Regina Bunch says she plans to get right to work when the 2012 session starts January 3rd.

“I’m not going to just to sit in his seat. I know what he planned, where his spots where, we talked often about problems in our state,” said Bunch Tuesday, the Representative-elect in the 82nd district that serves Whitley and a part of Laurel Counties.

Bunch will serve out the rest of her husband’s term that started just a year ago, but ended after he suffered a serious head injury while trying to break up a fight at Whitley County High School, where he teaches. DeWayne Bunch is now in a rehabilitation center.

“He’s only been there for two weeks and he’s made leaps and bounds in terms of progress, we’re praising God for that,” said Bunch.

Once the session starts, Mrs. Bunch says she’ll focus on veterans’ affairs and education. The drop-out bill was a touchy subject in previous sessions and Bunch says while she respects the purpose of it, she has reservations.

“But for special needs students, we need to give a reason for them to be there,” she said, adding that she hopes if a drop out bill passes, it would address more vocational type opportunities for students who have trouble succeeding in a more traditional classroom.

She’s also concerned about the meth problem and may support the bill requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine products. And she says she wants transparency in government.

“I think the people need to know where their money is going. There needs to be a 'needs assessment,'” she said.

She says her husband wanted to accomplish much in Frankfort, and now she hopes she can do that…where he can’t.