The General Assembly convened on Friday for day 59 of the 60-day legislative session. This comes following the veto period over the recent weeks where the Governor issued several vetoes of legislation passed by the House and Senate.
On Friday, the lawmakers took action to override many of those decisions.
House Bill 1
A compromise version of legislation with $2.7 billion worth of one-time investments was line-item vetoed by the Governor.
The bill contains a $450 million investment in infrastructure, funding for many local projects, investments in higher education, money to assist in economic development, and more.
The House voted to override that veto 79-18 and the Senate voted 29-6.
House Bill 6
The state’s next two-year budget with increased investments in education, child care, pensions, and much more also saw a veto.
The Governor line-item vetoed the parts of the bill that he said put limits on responding to natural disasters, as well as the lines that limit the financial resources necessary to fight forest fires.
The legislature voted to override most of that veto barring some language dealing with coal mine reclamation with a 72-27 vote in the House and 31-6 in the Senate.
House Bill 8
Lawmakers passed a negotiated revenue measure the final night before the start of the veto recess including more modest and mostly technical changes to the state’s tax code, many of which impact the business community.
The Governor also line-item vetoed provisions in that bill. However, the House cited a previous legal opinion and stated the Governor does not have the authority to issue line-item veto the revenue measure. They then sent the bill to the Secretary of State’s office as-is.
House Bill 7
House Bill 7 seeks to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) to operate in the Commonwealth.
Gov. Beshear’s veto message requested more study and a testing period prior to fully authorizing autonomous vehicles.
The House voted 58-40 to override that veto before seeing a 21-15 vote in the Senate.
Senate Bill 299
Senate Bill 299 reshapes regulation of the horse industry and gambling in Kentucky through the formation of a public corporation and was vetoed by the Governor.
The House voted 57-38 and the Senate voted 26-12 to override that veto.
Other bills that saw veto override votes and were sent to the Secretary of State include House Bill 136 allowing environmental audits in Jefferson County; House Bill 581, dealing with retail filling stations; crime-related House Bill 5, and others.
The General Assembly will reconvene on Monday, April 15th for the final day of the 2024 session for any last business. Stay tuned to The Bottom Line for updates and watch for the release of the Kentucky Chamber’s Results for Business publication in the coming weeks.
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