Kentucky lawmakers send coronavirus relief bill to Beshear
The Kentucky General Assembly unanimously approved a novel coronavirus relief package Thursday intended to strengthen Gov. Andy Beshear’s emergency orders and assist Kentucky workers and businesses hurt by the economic shutdown.
Members of the House and Senate met in conference committee to negotiate a rewritten version of Senate Bill 150, which originally dealt with out-of-network medical billing. Lawmakers said they wanted to get a finished product to Beshear for his signature as quickly as possible.
“That’s the biggest thing we’ll do today. It’s pretty time-sensitive,” House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, told reporters. “It’s getting a lot of things added to it right now. Most of them will continue to focus around unemployment relief for employees and employers.”
Kentucky could lose an estimated 67,000 jobs by this summer, largely in the leisure, hospitality and retail industries, according to an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. And that’s likely a conservative forecast, the group added.
The relief bill would loosen the eligibility rules for unemployment benefits in various ways. For example, the seven-day waiting period to apply would be waived, and workers still employed at a business but whose hours have been cut could be compensated for the loss of income.
It also would adopt an “alternative base period,” a system most states already use. This method allows more workers to qualify for jobless benefits even if they have low wages or unsteady hours, as restaurant and construction workers often do. And it would make clear that unemployment insurance should be available to the tens of thousands of Kentuckians who are self-employed or work as independent contractors and would otherwise be ineligible to receive benefits.
The bill also would:
▪ Allow restaurants to sell food items such as bread, milk and other grocery staples to customers and a properly licensed business to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink on a delivery, to-go, or take-out basis in conjunction with food sales. Restaurants in other states have repurposed themselves as small grocery stores during the shutdown.
▪ Let the governor waive state licensing, renewal and application fees and paperwork and administrative requirements as he believes necessary for people or businesses ordered to close or alter their operations due to the pandemic.
▪ Provide additional funds to support the state’s KY COVID-19 information hotline that is operated by the Kentucky Poison Control Center.
▪ Formally change Kentucky’s income tax filing deadline to match the federal deadline, which is now July 15, and waive penalties and interest that might have been imposed on people for missing the original April 15 deadline.
▪ Loosen privacy rules for a variety of health care professionals providing treatment via telehealth services to avoid face-to-face contact and provide legal immunity to health care professionals offering care in good faith.
▪ Extend from three to 10 days the deadline for public agencies responding to Open Records Act requests, and it allows them to deny an on-site inspection of records if the agency’s offices are temporarily closed to the public.
▪ Suspend the Open Meetings Act to allow for public agencies to hold live audio or live video-teleconference meetings, and also suspend the deadlines for local government governing boards to make decisions on matters such as planning, zoning, land use or code enforcement.
▪ Establish immunity for local businesses that create or provide personal protective equipment or personal hygiene supplies if they do not normally do so.
▪ Require the governor to declare in writing the day that the COVID-19 state of emergency has ceased. If the governor does not, then the General Assembly shall declare when the emergency has ended after it comes into its next regular session.
“We want to get that clarity out there so people know,” Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said. “Especially in the area of the health care fields.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 3:10 PM.
