December District 36 Newsletter: Election recap, Session preview, and more!

District 36 Newsletter

December 2024

Hello John ,

I hope you enjoyed a great Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends, we have much to be thankful for in KY!

In the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Legislators are meeting to map out plans for the 2025 session, and to orient newly elected Legislators.

Since 2016, 89 of 100 Representatives have been replaced by new faces, bringing fresh perspective to the House.

10 brand new folks will be sworn in Jan 2. It was the intent of the Founders that the House be the chamber closest to the voters, and these numbers show that it is working. In addition, there will be a number of new committee chairs in both the House and Senate.

District 36 Road & Traffic Plans

ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECT UPDATES

The pictured map is current and future road projects identified in a 2020 KYTC Planning Study. There are a lot!

KIPDA is seeking public comment on proposed projects in our area, like Johnson Road 1531 improvements. Click here to participate.

We are entering the cold/slow season for construction, but prime season for potholes! Help Metro stay on top of them by reporting online!

I have had meetings with KYTC recently to review several projects:

I64 Interchange Study: The Planning study and recommended alternative will be completed by end of year. "Option B" has been excluded, which is good news. This study is just to come up with a final plan for the road path, and cost estimate to be considered in future budgets. I do not expect dirt to move for at least 6+ years, maybe longer.
Plantside Drive Extension Planning Study: has been completed, and funds for Design (full engineering blueprints, etc) should be allocated in January. This road will connect the Industrial Park to Taylorsville road right at the Gene Snyder, providing a much safer path for heavy trucks and other commercial traffic, so they can stay off neighborhood access roads near Tucker Station. It will also help spur new development and jobs in the industrial park.

Other projects are progressing along. We have plenty of funds allocated, but wet/cold weather, and limited supply of labor and materials will slow the pace of construction everywhere for the next 4-5 months.

IMove I64 Interchange https://i-moveky.com/ The new ramps are all open, and the project is on track to complete this winter. Temporary barrels and lane dividers still require a lot of alert driving, and the new lighting is not fully functional, so please use extra caution.
US 60 Gilliland intersection Project 5-8952 : Utility relocation (complicated) will take until 2026, with construction starting afterward. The new intersection will square up with Shelbyville road, and eventually get a light.
Widening KY 155 (Taylorsville Road) to 4 lanes with a center turn lane or raised median from I-265 to KY-148: Working on master plans for the remainder of 2024. Right-of-Way Phase 2025, Utility Phase late 2025. Construction Phase: 2026-7. https://transportation.ky.gov/DistrictFive/Pages/Jefferson-County-Widening-KY-155-Taylorsville-Road-Project-05-8908.aspx
Billtown Rd improvements on three sections of KY 1819/Billtown Road. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025.
N English Station Widening Project: utility relocation are pacing the project, will continue into 2026. KYTC anticipates awarding bids for the project construction in the fall of 2026, with construction work between 2027 and 2028.

I wish we could make the road building process go faster, but it is going!

The Road Plan includes these District 36 projects in the 2025-26 budget cycle and 6 year plan:

Gilliland Rd intersection at US 60
KY 155 widening from I265 to Fisherville
Johnson Road plan for reconstruction
US 60 widening to 6 lanes in Middletown
KY 155 widening from Fisherville to Spencer Co
KY 1819/Billtown Rd reconstruction
Eastwood-Fisherville I64 exit & Connector road study
I 265 pavement improvements
KY 1819 pavement improvements
Plantside Dr/Rehl Rd Extension to Taylorsville Rd
KY1819/Watterson Trail reconstruction
Clark Station bridge repairs

Constitutional Minute

KY Constitution of 1891 - Fundamental Freedoms Defined

Over a century after the US Constitution of 1787, Kentucky adopted its 4th Constitution, in some cases even expanding on the rights conferred by the US Constitution. It is a wordy document (over 4 times as long as the US Constitution), in need of updates in some areas, but the opening sections on fundamental rights are great:

KY Constitution, Section 1:

"Rights of life, liberty, worship, pursuit of safety and happiness, free speech, acquiring and protecting property, peaceable assembly, redress of grievances, bearing arms.

All men are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned:

First: The right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties.
Second: The right of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences.
Third: The right of seeking and pursuing their safety and happiness.
Fourth: The right of freely communicating their thoughts and opinions.
Fifth: The right of acquiring and protecting property.
Sixth: The right of assembling together in a peaceable manner for their common good, and of applying to those invested with the power of government for redress of grievances or other proper purposes, by petition, address or remonstrance.
Seventh: The right to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the State, subject to the power of the General Assembly to enact laws to prevent persons from carrying concealed weapons."

Section 2 "Absolute and arbitrary power denied.

Absolute and arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists

nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority."

It is important to remember that KY is a sovereign state, protected by the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Where the US Constitution is silent or ambiguous, the KY Constitution is supreme within our borders. You will see some 2025 Legislation seeking to assert that KY sovereignty more, as the Federal US government has steadily expanded its reach well beyond Constitutionally delegated powers in the decades since WW2.

Legislative Update

2025 Bill Ideas

This time of year, we are looking at potential legislation for the 2025 30-day session.

Here are a few of the bills I am most interested in:

Income Tax Cut - The state has met the financial metrics to allow a vote to decrease the individual income tax from 4% to 3.5% starting in Jan 2026, boosting the KY economy.

Electronic Privacy - I plan to try again with my collection of Privacy bills that passed the House last year (HB45), regarding drones, trackers, license plate reader data, and malicious use of AI Deepfakes.

Election Integrity - We have greatly improved KY's election integrity laws, with my HB44 (voter rolls) and HB53 (audits), but there is always more work to do, because people will always look for new ways to cheat. We will have a group working on a "continuous improvement" bill to close any vulnerabilities we find.

Geoengineering Ban - governments are actually proposing trying to modify the earth's weather by injecting dangerous toxins into the upper atmosphere, and other "fringe science" ideas. Most people think this is irresponsible and dangerous, and we need to ban it in the skies over KY like TN did earlier this year.

Kentucky Sovereignty - there are several topics of concern with the Federal government or foreign governments or foreign citizens reaching into our KY affairs, and we will look to make that explicitly illegal, relying on the 9th and 10th Amendment protections of the Constitution.

More to come... Email me with your ideas of things we need to address.

My focus is on protecting people FROM the government, vs growing the government.

Less government = more freedom, and lower taxes.

My 4 Committee assignments are:

Elections & Constitutional Amendments
State Government
Transportation
Information Technology Oversight Committee (House Co-Chair)

Watch live internet video of the session and committees on this KET link.

I welcome your input and perspective on legislative issues (online form here).

My office number is 351D in the Capitol Annex.

Office phone is 502-564-8100.

State email is John.Hodgson@lrc.ky.gov

I will do my best to answer your questions and consider your input on District 36 issues if you would like to contact me.

In Case You Missed It:

Here are some links to my key bills from the recent Session -

The Budget bills
The Road Plan
Summary listing of all the budget items.
Safer Kentucky Act HB5
Fire District required notifications HB43
Voter roll cleanup Bill HB44 watch video here.
Post-election "eyeball" audits HB53 watch video here.

Let's protect faith, family, and freedom in KY - Liberty is a team sport!

Political Happenings in Dist 36

Post-Election Analysis - a dramatic shift to the right in 2024

First, thank you for your vote of confidence sending me back to Frankfort to represent District 36 for 2 more years. I carried 24 out of 29 precincts in Dist 36.

The County-level map of the 2024 US election tells the story: in 3007 individual Counties across the 50 states, the densely populated urban areas went blue, totaling less than half the popular vote, and every single state had a significant shift to the right in voting.

This illustrates the US political divide pretty clearly, because most urban voters have a very different view of daily life and the role of government vs most suburban and rural voters.

Only Jefferson and Fayette counties went blue in KY, and within those counties only the urban core was blue, with the suburbs solid red. But... the KY Governor, Metro Louisville government, and the JCPS board are deep blue in our nearly solid red state.

So...in District 36, we are in a blue county in a bright red state, but we are in the bright red suburbs of that blue county (new Metro Council Map below).

It makes it tricky to get things done, politically speaking in East Jefferson.

Republicans control the state purse strings and state law, but Democrats have the executive power to spend tax dollars and to execute (or not execute) the laws.

The people in District 36 overwhelmingly want a quiet, safe, suburban life.

They want reasonable restraint on high density development, and improvement in traffic problems.

They want safe schools where kids can learn to read and do math, vs having their heads filled with ideas that conflict with their parent's values.

I am focused on those results.

The new administration in DC will be 180 degrees opposite on the current HUD policies of pushing high-density development into the suburbs (like Dist 36).

In 2026, the Metro Mayor and Council elections will be non-partisan for the first time, and recognizing that political reality, I am talking to the Mayor about what our people want in District 36, and I think we are heading towards an improved shared vision for development restraints and traffic improvement out here.

Buckle up though, it may be a bumpy ride, and I will need your voice and support.