It appears the General Assembly has made some progress during the current session to improve safety for coal miners, passing two pieces of legislation Friday.

State mine inspectors will visit every coal mine in Kentucky at least three times as part of a mine safety measure passed 37-0 in a Senate vote. The legislation also requires that breathing devices be stored in underground escapeways.

Another safety measure will require drug screenings for coal miners as part of an effort to keep people who abuse drugs out of the mines where they could endanger the lives of themselves and others.

All the new laws will mean very little if the government doesn't start collecting all fines levied on coal companies that violate safety laws. If the coal operators aren't forced to pay and shut down from operating if they don't, extra inspections won't help.

The news wasn't all good for coal miners this week. It was reported recently by the Associated Press that legislators may take $1.9 million out of the state's black lung fund to use elsewhere.

The money would be transferred to the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing to be used for training under a provision included in the proposed budget.

“I've been anticipating that politicians in Frankfort would be looking for a way to get their hands on that money,” said Thomas Moak of Prestonsburg, a coalfield attorney who represents miners in black lung cases.

The provision would take $952,000 in each of the next two years from the $20 million fund, according to the Associated Press.

Moak wants the money to go directly to sick coal miners who have contracted black lung and are no longer able to work. He said the state has made it so difficult for sick miners to qualify for state assistance that little money is coming out of the black lung fund.

Under current law, fewer than 10 percent of coal miners who seek state black lung benefits receive them, Moak said.

It's not hard to figure out why the coal industry has trouble recruiting new miners when you consider the dangers involved with the job and the problems it can cause later in life with something as basic as breathing.

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Some of the problems caused by drug abuse and who is responsible when someone dies due to drugs were at the center of a debate over the past week that was settled Thursday when Harlan Circuit Court Judge Ron Johnson accepted a plea agreement that sentenced a Cawood man to 10 years for the death of Karen Robbins,

Robbins, 20, was found dead off U.S. 421 in 2004, and JB Napier and Tina Napier were arrested for their alleged roles in the death.

Family members originally protested a plea agreement worked out by Commonwealth Attorney Henry Johnson that would sentence JB Napier to 10 years on second-degree manslaughter. They held a candlelight vigil at the Harlan County Courthouse last Friday to call for a new prosecutor and the case to go to trial.

Henry Johnson was at the vigil and answered questions from hostile family members. He pointed out that Robbins had asked to be injected and was partly responsible for her death. Johnson also said Robbins' father had previously been convicted of trafficking drugs.

I admire Johnson's courage for attending the vigil, even though he knew it would be a hostile environment. It's also hard for me to argue with his logic. People who choose to make drugs part of their life know the risks they are taking. They should understand by now that it could eventually end in death.

You also have to wonder where the family members protesting Johnson's plea deal were when Robbins was in the process of becoming a drug addict.