More than 100 Kentucky groups urge lawmakers to reject House Bill 5

Via press release from the KY Center for Economic Policy

A diverse coalition of more than 100 Kentucky organizations, including faith, housing, justice, mental health, recovery and community groups sent the following letter to the Kentucky State Senate, calling on them to reject the harmful policies in House Bill 5. The letter was sent on Feb. 12, 2024.

To the members of the Kentucky General Assembly:

All Kentuckians deserve to feel safe in their communities, but the proposals in House Bill 5 are counterproductive and harmful. This bill will make life harder for struggling citizens, further crowd our jails and prisons, and take resources away from investments that prevent crime, thereby endangering community safety, not promoting it. 

Decades of research show that increasing incarceration is not making us safer, with more and longer sentences failing to deter crime. These measures weaken and separate families and make reentry more difficult.

HB 5 threatens to worsen Kentucky’s overdose crisis, increase homelessness, increase pretrial detention and deepen hardship for those already struggling.

Much of HB 5 will also disproportionately harm Black and Brown Kentuckians, who are already over-represented in the state’s criminal legal system.

The tax dollars needed to implement HB 5 would be better used on proven, crime-preventing strategies. Kentucky legislators should build on past successes by expanding harm reduction and community mental health services, reforming the Good Samaritan law to help prevent more overdose deaths by better protecting those who call for help and automating expungement to support successful reentry after incarceration.

We all care about the safety of Kentuckians, but more incarceration and criminalization will not achieve that. We urge the General Assembly to reject this harmful, costly and ineffective approach, and work with community leaders, experts and those who have direct experience with the problems the bill seeks to address to craft better solutions that can benefit all Kentuckians.

We, the undersigned, adamantly oppose passage of HB 5 as passed by the House.

(signed)