FRANKFORT, Ky. — When Kentucky voters stunningly elected a supermajority of Republicans to the Kentucky House in November, it appeared that a broad conservative agenda would breeze into law during next year's legislative session.

But that might not be the case for the controversial "religious freedom" bill.

Social conservatives say the bill is urgently needed to solidify an individual’s right to live according to his or her religious convictions, but opponents say it would give license to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity and effectively do away with fairness ordinances in Louisville and seven other Kentucky cities.

The bill easily passed the Republican Kentucky Senate this year only to be bottled up in the House, which was then controlled by Democrats. Republicans now have huge, controlling majorities in each legislative chamber.

But Republican leaders including incoming House Speaker Jeff Hoover and Gov. Matt Bevin have emphasized in recent weeks that they must set priorities for the short session, and the top priority will be bills they say will create jobs and spur the state’s economy.

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And even the bill’s chief sponsor this year, Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, said the religious freedom bill may have to wait until 2018.

“This is a 30-day session, a very short session," Robinson said. “... And there are so many other things we’ve got to get done.”

Robinson said he’s as strong as ever for the bill. And he’s sure it would be passed into law if brought to the floor of the House and Senate. He said it would have passed this year if House Democratic leaders had allowed the bill to move to the floor.

He said he expects the bill will be filed next year, though someone else might be its chief sponsor. And if it doesn’t pass in 2017, it will pass in the 2018 session, which will be 60 days long, he said.

Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst for the Family Foundation, said the shortness of the upcoming session is no excuse and Republicans in absolute control don't have to choose between social conservative bills and economic conservative bills.

“That’s an argument for another political reality than the one we have now,” Cothran said. “…With Republican control of the two branches of government, there shouldn’t be any trouble passing conservative social legislation.”

And Cothran said, "It would probably be a strategic mistake to communicate to rank-and-file Republicans that the values issues that were a prominent feature of the campaign literature sent out to voters are not a priority."

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He said the Family Foundation will push for passage in this session.

Generally, the religious freedom bill would prohibit the government from forcing businesses to provide goods, services or actions to individuals if doing so would violate the business owner’s firmly held religious beliefs.

Opponents like Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, said the bill will permit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “It will strip the fairness ordinances from the cities that have them and hand a license to discriminate to every individual and business in Kentucky,” Hartman said.

Most minority communities that confront discrimination can fall back on protections in federal law, “but LGBT rights are protected by local law, and this bill subverts the opportunity to enforce those local discrimination protections.”

Hartman said that despite what Republican leaders and the governor have said, he remains cautious about the bill's prospects next year.

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“I’m always wary, but Speaker Hoover and Gov. Bevin have been saying some very logical things,” Hartman said. Passage of the religious freedom bill, he said, would directly conflict with the majority party's priority of passing bills aimed at spurring Kentucky’s economy, he said.

Hartman noted that states like Indiana and North Carolina that passed religious freedom bills in recent years were met with criticism, and loss of jobs and potential jobs, from companies and organizations that believed the bill discriminatory.

Indiana responded to widespread protests by amending its law in ways intending to address concerns about discrimination.

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at 502-875-5136 or tloftus@courier-journal.com

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