Via press release from the Kentucky Democratic Party
Yesterday, Governor Andy Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 7, a bill that specifically targets Kentucky’s teachers and other hard-working public sector employees.
The bill is problematic for several reasons. It stifles free speech for educators and public sector workers. In their rush to silence educators, the GOP majority has written a poorly-worded bill that could outlaw non-union payroll deductions such as vision and dental insurance or retirement accounts. And, by infringing on the collective bargaining rights of teachers and public employees, this bill could jeopardize more than $76 million in federal transit funds for the 2023 fiscal year.
“This legislation does nothing to solve our teacher shortage and everything to further the Republican majority’s continued attack on our teachers, support staff, and public schools,” said Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge. “It’s clear this bill was passed to target teachers’ unions and chip away at protections for the hard-working Kentuckians who educate our children, run our schools, staff our libraries, and drive our buses. This is an attack on organized labor, and I applaud the Governor for vetoing it.”
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