(WKYT) – Gov. Andy Beshear signed House Bill 43 into law Friday, giving deputy coroners extra time to complete required training to help long-term retention.
But another bill many coroners had their eyes on — House Bill 138 — appears unlikely to advance this session.
“Well, it’s dead in the water, and pretty much has been for some time,” Madison County Coroner Jimmy Cornelison said.
Push for higher coroner pay
Cornelison has pushed for higher coroner pay for years. House Bill 138, sponsored by Rep. Deanna Frazier Gordon, proposed a tiered pay scale that could bump up coroners’ baseline pay while also giving them the opportunity to earn more money over time.
“What we were really trying to do is — people who weren’t making much money. 5,000 dollars a year? come on, folks. 10,000 a year? come on,” Cornelison said.
With two days left for lawmakers after the veto period, Cornelison said House Bill 138 is nearing its end this session. The bill was assigned to a House committee but has seen no movement.
Cornelison said the biggest hurdle the bill faced was getting other county leaders on board with it, because any funding used to bump up coroners’ pay would come from the county’s general budget.
“When you have leadership there in Frankfort, it goes down from there, and if these people have a problem with it and then go right on down to your county level and then it goes back up the hill. If these people are saying, ‘we can’t do this,’ or ‘we can’t afford this,’ or ‘that’s too much money,’ and ‘we need money for this or for that,’ they have to listen and I get that part of it,” Cornelison said.
While things are looking grim for the bill in this session, Cornelison said the work to increase coroners’ pay is not done yet.
“Oh, we won’t stop fighting until the end,” he said.
The veto period ends April 13. Lawmakers will have two days to pass bills and override any of Beshear’s vetoes. The legislative session wraps up April 15.