Beshear vetoes several bills. One limits his ability to name a McConnell replacement.
Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed several bills Monday intended to drain some of his powers, including one that would have stripped his authority to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy.
SB 228, sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers and supported by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, would have largely given the power to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy to the political parties until a special election could be held.
When announcing his veto, Beshear talked about the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which passed in 1911 and enabled the direct election of senators and gave governors the ability to appoint a senator in the event of a vacancy.
Beshear said one of the intents of that amendment was to remove “power from political party bosses.”
“Senate Bill 228 violates that very purpose of the amendment by returning the power, specifically in law, to a political party to come up with names for a vacancy,” Beshear said.
Instead of the current process, where the governor appoints someone to fill the remainder of the term, the bill would put in place a process requiring the governor to fill the vacancy from a list of three names given to him by the political party of the person who left office.
The appointee’s term would only last until someone won a special election which, under the bill, would be a “jungle primary.” Anyone from any political party could enter the primary and the top two vote-getters would move on to a run-off election if no one got more than 50 percent of the vote.
Beshear said the bill was unconstitutional, but he would not say whether he will challenge it in court after the legislature meets to consider his vetoes next week. The Republican-led legislature is expected to easily override his veto.
Democrats claimed the bill was an attempt to let McConnell hand-pick his successor (whoever is appointed to the vacancy could have an “incumbency advantage” in an election).
“This bill reeks of Mitch McConnell,” said Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, when the bill passed the House of Representatives.
The last time the governor had to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy was 1956 when former U.S. Sen. Alben Barkley died in office (not including instances when senators stepped down to give seniority to their successor).
Beshear’s veto of SB 228 was one of several he issued Monday after signing several health care bills into law, including one that would cap the price of 30 days worth of insulin at $30 for people with state-regulated health insurance plans.
“Some of the bills that were passed in this session were not about moving Kentucky forward, were not about what’s best for the people of Kentucky,” Beshear said. “Rather, these bills were more politically related, violate our state constitution, chip away at our strong separation of powers, simply because of who is sitting in this chair.”
Republican leaders in the General Assembly have made it a focus of the session to pare down some of the gubernatorial powers in Kentucky, handing them to the legislature and other constitutional officers instead.
Fish and wildlife bill vetoed
Among the other bills Beshear vetoed was HB 394, which would allow the state fish and wildlife board to appoint its own commissioner and set the salary. Beshear said it was unconstitutional and said a 2018 audit of the fish and wildlife department showed that there should be oversight of the board.
The board has argued that it has sole authority in hiring Rich Storm as its commissioner and setting his salary. Beshear disagrees.
In January last year, the board unanimously voted to give Storm, who became commissioner in January 2019 during the administration of former Gov. Matt Bevin, a new two-year contract at $140,000 a year. The Beshear administration offered Storm only a one-year contract, noting that the legislature in 2020 enacted only a one-year state budget. When Storm did not accept it, the administration stopped his salary July 15.
The fish and wildlife board voted 7-0 last Aug. 12 to pursue a lawsuit. It said the administration had approved more than 900 contracts that extend beyond one year and that money to pay Storm’s salary would not come from the state’s General Fund but from fees and federal funds.
Beshear called the board’s action “silly.”
Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate dismissed the commission’s lawsuit last October but the commission, with support from Attorney General Daniel Cameron, has appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
‘This is playing switcheroo with executive powers’
Beshear vetoed two bills that would have given more power to Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles and one that would have given more power over state money to Kentucky Treasurer Allison Ball.
“This is playing switcheroo with executive powers, simply because of the party that a person in one of these seats is in,” Beshear said. “That is bad policy and chips away at our democracy.”
Senate Bill 63 would move the power to appoint members of the state agriculture board from Beshear to Quarles and House Bill 275 would replace the governor on the State Investment Commission.
Beshear also vetoed House Bill 518, which would authorize the agriculture commissioner, not the governor, to appoint members of the State Fair Board and establish hiring and management procedures for the board.
With supermajorities in both the House and the Senate, Republicans will be able to override all of Beshear’s vetoes when they come in for the final two days of the session on March 29 and March 30.
Beshear praised the legislature for improving access to health care. Besides signing into law the insulin bill, he signed House Bill 140, which would require the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to establish minimum standards for telehealth, and Senate Bill 154, which would expand home health services.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
