Deborah Yetter

@d_yetter

The state Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a measure dubbed "Blue Lives Matter," which makes it a hate crime to attack a police officer, a firefighter or emergency medical personnel — adding them to individuals protected by the law because of race, religion, sexual orientation or national origin.

House Bill 14 passed the Senate on a 33-5 vote, but not before objections touching on raw areas of race and division by members including the chamber's two African-American members, Sens. Gerald Neal, of Louisville, and Reginald Thomas, of Lexington, both Democrats.

Both objected that the bill was a reaction to the "Black Lives Matter" movement sparked by police shootings of unarmed black men. The bill represents an effort to chill or diminish that movement, they said.

"I think we have to be honest," Thomas said. "We have this bill to chill and handcuff protests by racial minorities."

Neal said everyone should support law enforcement and the measure isn't necessary. He said it doesn't resolve the underlying issue that divides the public and members of the General Assembly.

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"Right below the surface is our history," Neal said, in voting against the bill. "It's the issue of race. It's unresolved."

Thomas, in voting no, agreed.

"This issue is very much a race issue," Thomas said. "As a state, we still have a ways to go."

Sen. Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, said the measure appears to grow out of a need to recognize police and other emergency workers for the dangerous work they do. But he said he doesn't believe they need to be added to groups covered by the state law involving hate crimes — noting that many others do important and sometimes dangerous work.

"Hate crimes are who you are, not what you do," said McGarvey, who also voted against the bill.

But other members of the Senate spoke forcefully in support of the measure, including two members who invoked the memory of Brenda Cowan, a Lexington firefighter and emergency medical technician who was shot and killed in 2004 as she attempted to aid a woman critically wounded in a domestic attack.

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"Brenda Cowan was killed because of the uniform," said Sen. Tom Buford, a Nicholasville Republican. "If you wear the uniform, you need to be protected."

Sen. Brandon Smith, a Hazard Republican, said he also voted for the bill in "memory of Brenda Cowan."

The Senate's action means the bill now heads to the governor for his signature before becoming law.

HB 14 would allow a judge to deny probation, shock probation or release to someone involved in an attack on police or emergency personnel. It also would allow the parole board to consider the offense in denying parole to someone convicted of the crime. It is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Bratcher, a Jefferson County Republican.

Sen. Danny Carroll, a Republican and former police detective from Paducah who introduced the bill in the Senate, acknowledged it did not add significant sanctions to the law.

"This bill may not have a lot of substance," he said. "There is a message to it. It's a message of what we will tolerate as a society. As a society, we will not tolerate attacks on these people because of the profession they are in."

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at 502-582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.

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