HB 149

## Bill Information

House Bill 149: AN ACT relating to work periods within consolidated local governments and declaring an emergency.

Primary sponsor: J. Donohue

Other sponsors: K. Bratcher, T. Burch, D. Butler, L. Clark, R. Crimm, B. DeWeese, D. Horlander, J. Jenkins, M. Marzian, R. Meeks, C. Miller, J. Miller, P. Moffett, S. Riggs, G. Watkins.

Date introduced: January 5th.

Final resolution: Signed by Governor on April 6th.

## What does it do?

This bill essentially allows law enforcement agencies to reorganize their shift schedules. The manner in which the bill does that is permitting consolidated local governments and collective bargaining units to agree to an 80-hour work period over a two-week period before overtime pay begins (1.5 times an officer's hourly wage).

Prior to the bill's introduction, statute (KRS 337.285) prohibited employers from allowing employees to work more than 40 hours per week before overtime payment began. The bill simply adjusted the legislation to consider shifts within two-week periods; it added a section stating that that a law enforcement agency does not violate that law if officers work 80 hours or less in a 14-day period.

For many law enforcement officers, the goal of the legislation was to allow officers to work 12-hour shifts with more time in between shifts. WFPL reports that LMPD and the FOP made an agreement holding that officers "would never work more than three 12-hour shifts in a row without taking a day off and would have every other weekend off' (Barton).

## What are the politics?

### Support

This bill received overwhelming bipartisan support and in fact passed both chambers unanimously. It received special attention and support from the Louisville Metro Police Department. Both Police Chief Steve Conrad and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Dave Mutchler testified in Frankfort in favor of the bill. Mutchler told WLKY that many officers were willing to give up overtime in order to have 12-hour shifts, which would allow more time between shifts to spend with family—in fact, he said 80% of FOP members supported the change to a system planned by Rep. Donohue in which a 36-hour week would be followed by a 44-hour week.

As reported by WFPL, Police Chief Conrad said he felt that officers would "find themselves spending more time at home, having more time off, being more rested, being less stressed and hopefully more proactive." He also said that if LMPD were to switch to 12-hour shifts without this bill, paying employees would cost an extra $1 million per year.

Wave3 reports, too, that the new shift system would put higher numbers of police officers on duty at a time while allowing for fewer car rides to work and back and thus less wear on LMPD vehicles.

### Opposition

There was virtually no opposition to the bill. WFPL reports that an LMPD staffing study in 2015 did, however, bring up some concerns about the 12-hour system—namely that it could potentially give officers more difficulty allowing time for training and could result in fatigue.

## Major changes during process

There were no amendments made; the bill remained the same throughout the process.

## Media coverage

Due to the importance of the bill to police officers in Louisville and the testimony of the FOP President and the Louisville Chief of Police, the bill received substantial media attention, mostly in Louisville.

* WLKY
* WDRB
* WFPL
* Wave3

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