Legislature to meet Wednesday for special session on Eastern KY flood relief
Gov. Andy Beshear has called the state legislature into session this week to help address massive flood damage in Eastern Kentucky. The General Assembly will meet at the Capitol in Frankfort starting at noon on Wednesday with the goal of passing a recovery package bill for the region, which lost 39 lives and an untold number of structures to historic flooding.
Beshear said that he’s held productive, nonpartisan conversations with legislators in recent weeks about how to help Eastern Kentucky communities.
“We’re working to provide government services and we are pushing FEMA harder than they have ever been pushed before to respond and help our people, but we know that more is needed,” Beshear said.
Beshear said that he and legislators have reached an “agreement” on the special session to address community needs, counties’ and cities’ financial health, and mitigation of utility rates for ratepayers in the region. He said the session will be focused on creating something similar to the Western Kentucky aid package and potentially legislation focused on schools.
In a proclamation declaring the special session, Beshear stated that the session will tackle three issues:
- Establishing and appropriating funds to Eastern Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (EKSAFE ) fund
- Extending the end date of the West Kentucky State Aid Funding fo rEmergencies (WKSAFE) fund through June 30, 2026
- Relaxing requirements related to student attendance days, leave for teachers, and remote instruction for Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the flooding emergency, as well as providing relief to Western and Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the tornado and flooding emergencies by setting forth new requirements relating to average daily attendance for SEEK funding.
When asked at a Monday event in Scott County, Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown said that the special session would be three days long. The legislature has the ability to waive the normal parliamentary rules, which usually call for five days for a bill to make the governor’s desk, and Thayer said they will likely do so in this case.
Thayer added that he and other legislative leaders intend for the session to remain focused on Eastern Kentucky.
“We want to keep it focused solely on Eastern Kentucky flood relief. There are some members who don’t want to wait until January and want to get a couple of other issues on the call, but leadership is discouraging that,” Thayer said. “We want to keep it to Eastern Kentucky – get in, get out, and get this money shipped down to Eastern Kentucky as quickly as we can.”
House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, agreed that the intent is to see through one bill focused on flood relief.
Though the governor’s proclamation authorized the General Assembly to gavel in at noon on Wednesday, the Senate will do so at 3:00 p.m., according to a news release.
The legislature is “very close” on the details of the bill, which will be structured similarly to the $200 million Western Kentucky tornado relief package passed earlier this year in response to December tornadoes that racked the region, Thayer said on Monday.
Rudy said that dialogue between legislative leaders, Appropriations & Revenue Committee staff, and the governor’s office – mostly via State Budget Director John Hicks and senior Beshear advisor Rocky Adkins – has yielded an agreed upon framework for the package.
“It’s pretty well all agreed to in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Rudy said.
Thayer floated “a couple hundred million” dollars as a ballpark estimate for the relief package, but noted that Senate President Robert Stivers thinks the figure could ultimately be more.
Beshear has estimated school damage alone to cost more than $100 million for repairs and rebuilding.
House Democratic leadership released a statement in response to the announcement saying they stand to do “whatever is needed” for Eastern Kentucky.
“This is a project that will be measured in years, not months, but we are convinced that, by working together, we can do more than help this region get back on its feet; we can make it even stronger,” they wrote.
The state’s Budget Reserve Trust Fund, also known as the Rainy Day Fund, recently grew to a record $2.7 billion thanks to historic surpluses in the last two fiscal years. The massive amount in the fund has at least one legislator calling for a significant chunk of that money to be spent.
Thayer said that the legislature’s conversations with Beshear’s team about the flood relief package have been “positive.”
“In a situation like this, politics stops at the water’s edge, as they say for foreign policy. And it should do the same when it comes to natural disasters like this. So far, I would say things are going well,” Thayer said.
Eastern Kentucky native and Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, echoed Thayer’s comments.
“The General Assembly is prepared to provide aid to schools, cities, counties and other local government agencies as we repair what we can and rebuild what our communities need,” Stivers said in a release. “As we did for western Kentucky, we have cast politics aside and will address the immediate needs of those who have endured so much.”
The session is likely to end on Friday, according to Rudy, who added that the two chambers are also likely to convene later on Thursday due to pre-scheduled committee meetings to be held at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville that day.
A news release from Senate GOP leadership said that two bills with mirroring language will go through the legislative process in both the House and Senate before being combined into a single bill.
Special sessions are one area in which Beshear has power over the legislature, with the Kentucky Constitution giving the governor sole authority to call them.
Republicans are trying to change that on the ballot this November with a proposed constitutional amendment. It would give the legislature – now dominated by Republican supermajorities – more power over the General Assembly’s calendar, allowing the legislature to vote to change the end date of any legislative session and would give leaders of the House and Senate the power to call special sessions of their own.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 3:17 PM.
