Anxious to begin showing their power, the Republican leadership in the General Assembly wasted no time in overriding all of Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s vetoes. And the first veto was, of course, the veto of the omnibus anti-trans bill, SB 150.
The bill, widely regarded as the worst example of anti-trans legislation in the entire country, had passed both chambers by a wide Republican margin before the recess for veto days. There was some slight hope that the veto might be upheld, if enough Repubs changed their mind during the recess. But it quickly became clear that almost all Republicans were determined to pass one of most cruel bills ever to come out of Frankfort.
Five Republicans voted with all the Democrats to uphold the veto and stop the bill: Danny Carroll in the Senate, and Kim Banta, Stephanie Dietz, Kim Moser, and Killian Timoney in the House.
Other bills vetoed
While certainly the worst, SB 150 was not the only bad bill that the governor vetoed and Republicans passed anyway. Some were significant in their impact; other bills were just passed to take away some of the executive branch’s power, and the override was another opportunity to clap back at Beshear.
SB 7 – Can't deduct union dues from public employee's paychecks; a direct attack on all public employee unions, but especially at KEA
SB 37 – Pharmacist licensure
SB 65 – Nullify administrative regulations; the bottom line of this bill is that it takes away dental and vision benefits from Medicaid recipients
SB 107 – Commissioner of Ed confirmed by legislature; an attack on the current commissioner, Dr. Glass, for daring to support LGBTQ students.
SB 122 – LRC taking all Annex space and parking
SB 126 – Change of venue in specified civil actions; allows for judge shopping
SB 226 – Environmental permitting changes; makes it harder to regulate pollution
SB 241 – Conservation easements
HB 4 – Electricity generating facilities; makes it harder to shut down coal plants
HB 329 – Powers of Contract Review Committee; expands power of this committee to override the executive branch
HB 395 – Govt IT oversight board; puts six legislators in charge of all state government technology
HB 519 – Add pres/CEO of State Fair Board to tourist commission
HB 568 – Changes to public defender system
HJR 69 – Radon resolution
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