Beshear said he expects to call lawmakers into session for Eastern Ky. relief package
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Flooding in Eastern Kentucky
“Catastrophic” flash flooding hit parts of Eastern Kentucky July 28, 2022.
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Gov. Andy Beshear says he expects to call a special session of the General Assembly to craft a relief package for Eastern Kentucky counties that need help rebuilding from last week’s floods.
The state of Kentucky can afford to be generous. The state government is sitting on a budget reserve “rainy day” trust fund of $2.7 billion, an historically large sum, thanks in part to federal COVID-19 pandemic assistance.
“I think it’s going to be needed,” Beshear said Wednesday when asked about a special session. “We’re working on it right now. We’ve only heard strong willingness from our legislators, both from the region and outside of it.”
The legislature last winter passed a $200 million relief package, the SAFE Act, for Western Kentucky communities devastated by tornadoes in December, Beshear said.
However, lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Frankfort again until January for their next regular session.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, lives in Clay County, where two people died in the floods.
On Wednesday, Stivers said the legislature was prepared to use its power of the purse to help relief efforts. He confirmed that he and other legislators have spoken with Beshear and that a special session is expected once a more complete assessment of the damage is finished.
At a press conference held with other GOP members of the legislature from Eastern Kentucky, after the group helped drop off supplies via an Army helicopter, Stivers said the “massiveness” of the damage was hard to wrap one’s head around.
“We’re probably going to hear that the overall damage far exceeds any natural disaster we’ve had,” Stivers said.
Sen. Johnnie Turner, R-Harlan, added that the damage to the region’s water and sewer systems – some of which were already ailing – will make rebuilding particularly costly.
Details about the intention and eventual action of the special session are still scant. Stivers said he wasn’t sure when it would be called or what the dollar amount allocated would look like given that a full assessment is still needed.
One point that Stivers drove home is that, aside from food and supplies, Eastern Kentucky will need skilled workers to help it rebuild.
“We’re ready to repair, but we can’t find people,” Stivers said. “We need people in the trades and with the skills to be able to come into Eastern Kentucky to meet the demand that’s going to be out there for rebuilding.”
Among the financial needs facing Eastern Kentucky, hundreds of people — if not thousands — have lost their homes and businesses, nearly all of them uninsured; school districts face many millions of dollars in rebuilding costs to get students back into classrooms; and local water districts face varying degrees of damage to their infrastructure.
In Perry County’s Buckhorn community, Beshear said Wednesday, the water system is “just wiped out, it’s gone.” And Breathitt County water district officials told the Herald-Leader that water service has been restored to less than half of their customers because of massive flood damage to local water pipes.
The state must help rebuild this critical infrastructure so that local utility ratepayers and taxpayers don’t get stuck with exorbitant bills, the governor said.
“We’re gonna need it (a special session) in the months to come, if not sooner,” Beshear said.
“Counties are already contracting,” he said. “School districts are already contracting to clean up, to haul debris, and we need to be there for them. We can’t let a school system go broke, or a city or a county go broke, because of the amount of time it may take for them to be reimbursed.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 12:55 PM.
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