On Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear issued his first veto this year of legislation passed by the General Assembly.
The bill relates to employees of the Department of Agriculture that would allow some workers to apply for loans or grants administered by that office.
House Bill 216, which passed both the House and Senate by unanimous votes, would allow employees of the Department of Agriculture, except those employed within the Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy, to participate in, apply for, or receive funds, awards, or contracts administered by the department’s Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy.
In response to a question asked by Kentucky Today during his weekly press conference, Beshear replied, “I don’t think this was pushed by the commissioner in any way. We have a good working relationship, but this has always been viewed as unethical and unlawful. The Executive Branch Ethics Code, which is in statute, says ‘an executive branch employee cannot apply for a benefit, or a loan, or a grant from a department or an agency that they work in.’ That applies to every executive branch agency.”
He also noted there is no prohibition in the bill to prevent the person who decides the grant or loan recipients, from applying for one themselves.
“No one should be able to work in an agency and then apply directly to that agency for a loan or a grant from it,” Beshear said. “In the end, I believe it is unfair to farmers who don’t work for the Department of Agriculture, who are going to have to compete with someone else who has applied for the same funding, and who works next to the person who is going to determine it.”
He said there have been two opinions in the past two years issued by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, which say you cannot do this, Advisory Opinion 21-12 and Advisory Opinion 24-05.
The General Assembly returns to Frankfort for the final two days of the legislative session March 27 and 28, which gives them an opportunity to override this or any other veto the governor issues before then. It only takes a simple majority of both the House and Senate to override a gubernatorial veto. This differs from the federal level, where Congress requires a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
