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FRANKFORT, KY. — The Senate Transportation Committee moved Wednesday to close a gap in the state seat belt law that may have contributed to the deaths of 11 people in an Interstate 65 crash two years ago.

Committee members unanimously approved Senate Bill 89, which would extend seat belt requirements to motor vehicles that carry up to 15 passengers.

Kentucky law now requires seat belt use only in vehicles that transport up to 10 people. Vehicles with 16 passengers are classified as buses and fall under federal law.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ernie Harris, R-Crestwood, said the gap came to light in 2010 after a commercial truck and a 15-passenger van collided on I-65 in Hart County.

The crash claimed the lives of the truck driver and 10 of the 12 people in the van — a Mennonite family and friends headed for a wedding — most of whom were not wearing seat belts.

It was described at the time as the worst highway accident in Kentucky in a generation.

A review by the National Transportation Safety Board cited cellphone use by the truck driver as the cause.

The board also issued 15 safety recommendations, including improvements to seat belt laws in Kentucky and other states that do not require restraints in large vans.

SB 89 now goes to the Senate, where it will be placed on the consent calendar for noncontroversial measures.

FRANKFORT, KY. — A bill meant to better screen people placed in personal care homes was approved by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 115 would require a physical examination and assessment of any individual 14 days before he or she enters a personal care home. Such facilities provide a room, meals and assistance with daily living skills and medication.

Sen. Jimmy Higdon, a Lebanon Republican, said he filed SB 115 because a man from his district died after he was placed in a personal care home in Falmouth.

Joseph Lawrence “Larry” Lee, 32, who was mentally ill, had multiple health problems and also a brain injury, is believed to have wandered off from the home last August. His body was found about four weeks later in the area.

“In my opinion, he slipped through the cracks,” Higdon said. “He was placed where he didn’t need to be.”

Under current regulations, a resident of a personal care home must get a physical examination after being placed at the facility. Higdon said he hopes requiring an assessment beforehand might result in better placements for individuals being considered for personal care.

Mary Hass, advocacy director for the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky, said she appreciates Higdon’s bill but thinks more safeguards are needed to ensure that people with brain injuries receive appropriate care. In Lee’s case, “he needed more care,” she said, yet the state placed him at the facility.

Hass estimated about 50 or 60 individuals with brain injuries are among the roughly 3,000 people in personal care homes in Kentucky.

SB 115 now goes to the full Senate.

FRANKFORT, KY. — Executives with three managed-care companies hired to run most of the state Medicaid program acknowledged Wednesday that there have been significant problems since they took over Nov. 1 and said they are committed to fixing them.

“We know they are not acceptable to the commonwealth, and they are not acceptable to our organization,” said Kevin Conlin, executive vice president with Coventry Healthcare Inc., testifying before the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

“I trust you can see we are taking this seriously,” he added.

Lawmakers have faced a growing chorus of complaints from health-care providers about chronically late payments, bungled claims processing and constant battles over new rules that require services once routinely covered by Medicaid to be “pre-authorized” to guarantee payment.

“Please make it stop,” Sen. Julie Denton, the committee chairwoman, told executives of the three companies. The Louisville Republican said she’s receiving hundreds of e-mails with complaints about managed care.

Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, said his regional hospice organization told him it’s owed $1 million in back payments for care for dying patients.

“They need help, and I’m sure the other hospice regions do too,” he said. “Why don’t you communicate with these people enough that they don’t call us when they don’t get paid?”

Despite claims by company officials that they are trying to correct problems, Kip Bomar, executive director of Kentucky Home Care Association, said home-health agencies still struggle to get payments.

“It is causing drastic cash-flow problems,” Bomar said. “The payment issue has been very significant.”

The managed-care executives told lawmakers they are meeting with providers to resolve such problems, ranging from individual cases to systemwide issues.

Managed care is the centerpiece of Gov. Steve Beshear’s effort to save money and control costs within the $6 billion-a-year Medicaid program. The three companies took over care for about 560,000 patients outside the Louisville region.

FRANKFORT, KY. — The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill Wednesday that would punish people who skirt child pornography laws by accessing images or video through overseas computer systems.

Kentucky law already prohibits the possession and distribution of child pornography, but House Bill 126 would make viewing the images a Class D felony with a possible sentence of up to five years in prison.

Anyone convicted of the crime would have to register as a sex offender.

Supporters said the changes are needed to catch up with technological advances, which allow access to illegal material that remains stored on computer servers in other countries, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. subpoenas.

“These types of off-site servers have proliferated throughout Europe and Asia,” said Morgain Sprague, counsel for Kentucky State Police.

Sprague said Internet users can view the images without downloading or “possessing” the material on their computer. That has raised legal questions and conflicting court rulings in other states.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kevin Sinnette, D-Ashland, said nine other states have passed similar measures and Kentucky needs to stay ahead of the curve as criminals become more tech-savvy.

“The Internet has just leaped forward,” he said. “We are making a statement that our children are paramount, and we have to look out for their interest.”

Sinnette said HB 126 is also aimed at people who view child pornography in groups.

Before voting, committee members amended the measure with language to protect anyone who unintentionally stumbles upon illicit images. The amendment says viewing the material has to be “deliberate, purposeful and voluntary.”

Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, predicted that defendants will seize on the exception in court.

But Sprague said most prosecutions are based on a pattern of conduct, in which offenders scour the Internet with specific search terms or repeatedly enter illegal websites with log-ins and pass codes.

Deputy Public Advocate Damon Preston said he has not had a chance to review the amendment granting exceptions, but he cited concerns about expanding child pornography laws in a way that could sweep up innocent people.

“The general thought would be most child pornography cases are going to be covered under current law,” he said.

According to the Eastern District of the U.S. attorney’s office, federal law prohibits accessing child pornography “with intent to view” and prescribes a maximum sentence of 10 years.

But investigations often involve multiple law enforcement agencies and fall to different jurisdictions based on the details of the case.

Sinnette said comments from a local police officer in his district sparked his concern over the gap in state law. “Federal law has addressed the issue, but like anything else, they’ve got their hands full,” he said. “It’s kind of like the drug trade. You can be charged federally … as well as locally.”

HB 126 now heads to the House, where Sinnette expects it to pass.