Gov. Andy Beshear vetoes bill replacing leadership of KY’s broadband network
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has issued the first veto of the 2026 legislative session, saying a bill removing leadership over the state’s broadband network represents “yet another unconstitutional partisan power grab” by the Republican-led General Assembly.
House Bill 314 would replace the board and remove the executive director of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority, which runs the state’s high-speed fiber optic cable network, KentuckyWired.
In a veto message Friday, Beshear said the bill is an attempt “to remove appointments and authority from a Democratic Governor and send them to Republican officeholders.”
The governor also suggested legislators are being influenced by lobbyists for a company engaged in litigation with the state that hopes to “use the bill to sweep its acts under the rug with a new unlawful board.”
“By stripping the Governor’s appointment authority, House Bill 314 prevents him from carrying out the powers and duties the Kentucky Constitution delegates only to him,” Beshear wrote. “Under House Bill 314, neither the Governor nor any member of his Cabinet will have representation on the Board.”
The network authority board, currently chaired by the governor’s cabinet secretary, would instead be chaired by the chief information officer of the Department of Education.
The secretaries of the Transportation Cabinet, Cabinet for Economic Development and Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, as well as the commissioner of the Department for Local Government, would also be removed.
Instead, the secretary of state, state treasurer and agriculture commissioner would be appointed to the board.
Beshear noted in his veto message that all of them are Republican officeholders, and none of their offices are served by the network.
The governor would be able to choose two board appointees, one from a list of nominees submitted by the Kentucky League of Cities and another from a list submitted by the Kentucky Association of Counties.
The executive director of the KCNA would be removed, and the network would be run by the Commonwealth Office of Technology.
“Kentucky courts, including the Kentucky Court of Appeals, have struck down the legislature’s previous attempts to strip the Governor of his appointments to prevent him from carrying out his constitutional duties, with those decisions currently before the Kentucky Supreme Court,” Beshear wrote.
HB 314 passed in the House of Representatives on a vote of 80-13 and in the Senate by 32-6.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, whose district covers parts of Fayette and Jessamine counties.
Lockett, who co-chairs the Information Technology Oversight Committee, said concerns about KCNA’s management of the broadband network came up repeatedly during committee meetings before the session began, the Kentucky Lantern reported.
KCNA has also been engaged in an ongoing court battle with its private wholesale partner, Accelecom.
“The new unconstitutional Board could reverse the decisions of the current Board — which the Finance and Administration Cabinet has agreed with — that held the wholesaler company accountable for its conduct that was in breach of its contract,” Beshear said in his veto message. “It could potentially settle the lawsuits and allow the wrongdoer company to again be in business with the Commonwealth. House Bill 314 would also limit the Commonwealth’s ability to hold that company accountable in court and its ability to negotiate those cases, delaying those cases at taxpayers’ costs.”
Beshear said the company spent $21,811 lobbying for House Bill 314 in January.
The governor said the broadband network “provides internet access in every Kentucky county and allows nearly every state government agency to have communication connectivity, including the Kentucky State Police, universities, community and technical colleges, courts, and state parks.”
