Scott Wartman

swartman@nky.com

Every year, legislators listen for three hours about ethics laws and how to avoid sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, wants two-and-a-half hours of that time back.

Schickel filed a bill Friday, Senate Bill 152, to scale back ethics training from three hours to 30 minutes and to eliminate the requirement for sexual harassment and workplace harassment training.

Schickel railed against political correctness.

"The ethics training is totally ridiculous," Schickel said. "Legislators sit through three hours at taxpayers expense to be told by a bureaucrat who's making six figures and elected by no one what's ethical and what's not."

The training would be reduced to 30 minutes for members of the General Assembly to sign forms and go over the basics of the law.

The Kentucky General Assembly in 2014 passed a law requiring sexual harassment training amid two lawsuits against state representatives.

Former state Rep. John Arnold, D-Sturgis, stepped down after being sued for sexual harassment by two staffers who accused him of inappropriate touching. Another staffer sued State Rep. Will Coursey, saying she was punished after complaining Coursey, D-Symsonia, had sexually harassed female staffers, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Both Coursey and Arnold denied the charges. The lawsuits ended in an undisclosed cash settlement, Louisville public radio station WFPL reported in 2015.

But Schickel doesn't feel sitting in a room for three hours will make a difference. Those who are elected to Frankfort should have good values, he said. If they don't, then the law should punish them.

But he said "training is nothing more than an exercise in political correctness."

Past speakers have included disgraced lobbyist turned author Jack Abramoff. Schickel fears all sexual harassment and ethics training does is make people more reluctant to debate. One lesson from harassment training Schickel said he particularly found ridiculous was advising lawmakers not to slam doors.

"If you slam a door, that could be creating a hostile work environment," Schickel said. "Talk like that scares me. The Kentucky General Assembly is a place where ideas are debated and debated vigorously. People are afraid to express opinions, argue forcefully."

Wouldn't it just be easier to go through the training rather than pick this fight?

"No, absolutely not," Schickel said. "Every legislator I know is afraid to say anything."