The Louisville Urban League opposes House Bill 388 (HB 388), which quietly passed by the Kentucky Senate out of the State & Local Government Committee on March 20, 2024. The amended bill, sponsored by a bipartisan group of representatives from Jefferson County, covers everything from district changes and elections to police misconduct processes.

If this bill is any indication, our elected officials are out of touch with the needs of the people they represent. Our housing shortage is nothing short of a public health crisis, yet this legislation would freeze our mayor’s attempts to develop solutions for at least a year. The Kentucky legislature has continuously created harmful barriers and is stifling Louisville’s ability to create more affordable housing options. The land development code reform freeze in HB 388, in addition to HB 18’s authorized discrimination against individuals who utilize rental assistance funding, will devastate any meaningful affordable housing solutions.

The land code is just one way this bill restricts our city’s attempts to handle its own crises. We are alarmed that while the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) is under a federal consent decree, HB 388 lifts language directly from the KY Bill of Police Rights, much of which directly conflicts with correctives delivered by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ report, issued in March 2023, states that LMPD’s citizen complaint process is already burdensome and full of bureaucratic ways to discourage Louisville residents from filing complaints, including a series of required in-person hearings. HB 388 would increase those in-person hearings by requiring the ‘board’ to review each additional disciplinary action by the police chief with another hearing where the citizen would be required to attend in person, or the disciplinary action could be reversed. This means a person making a complaint against the police may be required to visit LMPD in person on at least three separate occasions.

Additionally, the DOJ report found documented cases of police engaging in retaliatory actions of intimidation against people who have filed complaints against LMDP officers. HB 388 includes language allowing for ‘personal delivery’ of summons to these hearings. This avenue would allow for police to show up at someone’s home or work to deliver summons in person. We believe this is an apparent attempt to codify legal witness intimidation. The new legislation also includes language allowing the officer to call and cross-examine witnesses but does not say anything about the victim or witnesses being given the right to defend their statements.

Finally, the DOJ reported that investigators often wait weeks or months before opening investigations ¹. HB 388 does nothing to address this. Instead, it includes weak statements such as “if requested by the department,” the officer may be required to submit a written statement in response to a complaint documenting the event no later than the officer’s next shift. This does not address that investigators have been documented to wait extended amounts of time before investigating, allowing memories to fade and possible cover-ups to occur.

Also included in this wide-sweeping bill are tenets that would change Louisville’s Metro Council and mayoral races to be non-partisan. The Louisville Urban League is nonpartisan, but we are pro-data. We are concerned that this change would disenfranchise Black voters across Louisville as well as Black candidates; research has shown that in non-partisan races, people are more likely to abstain from voting, vote for candidates based on the perceived ethnicity of the candidate’s name, or elect the candidate with the highest socioeconomic status ².

Ultimately, the Louisville Urban League is alarmed that HB 388, which has such serious implications specifically for Louisville, moved with little public awareness or comment within the last week of the legislative session. This secrecy, as pointed out by the League of Women Voters ³, is a clear failing of our state government to be transparent. We are also concerned that elected officials within the Louisville Metro Government are unaware or have little say on a bill that will have an outsized impact on their job. So much of this session’s legislation has seemingly targeted Louisville, but the people of Louisville have not been given a chance to participate in the democratic process. The people we elect to office should work for us, not against us. Secrecy and subterfuge prevent us from holding them accountable for this responsibility.

¹ Wood, J. (2023, May 30).  ‘An intimidation thing’: LMPD’s misconduct complaint process leaves citizens discouraged. The Courier Journal. 
² Ibid
³ League of Women Voters. (2023, November) How can they do that?: Transparency and citizen participation in Kentucky’s legislative process. 

About the Louisville Urban League
The Louisville Urban League assists African Americans and those at the margins in attaining social and economic equality and stability through direct services and advocacy. For more information, go to lul.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter  (@louisvilleUL), or Instagram (@louisville_ul).