Five things to watch when the Kentucky General Assembly resumes Monday
Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining: they’re back.
The Kentucky General Assembly will resume the final two days of the 2021 legislative session on Monday and Tuesday, having already passed more than 150 bills over the course of their short 30-day legislative session.
While most of the time is set aside for overriding any vetoes issued by Gov. Andy Beshear — he has already vetoed more than 18 bills this session — lawmakers will still have time to pass a few items remaining on their agenda.
Here are some of the things to watch:
American Rescue Plan
The largest unknown heading into the final two days of the legislative session is what action — if any — the legislature will take to appropriate the federal stimulus money expected to come from the American Rescue Plan.
In the final days before the veto period, Republican lawmakers pushed through a continuation budget for the upcoming fiscal year, meaning it didn’t deviate from most spending level’s in the current budget — crafted at the height of uncertainty over the COVID-19 pandemic.
By passing a continuation budget, they largely avoiding the issue of what to do with more than $2.4 billion in federal relief money coming to the state, with the exception of allocating $250 million in federal money for rural broadband access and language limiting Beshear’s ability to spend the federal money without the approval of the legislature.
There have been conversations in recent weeks between Beshear and legislative leaders about what to do with the money, but little of those plans has been revealed to the public. Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, said he believes there’s common ground on how Beshear and Republican legislators want to use the money.
“Probably, he’s going to get 75 percent of what he wants and we’re going to get 75 percent of what we want because the bulk of it overlaps,” McDaniel said.
Beshear said Monday that he’s put forward a proposal to lawmakers that would make investments in infrastructure and would provide financial relief to small businesses and non-profits but it is unclear how receptive lawmakers are to his plan. An earlier attempt by Beshear to provide relief for small businesses floundered in the General Assembly.
Still, Beshear remains optimistic.
“I believe those discussions have gone well,” Beshear said. “My hope is that we will see at least a portion of those funds in a bill before the end of the legislative session. I believe at least in parts of it, we have general agreement on things we need to do in the commonwealth that will move us forward.”
If the legislature only deals with part of the federal money, that still raises the potential for a special session later this year in which the legislature would appropriate the rest of the federal relief money. Beshear did not comment on whether he believed a special session is likely.
No-knock bill
Senate Bill 4, a measure intended to create tougher standards for using no-knock warrants in Kentucky, has been stalled in the House of Representatives since late February.
The bill — a legislative response to the police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor as the Louisville Police Department executed a warrant on her apartment last year — would set a standard for no-knock warrants of “clear and convincing evidence” that lives would be put in danger or evidence would be destroyed if someone was given prior notice about a warrant.
It also limits which police units could execute a no-knock warrant, limits what potential crimes they can be used to investigate, and limits what times they can be used (effectively forbidding no-knock warrants in the middle of the night).
At least five lawmakers have filed floor amendments that would make changes to the bill, including one that would decrease the burden of proof required to get a no-knock warrant and one that would expand the crimes for which a no-knock warrant could be used (the current version only includes violent criminal offenses, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction) to include all Class B and Class C felonies.
It is unclear whether the floor amendments would have the votes to pass, or whether Republicans have enough support in their caucus to be able to pass the bill at all. No amendment has been filed to name the bill “Breonna’s Law” after Breonna Taylor.
Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, filed her own version of “Breonna’s Law”, but it did not make it out of a committee in the House of Representatives.
COVID-19 liability
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, has pushed all year for a bill that would help shield businesses against lawsuits related to COVID-19.
The bill is being lobbied by a number of organizations, including the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Kentucky League of Cities, Amazon, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Appalachian Regional Healthcare and Blue Grass Airport.
Yet it has stalled in the House of Representatives, where many members worry the bill is too broad and unnecessary if there are current protections against liability for businesses.
Stivers appeared resigned to the possibility of the bill failing.
“I don’t know what will happen to the House,” Stivers said. “We’ve given it our best shot. We’ve had it out there.”
Beshear’s office did not immediately respond when asked if he supported the bill.
Transportation budget
About 10 minutes before the clock struck midnight and March 16th ended, House Republicans acknowledged they had run out of time to pass the state’s transportation budget. By pushing consideration of House Bill 193 back to March 29, lawmakers forfeited their ability to override any line-item vetoes Beshear might decide to make in the bill.
Included in the bill is authorization to spend $1.4 billion the Transportation Cabinet will need to fund road projects that lawmakers approved last year.
Election bill
Both the House and Senate had the votes to pass an election reform bill that would expand early in-person voting in Kentucky to three days before Election Day.
But after the Senate made changes to the bill, and the House sponsors couldn’t explain the changes, the bill faltered at the very end of the process.
The change in question was a floor amendment by Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, that would have required county boards of election to ask permission from the state board of elections before consolidating precincts to create a countywide “voting center,” as they did during the 2020 elections.
Democrats are skeptical of Thayer, who has a long history of opposing bills to expand voting access, and wanted the amendment explained before they voted to agree with Thayer’s changes.
The House will have the ability to bring the bill up for a vote again on Monday and Tuesday, where it is expected to pass. Beshear is likely to sign the bill, even as Democrats have criticized it for not going far enough to expand voting access.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 11:36 AM.
