Gov. Paul Patton will promote his own legislative agenda when he addresses a joint session of the General Assembly during the legislature's brief organizational session in early January.

        Mr. Patton will speak to House and Senate members Jan. 3, when lawmakers are in Frankfort for a week to elect party leaders and hand out committee chairmanships and assignments.

        Lawmakers will return to Frankfort in early February for the first annual session under a constitutional amendment Kentucky voters approved Nov. 7. Lawmakers had previously met for 60 days every two years.

        It has been tradition for the governor to deliver a State of the Commonwealth address during the opening week of the session.

        Mr. Patton will not make such a comprehensive speech in January but he does want to give a speech “that will touch on issues important to him and that he would like to see addressed during the upcoming session and during the remainder of his term in office,” Rusty Cheuvront, Mr. Patton's spokesman, said Friday.

        The governor's speech will include changes he wants in the state's workers' compensation laws, which underwent a major reform in 1996, Mr. Cheuvront said.

        Under the reforms, the workers' comp insurance premiums that businesses pay have decreased and claims are down. But some workers, including coal miners suffering from a breathing ailment known as black lung disease, have had difficulty proving injuries and collecting benefits because of new guidelines ushered in with the reform package.

        Mr. Patton wants the legislature to make changes so coal miners with black lung disease have a better oppor tunity for benefits and treatment under workers' comp, said House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, a Wilder Democrat.

        “Any bill can be amended, of course, but that is what the governor has said he wants,” said Mr. Callahan, who has been meeting with Mr. Patton on his legislative agenda.

        “The governor wants to deal with black lung. If it goes beyond that we'll be back to where we were before the reforms were enacted, and he does not want that,” Mr. Callahan said Friday.

        Some political observers see Mr. Patton's actions as a chance to shore up his base among coal miners, who have been angry with Mr. Patton — an eastern Kentucky native and former coal mine operator — for pushing through the reforms in the first place.

        Some think the governor is now changing his stance on workers' comp because he will need support from coal miners and organized labor should he make an expected run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Southgate Republican Jim Bunning. Mr. Bunning has said he expects a challenge from Mr. Patton in 2004, a year after Mr. Patton's second term will end.

        In addition to workers' comp, Mr. Callahan expects Mr. Patton to talk about comprehensive tax reform, an issue Mr. Patton does not want to tackle until the 2002 legislative session.

        He may also discuss a bill that would mandate garbage collection in every Kentucky county, Mr. Callahan said.

        But a component of that bill, a deposit on empty bottles and other containers, has little support in the General Assembly, legislative leaders including House Speaker Jody Richards have said.

        “I don't know how much the governor will talk about that because the support does not seem to be there right now,” Mr. Callahan said.

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