thursday

Governor Steve Beshear signed about 150 bills into law earlier this year, nearly all of which take effect Thursday. Some are aimed at cracking down on makers of methamphetamine, on thieves who steal copper and other recyclable metals, and even on rogue pigs that have been destroying crops in rural Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports on the laws taking effect this week also include new gun retention laws requiring permits to carry a concealed weapon, highway safety laws requiring the usage of seat belts, and more.

Laws dealing with Kentucky’s most prominent issues are ones based on increasing the intensity of drug laws in the state, jump starting the automotive industry as Pure Politics reported last week, as well as stripping the credentials of coal miners who test positive in a drug test.