Amid COVID-19 concerns, Republican leaders plan to adjourn session until March 26
As the coronavirus spreads across Kentucky, state Republican leaders decided late Thursday to adjourn this year’s law-making session until March 26.
Senate President Robert Stivers said lawmakers will work that day and then come back April 1 to pass a budget out of both chambers and send it to the governor.
Lawmakers then would come back April 14 and 15 to consider any gubernatorial vetoes, he said, while continuing to monitor COVID-19.
In a floor speech, Stivers, R-Manchester, said the legislature wants to maintain its constitutional rights to consider any vetoes.
He noted that other federal and state leaders like President Trump, Congressional leaders and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear have not left their jobs.
“We’re in extraordinary times,” Stivers said.
Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, said Congress is “dealing with bills that provide relief due to the coronavirus, we’re here dealing with bills on disposal of cervid meats.”
Some Republican lawmakers broke ranks earlier Thursday with GOP leaders who have refused to postpone Kentucky’s legislative session as the novel coronavirus spreads.
In a Facebook post, longtime Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, said the legislature is “putting Kentuckians in danger” by continuing to meet in the Capitol. There are 100 House members and 38 Senate members, but the federal government has advised people not to gather in groups larger than 10.
Rather than continue to work while the majority of Kentucky shuts down, Kerr said she preferred two options presented by Beshear — to pass only a budget and coronavirus-related bills and go home, or to come back for a special session later in the year to deal with just the budget and coronavirus response.
The governor’s options are “preferable to putting other Kentuckians in danger, which is what we will do if one of us leaves the Capitol as a carrier of this virus we are all being ordered to avoid,” Kerr wrote. “Kentucky will get along just fine if legislators are NOT in the Capitol every day.”
She acknowledged that lawmakers have a duty to pass a budget, but said “our greater duty, at this unprecedented time in history, is to follow the directives of those who know more about this virus than we do and act in solidarity with Kentuckians and all Americans who are being asked to re-order their lives, families, jobs for the greater good.”
Kerr, like more than 16 other members of the Kentucky Senate, is over 60 and thus considered high risk for complications of the coronavirus.
At the other end of the Capitol, one day after Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, compared working during the coronavirus to working after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, another Republican lawmaker chose to stay home because he felt sick.
Rep. Daniel Elliott, R-Danville, said he felt shortness of breath Wednesday night and was advised by a health care provider to isolate himself for at least 48 hours. Elliott said he has not been tested for the coronavirus, unlike Sen. President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, who tested negative after he felt flu-like symptoms Monday.
Asked if the legislature should remain in session, Elliott responded: “I hope what I’m doing is an example to others. This could be a life-and-death situation for some people with serious health problems.”
He then added: “I would hope the governor and legislative leaders would be able to work out a compromise for the legislature to come back at a later time.”
Republican leaders have accelerated the budget process — the Senate was voting on a budget Thursday afternoon and both chambers are expected to vote on a compromise budget next week — but they’ve been adamant about passing other bills while in Frankfort.
“Don’t the first 48 days of the session count for something?” asked Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville. “Why haven’t they passed them? It’s not our fault these bills haven’t passed yet.”
Still, Republican leaders appear to have the support of most rank-and-file members.
“We’ve got a lot of things on the table that are really important,” said Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville.
House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, got a standing ovation from Republican members in the House after a passionate floor speech Wednesday, saying the legislature still had to pass several important bills, such as one to help support Louisville Jewish Hospital and others to give public schools more flexibility as they close to in-person attendance during the pandemic.
Osborne did not mention many other seemingly less-pressing bills that continue to receive votes, bills that would crack down on public assistance fraud, a constitutional amendment to limit the governor’s ability to issue pardons and a bill that targets illegal immigration.
Senate Republicans also included a controversial provision in their proposed budget that would only give full funding to the Teachers’ Retirement System if changes are made that reduce benefits for newly hired teachers. The last time Republicans attempted to reform teacher pensions, public schools across the state called “sick-outs” and thousands of people in red shirts descended on the Capitol.
This time, teachers aren’t allowed to gather because the Capitol has been closed to the public as part of Kentucky’s effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Tres Watson, a Republican strategist, said passing bills that aren’t related to the coronavirus, and putting lawmakers at risk of catching the coronavirus in the process, is a political mistake.
“I wouldn’t be doing it,” Watson said. “It poses a political area of attack in a general election. At the same time, our legislative laws are such that we’re hamstrung by the constitution.”
Ultimately, the decision to keep passing bills is the result of a power struggle between Republican leaders of the General Assembly and the Democratic governor. Republicans wanted the ability to consider any topic if they adjourn now and come back in a special session. Beshear, who sets the agenda for a special session, would only promise to call a special session that deals with the budget and coronavirus legislation.
In his floor speech, Osborne complimented the job Beshear has done in responding to the pandemic, but he pushed for Beshear to give lawmakers a special session on their terms.
“I do not want his job, I don’t want to do his job,” Osborne said. “But by gosh, I want him to give us the ability to do ours and call us back into a special session to complete the work that is important to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:14 PM.
