FRANKFORT — State Sen. Tom Buford of Nicholasville thinks there should be a way for an unwanted newborn to be given up quickly, anonymously and without liability to the mother.

        So does state Rep. Jody Haydon of Bardstown. Both introduced bills to that effect this week. A laudable idea, perhaps, but not a new one.

        The same kind of legislation went into the hopper last year but did not pass. In fact, more than a little of the business of the 2001 General Assembly is left over from 2000.

        Other topics include legislative pensions and industrial “brown fields,” to name a few.

        Newborns being abandoned, or worse, was a poignant issue in 2000. Then, as now, Mr. Buford proposed allowing a parent to simply hand over an unwanted newborn to a hospital or an emergency medical crew, “instead of having them end up in a Dumpster or abandoned or end up in a toilet,” Mr. Buford, a Republican, said.

        The Senate passed the bill last year, but it died in the House Judiciary Committee. Now it is back. Mr. Haydon, a Democrat, has filed a similar bill in the House.

        Sen. Bob Leeper, R-Paducah, is back for a second time with a bill to promote voluntary cleanup and development of brownfields — contaminated former industrial sites.

        Some cities, needing room to grow but loath to destroy more green space, see potential in recycling brownfield sites. Mr. Leeper's bill last year died in the House amid unresolved disagreements about who would be liable for environmental violations.

        One of the most controversial actions of the 2000 General Assembly — an increase of legislative pension benefits — would be repealed under two, essentially identical, bills introduced in the House.

        One bill has several Democratic sponsors, while the other was introduced by a single Republican, Rep. Mark Treesh of Owensboro, who says it may get no farther.

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