House Republican lawmakers beat the clock Friday night, pushing through three key pieces of legislation after 11 p.m. to keep them veto-proof by beating a midnight deadline.
Lawmakers will take a 10-day recess during Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto period that lasts through March 26. The legislature will reconvene on March 27 and 28 to override vetoes before gaveling out for a final time in this short session of the General Assembly. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers, giving them power over the governor’s vetoes.
Any bills that go through on March 27 and 28 can be vetoed by the governor without the opportunity to be overridden by lawmakers. That is why pushing through the measures before midnight Friday was crucial.
Friday’s late-night action included bills dealing with transgenders in Kentucky and with some Medicaid benefits with work requirements and for inmates getting hormone therapy treatment in state correctional facilities.
House Bill 495 prohibits Medicaid from funding hormone therapy and biological reassignment surgery and eliminates Gov. Beshear’s executive order banning conversion therapy, which had drawn broad criticism from the faith community.
“I am thankful that the General Assembly has taken these important steps to push back against Gov. Beshear’s brazen ‘conversion therapy’ executive order that attacked free speech and religious freedom,” said David Walls, executive director of the Kentucky Foundation, a conservative Christian organization.
House Bill 695 is a work requirement bill significantly altered after Friday night to make several changes to the state’s Medicaid program, including a requirement that recipients considered able-bodied be required to work.
Senate Bill 2 guarantees no money will be spent on so-called gender-affirming care for state inmates, 67 of whom are currently receiving hormone therapy treatments in correctional facilities.
“The idea that state taxpayers should be footing the bill for gender transition treatments of any individual, but especially those who have perpetrated harm against our commonwealth, is outrageous,” Wall said.
Walls said the passage of HB 495 and SB 2 is a “positive development” but more needs to be done.
“We continue to believe that no taxpayer dollars should pay for any gender mutilation of any person anywhere in this commonwealth. To use taxpayer funds for such purposes is not only poor stewardship but encourages individuals to undergo irreparable harm to their person. It’s not possible to change a person’s sex, and government has no place in promoting or subsidizing such madness.”
All three of Friday’s late measures will be sent to Gov. Beshear’s desk.
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
