Beshear issues some vetoes, signs dozens of bills

FRANKFORT — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed bills creating a nuclear energy authority and outlawing “discriminatory treatment” of filling stations.

He also vetoed a measure similar to one the state Supreme Court overturned last year but that Republicans say is different enough to withstand judicial scrutiny. It allows a change of judicial venue for constitutional challenges and lawsuits against the state.

State lawmakers will reconvene for two days — April 12 and 15 — when the GOP supermajorities are expected to easily override the Democratic governor’s vetoes.  A veto override needs only a majority of each chamber’s approval. 

The governor has signed into law more than 50 bills and resolutions as of Thursday, according to records received by Secretary of State Michael Adams. 

During a Thursday news conference, Beshear highlighted his vetoes, including  Senate Bill 198, sponsored by Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, creating a new research authority to develop nuclear energy in Kentucky. 

Beshear said he has no problem with developing nuclear energy but that the board for the newly established authority “isn’t appointed or really overseen by myself or any other constitutional officer.” Beshear said the authority needs more oversight in order to be constituted as an executive branch agency.

“This is not any opposition to nuclear energy or a development authority, but a development authority has to be created legally, and if it’s going to be an executive branch agency, it can’t be made up of directly selected private sector individuals through legislation,” Beshear said. 

Carroll in a statement said he was disappointed by the veto and that “political considerations often overshadow” efforts to help Kentuckians. Carroll argued that having board members represent “diverse entities” would minimize political influence on the authority’s decisions. 

This veto only delays Kentucky’s progress in exploring nuclear energy opportunities, a path many other states are pursuing,” Carroll said in his statement, urging his fellow lawmakers to override the veto. “It does not encroach on the governor’s executive powers.”

Beshear signed related legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 140, also sponsored by Carroll, which directs the state utility regulator, the Kentucky Public Service Commission, to begin preparations for siting future nuclear power plants. Beshear said he was concerned the legislature didn’t provide specific funding to the PSC to do the new work.

Beshear vetoed House Bill 581, sponsored by Rep. Ken Upchurch, R-Monticello, requiring local governments to allow retail filling stations in any land-use zone where electric vehicle charging stations are allowed. Upchurch has argued that he wants to create an “equal playing field” for electric vehicle charging stations and gas stations, while opponents have warned the bill could exclude small charging stations at public buildings, YMCAs and small shops where chargers are a draw for customers. 

In his veto message, Beshear said the bill “imposes big state government control over local governments’ planning decisions” that  “should be left to the local officials elected to make them.”

Beshear also vetoed House Bill 804, sponsored by Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill, which would allow a participant in a lawsuit challenging a state regulation or state law to have cases moved from the court in which a case was filed to an adjacent judicial circuit.

The governor panned the bill as another attempt by the legislature to “violate the separation of powers,” saying the state judicial branch has exclusive authority to determine the proper courtroom or venue for lawsuits. 

“What it attempts to do is take the decision of venue entirely out of the judicial branch and give it to any one of the litigating parties that can just simply ask for a change of venue without any process or evaluation,” Beshear said. 

The Kentucky Supreme Court last year struck down a similar law that had allowed lawsuit participants challenging a state law or regulation — including the attorney general intervening in the lawsuit — to request a change of venue and allow the case to be moved to a new court chosen at random by the Supreme Court clerk. 

The Kentucky Supreme Court in its ruling stated the law violated the separation of powers between state government branches. 

Flannery in legislative committee hearings said HB 804 was “much different” than last year’s law, saying he thought it would comply with the Supreme Court decision.

Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington in a legislative committee hearing asked Flannery if the law was an “unreasonable restriction” on the power of Franklin Circuit Court judges to hear challenges to state laws and regulations. Flannery said in response that such challenges can be brought in any circuit court across the state. 

House Majority Whip Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, said other circuit court judges he knew in the area, not just those in Franklin County, could handle cases involving constitutional challenges. 

“You can be against this for some reasons — that’s fine,” Nemes said. “But you cannot say that the circuit judges in areas contiguous to Franklin County aren’t up to snuff.” 

The circuit court in Franklin County has traditionally heard legal challenges to state laws and regulations because it’s the seat of state government and most state agencies. In particular, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd has been a target of GOP criticism for court decisions.