FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican-supermajority government is taking steps to prosecute disruptive protests inside the Capitol, raising concerns among advocates that their right to challenge power may be chilled.
A roar that echoes throughout the beautiful statehouse has been sounded by crowds of protesters who have waved signs and yelled out synchronized chants before huge votes on polarizing issues. Activists occasionally crowd the galleries or council rooms in the Capitol Annex to watch floor disputes.
Educators, union members, and pro-choice advocates have staged numerous demonstrations, but it was a protest against anti-transgender legislation that led the Kentucky House to review new criminal offenses for interfering with parliamentary proceedings, which led to the arrest of some demonstrators on legal intruding charges last month. The Senate is currently hearing the legislation.
Democratic state representative John Blanton says protesting is “as American as apple pie” and “part of the basis of who we are, and I thoroughly support that.” However, he claimed that when demonstrators “cross the line” and start disruptive behavior, there should be consequences.
According to Blanton, “House Bill 626 gives the General Assembly the opportunity to pass laws without getting in the way of those who want to stop us from carrying out our work on behalf of our constituents.”
Another state legislature even have criminalized problems. Georgia has a law, challenged in court, making a second such offense a criminal. Until 2020 in Kansas, people who wanted to step an event at the legislature, including opposition, had to have a parliamentary partner and force, and portable indications were banned. After a petition, the laws were changed to allow tablet signs as long as no one attaches them to a wall or fence. A reserved area like a commission area is not necessary without a permit or sponsor.
According to the Kentucky costs, “disorderly or disruptive conduct” intended to obstruct or deter lawmakers from conducting business would be a first-degree misdemeanor and a felony for subsequent offenses. Additionally, the offenses include preventing a senator or secretary from entering or leaving a parliamentary building with the intention to obstruct lawmakers from conducting business.
They worry that it might impair their ability to challenge authority figures.
What other options do Kentuckians have besides to rally their behavior when politicians are deliberately stripping aside civil privileges? said Chris Hartman, senior director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ lobbying group that led antagonism to the anti-trans costs.
Corey Shapiro, the legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky, expressed concern that “people could be arrested for simply expressing their opinions to legislators.”
According to University of Kentucky constitutional law professor Joshua Douglas, lawmakers can generally criminalize actions that interfere with their orderly business if they have “reasonable alternative avenues of speech” available.
According to Douglas, “my concern with the bill is that it does not define ‘disorderly or disruptive conduct’, which would make it appear too vague under the First Amendment.” For a good-faith governmental purpose, “laws that limit speech must be written very precisely to make it clear what speech conduct is prohibited.”
Twenty years ago, when Democrats still held control of the House, hundreds of hymn-singing protesters urged lawmakers to support a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex unions, which the electorate overwhelmingly approved.
The current backlash is directed at Republican legislation. Teachers gathered at the Capitol a few years ago to protest pension laws and other measures they thought were harmful to the public. Abortion-rights supporters spoke out, to no avail, as GOP lawmakers passed anti-abortion laws, culminating in the state’s near-total ban.
Tensions boiled over last year when the House overrode the democratic governor. The bill that restricts access to gender-affirming medical care for young transgender people is vetoed by Andy Beshear. Nearly 20 protesters were removed and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing as a result of protracted chants coming from the gallery.
“There were many of you last year who had their voices heard, and who had their voices for their constituents silenced,” according to Blanton to his House colleagues on Monday. “Because we simply had to move on and cast the ballot, things became so out of control. So they were trying to impede our process.”
Since the Capitol is a public place, Blanton, a retired state police officer, said the proposed new criminal offenses would be a better fit than trespassing statutes. Of the 19 people arrested last year, only one has gone to trial, and was ordered to pay a $1 fine along with court costs. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, four others entered pleas of guilty, and the other cases are pending.
As for how law enforcement officers would interpret a demonstrator’s intent when enforcing the measure, their first response would be to observe and, if they can identify people being disruptive, ask them to leave, Blanton said.
“They’re not just going to go up there and randomly start arresting people,” Blanton said. “We’ve never seen that happen here.”
Such reassurances haven’t eased the activists’ concerns. “From my personal experience, state
troopers are nothing but antsy when it comes to protesters,” Hartman said.
Associated Press Writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
