FRANKFORT - Other than constitutional amendments, which go before the voters, every
bill the General Assembly passes has to clear one final hurdle before becoming law:
The governor's pen.
The governor has the authority to sign or reject bills, or to let them become law
without a signature. He or she can only approve or veto bills in their entirety -
except in budgetary matters, which can be line-item vetoed without affecting the
rest.
Vetoes occur during most legislative sessions, but this year, the first
of Governor Bevin's administration, the ink flowed much more freely than
we in the House would have thought or certainly preferred. The end
result, we believe, limits educational opportunities for tens of
thousands of students while ending funding guarantees for a variety of
needed programs and services.
The most-recent vetoes arrived late last Wednesday, the final day he
could act on the bills the General Assembly had sent him on April 15th
before concluding the legislative session. The budget, the state's
highway plan and House Bill 626, a far-reaching bill furthering
postsecondary education and workforce training, were the most prominent
that were affected.
House leaders have questioned whether the vetoes themselves were done
properly. As that issue is debated, it should be noted that the
rejected legislation also received broad, bipartisan support in the
House and Senate and represented compromise after weeks of public
hearings.
House Bill 626 was well-known because it included the already popular
Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program, which would have provided the
"last dollar in" to cover remaining tuition costs for thousands of
incoming college freshmen.
There were several criteria students had to meet to qualify. They had
to attend an in-state public or independent college or university that
offers two-year associate degrees, and they would have to take 15 credit
hours a semester and maintain a 2.5 GPA. The scholarship amount would
have been determined after factoring in other scholarship and grant
money.
The General Assembly intended this program to begin in the fall, but the governor's
veto delays that by a year and will require legislators to re-adopt new guidelines.
The governor's vetoes also change the funding source for this program
and another that broadens dual-credit opportunities for high school
students taking college courses. Instead of using state dollars, this
veto now requires the programs to be paid with the state's lottery
proceeds, limiting access to the other need-based financial-aid programs
that already have far more requests from state lottery funds than they
can meet.
At the other end of the education spectrum, there will also be no expansion of
preschool eligibility, which would have allowed young children within families
earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to attend. The current
income limit will remain at 160 percent.
The veto of House Bill 626 also erases the parameters for $100 million
in bonds that would go toward the construction of workforce-training
facilities. The House and Senate wanted to make sure this funding was
spread more evenly across the commonwealth, but that is no longer
guaranteed, and there is question whether the bonds can even be issued
without the framework this bill provided.
Many of the budget-related vetoes removed guaranteed funding that the
General Assembly had decided should be required. Now, local and state
agencies and non-profits affected by the vetoes will have less funding
certainty. This will have an impact on such things as cancer screenings
and the number of slots the state authorizes to help educate the next
generation of veterinarians and optometrists.
One veto in particular was odd because Governor Bevin had supported the
bill earlier in the legislative session. It would have brought Kentucky
into compliance with a 2005 federal homeland security law that would
have established a new form of driver's licenses and personal IDs.
Obtaining them would have required more documentation, but it would have made it
possible for citizens to fly within the United States without needing a much more
expensive passport to clear security. Unfortunately, some have misconstrued the
intent of this bill, whose chief goal is to make our airlines safer.
Although the vetoes put a damper on the legislative session, it was a productive
time in many other ways. The new laws will re-dedicate efforts to strengthen the
state's public retirement systems; give the state a new economic-development tool to
build major infrastructure projects; crack down on repeat DUI offenders; and
establish a plan to test rape kits much more quickly. Those issues that remain
unresolved - either because they didn't pass or because they were vetoed - will
undoubtedly be discussed further in the months ahead.
The legislative session may now be over, but it is never too late to let me know
what you think about the new laws, the vetoes or any other issue affecting the
state. My address is Room 351A, Capitol Annex, 702 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY
40601; or you can email me at
Will.Coursey@lrc.ky.gov<mailto:Will.Coursey@lrc.ky.gov>.
To leave a message for me or for any legislator by phone, please call
800-372-7181. For those with a hearing impairment, the number is
800-896-0305.
I hope to hear from you soon.
