The bill passed through the committee unanimously, with one senator hesitant about expanding the list of felonies in the state.
Senate Bill 23 would equate the other thefts to stealing USPS mail and be punishable by up to five years in prison, according to the Associated Press.
State Senator David Yates, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said in the committee Thursday that most thefts below $1,000 in value are misdemeanors in Kentucky, and even if victims have surveillance video capturing the “porch pirates” in the act, the cases are often taken less seriously by authorities, the Herald reported.
“It’s a very big issue in Louisville,” Yates said of the city he represents, “an issue to the point that I worry it will escalate. I’ve talked about people who have been victimized over and over again with thefts from their front porch of the things — whether it be medicine, whatever it is being delivered, items that are important to them.”
Yates pre-filed the bill in November, with the intention that the legislature would discuss it when lawmakers met for the legislative session that began earlier this month, according to WLKY-TV.
A Lexington man had his case heard by the Kentucky Supreme Court last year after he appealed his conviction for mail theft, arguing that he should not have received a felony sentence because he had stolen packages from a front porch and not from a mailbox, according to the Herald-Leader.
“This is about protecting your rights within your home, protecting you from thieves and making sure that someone is held accountable for stealing from you,” Yates said in November, according to WSAZ-TV.
