Beshear seeks dismissal from KSU lawsuits, but with ‘important question’

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is trying to be dismissed from two lawsuits that allege he, Kentucky State University, lawmakers and higher education officials passed and are trying to enforce an unconstitutional law that brought major financial and academic changes to the university, according to court documents.

Beshear’s legal counsel says in court records he is not connected to how KSU, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and the General Assembly enforce Senate Bill 185, which he signed into law on April 13.

SB 185 deemed the university in “financial exigency.” The new law requires KSU to become a polytechnic institution. It allowed ways for KSU to try to cut costs and gain revenue, including through program closures, potential employee terminations, and stricter consequences on admissions, tuition payments, student debt and tax refunds.

“The mere fact that a governor is under a general duty to enforce state laws does not make him a proper defendant in every action attacking the constitutionality of a state statute,” Beshear’s legal team said in the requests to be dismissed from both cases.

A federal lawsuit, filed by students and alumni in the Eastern District of Kentucky, argues the bill “may not preserve the advantages of a historically segregated land-grant system by underfunding the institution it created for Black students.”

A separate state lawsuit, filed by students in Franklin County Circuit Court, argues the bill did not follow the proper procedures to be passed.

SB 185 was originally proposed as a shell bill focusing on universities in general, then the core of the bill changed to specifically address KSU. There was bipartisan support for the legislation.

The state lawsuit argued the bill was improperly presented because legislators didn’t read the bill under its new title three times to the General Assembly. Kentucky law requires every bill to be read on three different days in each chamber, the House and the Senate, before it can be passed into law.

“The title amendment was adopted after final passage, not before the purported third reading and not before passage,” the lawsuit said. “A post-passage title amendment cannot retroactively supply a constitutionally meaningful third reading under a germane title.”

The lawsuit says Beshear should’ve signed the bill “only when the elected-majority vote and journal requirements are satisfied.”

Beshear agreed that the bill may have undergone an improper process, but argued it’s not his fault, according to his request to be dismissed from the state lawsuit.

“Although, the Governor believes there is an important question as to whether the General Assembly’s passage of SB 185 complied with the three readings requirement for legislation under Section 46 of the Kentucky Constitution, especially considering how the modern legislature hides major actions on which communities may want input, that dispute is between Plaintiffs and the legislature and the Attorney General,” the state court document said. “The Governor is simply not a proper party here.”

The state lawsuit was filed against Beshear because it said he can impose “prospective declaratory and injunctive relief,” or stop the bill from being implemented.

But Beshear’s legal counsel said in the documents that both cases lack reasoning to suggest he’s at fault for the execution and interpretation of the bill.

“The Governor’s general authority to ensure the laws are faithfully executed is not sufficient to make him a proper party to this case,” Beshear’s legal counsel said in the federal court request to be dismissed.

Beshear’s legal counsel filed motions for him to be dismissed from the state case on June 5, and from the federal case on May 29.

A judge is expected to decide whether to grant his request to be removed from the state case at a hearing on Wednesday, according to Franklin County Circuit Court records.

There are no upcoming hearings scheduled in the federal case, according to Judge Claria Horn Boom’s office in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 12:00 PM.