Kentucky lawmakers break for veto period leaving anti-diversity bill dead in the water

FRANKFORT — This year’s banner culture war crusade fizzled out in the Kentucky Senate in the final days of the General Assembly.

The Senate took no action on a House overhaul of Senate Bill 6, a Republican-backed bill aimed at curbing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in Kentucky’s public universities and colleges.

Lawmakers could revive the bill when they return April 12 but they would not have time to override Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s certain veto, meaning the measure is dead this year. 

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, of Manchester, told reporters after lawmakers adjourned around midnight Friday that he was not sure if the bill would move again when the General Assembly returns to Frankfort for its final two days, April 12 and 15. 

“It has been contentious within our caucus, and that’s about all I can say,” Stivers said. 

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, of Georgetown, said the caucus decided to “not concur with the House changes.” The House had made major changes to the Senate’s bill, including eliminating DEI programs and offices at public universities and colleges.

The explanation down the hall was similar. Republican House Speaker David Osborne, of Prospect, said it “does not appear that will be taken up again. There was just a disagreement in the languages. Neither side (was) willing to give substantively on it.” 

Thursday was the last day the Republican-controlled legislature could pass veto-proof bills. Democrats argued against some high-profile bills but there were few surprises as the chambers worked through a mountain of  legislation. The session now enters  a 10-day period during which Gov. Andy Beshear can veto or sign measures passed by the legislature. The legislature will return for two days in mid-April when it typically overrides any Beshear vetoes.

Winning final passage were bills allowing schools to hire armed “guardians” in place of law enforcement officers, making it harder for utilities to retire fossil fuel-fired power plants and increasing criminal penalties and creating new crimes.

One bill that did not make the veto-proof finish line was Taylor Mill Republican Rep. Kim Moser’s maternal health House Bill 10, dubbed the “Momnibus,” after the Senate committee added a controversial amendment.

Is the anti-DEI bill dead?

When he filed Senate Bill 6, Republican Whip Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green, said his intent was to prevent public postsecondary institutions from requiring employees and students to “endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint” as part of graduation or hiring practices. The Senate passed his version on party lines. 

However, when Senate Bill 6 was sent across the Capitol, it was overhauled in the House Education Committee without Wilson’s presence. Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, presented a version of the bill that included provisions from her House Bill 9. 

Kentucky’s anti-DEI legislation filed this session followed a nationwide trend as conservative politicians aim to roll back such measures, particularly in higher education. Earlier in March, the University of Florida closed its DEI offices, eliminated DEI positions and administrative positions and stopped DEI contracts with outside vendors following a state board of education vote to prohibit universities from spending money on DEI programs. 

Wilson’s original bill was also modeled after a recent Tennessee law that allows students and employees to file reports against schools for allowing “divisive concepts” to be taught. 

Throughout the legislative session, university administrators including University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto and University of Louisville President Kim Schatzel have voiced support for their campuses DEI initiatives.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has also repeatedly reaffirmed his support for DEI, calling diversity “an asset” that makes Kentucky “more welcoming” to companies that might relocate to the state. 

If the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly did take action on the bill when it returns for its two final days in April, lawmakers could not override a likely veto from the governor. 

School ‘guardians’

The House approved a key piece of GOP Senate legislation aimed at paving the way for school districts to hire “guardians” to fill vacant law enforcement officer roles on school campuses while strengthening support for mental health resources in schools. 

Sponsored by Campbellsville Republican Sen. Max Wise, Senate Bill 2 is a continuation of a successful piece of school safety legislation that he carried in 2019. The bill underwent several changes in the House Education Committee earlier this week, including the controversial addition of allowing licensed pastoral counselors to serve on trauma-informed teams in schools. The Kentucky School Counselors Association began opposing the bill after the change. 

However, debate was limited to three minutes per side on the House floor for the bill. The move angered Louisville Democrat Rep. Josie Raymond since she and others could not explain their votes and she did not have time to ask questions. Debate limitations through the night got “shorter and shorter,” she told reporters. 

“One hundred members were just barred from explaining their votes on a bill that’s going to put guns in our kids’ schools,” she said. “It was cowardly of them to limit debate… It was cowardly of them to save this bill for 11:15 on the final night. I should not be penalized for their poor time management, which is what this is.”

She said the portion of the bill dealing with “strangers with guns” into schools “really frightens me” as a parent. 

Osborne said the move to limit time was “certainly” to finish before midnight. 

“Time is very very limited on the main days,” he said. “Most of these bills … have been debated, in many cases, for hours on this floor previously.” 

The bill also now has more oversight of the school “guardian” program by giving the Kentucky Center for School Safety a staffer to coordinate the program if funds are available. 

Under Wise’s original proposal, certified “guardians” would include honorably discharged military veterans and retired or former law enforcement officers. Other states like Florida have similar programs. 

School districts that choose to employ a “guardian,” they must enter an agreement with local and state law enforcement to identify the chain of command in emergency situations. The program is an option for school districts to fill vacant School Resource Officers, a type of sworn law enforcement officer that is required in schools. Wise said after filing the bill that 600 campuses do not have SROs in Kentucky. 

The Senate concurred with the House’s changes late Thursday night. 

Horse racing and gambling

In a vote of 64-28, the House passed Thursday Senate Bill 299, which is a late-hour overhaul of how horse racing and gambling will be regulated in Kentucky. The Senate later concurred with changes made in the House. 

Replacing a shell bill earlier this week, the legislation would form a new government corporation to replace the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Department of Charitable Gaming — both of which are currently under the Public Protection Cabinet. A shell bill is minor legislation that lawmakers use to introduce major legislation after the deadline for filing bills.

Thayer and Osborne backed the measure. 

Thayer called the passage of the bill “a crucial step in safeguarding the integrity and prosperity of our signature horse racing industry” in a statement. 

“As a cornerstone of Kentucky’s heritage and economy, it’s imperative that we uphold strong oversight and management of these vital industries,” he said. “I contend the success of this industry demands it be a stand-alone entity capable of utilizing its funding without having to get authorizations from a bureaucratic agency. I am proud to sponsor this measure to promote this integral part of the commonwealth.”

Osborne said on the House floor that the topic of the Horse Racing Commission’s structure has been a years-long discussion. 

But some lawmakers said sponsors of charitable gambling were taken by surprise and had been flooding them with questions.

Kentucky is the site of several renowned horse races, including the Kentucky Derby. Last year, sports betting was legalized in Kentucky. 

Under the legislation, the corporation would oversee areas like live horse racing and sports wagering, as well as charitable gaming after July 2025. 

Employees of the commission and department would be transferred to the new corporation after the entities are dissolved. The Horse Racing Commission would be abolished in July 2024. The charitable gaming department would be abolished the following summer. 

Board members of the corporation would be appointed by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation. Current board members of the commission and department would serve two-year terms on the corporation.

Some Republicans raised concerns from constituents, such as churches, who oppose charitable gaming and voted against the measure. 

‘Momnibus’

By midnight on the last day before the General Assembly broke for the veto period, the maternal health bill called Momnibus failed to receive a vote on the Senate floor.  

That comes after it picked up parts of a controversial bill that sparked a walkout by Democrat women, costing it some support. 

Momnibus could still come back to life once the chambers return on April 12. But, at that point, lawmakers must send Gov. Andy Beshear a bill they are sure he won’t veto, since they will no longer have the ability to override him at that point. 

Parental Leave

A bill to give state government employees paid parental leave died in the House. 

Senate Bill 142 would have given state government workers who’ve held their jobs for at least a year the ability to take up to four weeks of paid leave after birth or adoption. State employees would also be able to take two weeks of paid parental leave for a foster care or kinship care placement. 

It passed the Senate 28-10 in early March but failed to get a hearing in a House committee (it was assigned to Families and Children) or on the House floor by end of day Thursday. 

New hurdles to retire fossil fuel-fired power

A Senate president-backed bill creating new hurdles before utilities can retire fossil fuel-fired power plants saw final passage in the House. A sizable number of Republicans, particularly from Louisville, joined the minority of Democrats in opposition. Senate Bill 349 saw final passage with a 57-37 vote. 

Senate Bill 349 would create a new review board that utilities could be required to give notice to before filing an official request to retire a fossil fuel-fired power plant before the state’s utility regulator, the Kentucky Public Service Commission. This review board would be empowered to analyze the impacts of such retirement requests, performing types of analyses on electricity supply that the leader of PSC has said is redundant of work conducted by other agencies. 

Investor-owned utilities, environmental advocacy groups and local chambers of commerce representing Northern Kentucky, Lexington and Louisville strongly opposed the legislation, saying it could burden ratepayers with the cost of keeping aging, uneconomical coal-fired power plants on the grid. 

The minority of Democrats echoed criticisms of opposing groups, with Rep. Rachel Roberts, D-Newport, evoking the of the proposed review board, the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission or EPIC. 

“This commission is concerning to me. It does not seem to be made of experts on energy reliability policy. It seems staffed with people who are self-serving to the industry,” Roberts said, mentioning commission membership favors fossil fuels. “The EPIC board in my opinion is set up to be an epic failure.” 

Proponents of the bill, which includes a lobbying group representing coal interests, argue the bill is needed to preserve the reliability of electricity supply in the state, an assertion rebuffed by the president of the state’s largest utility. 

Generally, utilities across the country are transitioning away from coal-fired power to cheaper alternatives such as natural gas-fired power and renewable energy sources. Burning coal is the single largest source of global temperature increase due to emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, worsening the impacts of climate change. 

Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, asked the state representative carrying the bill on the House floor if Kentucky coal magnate Joe Craft had been making calls to lawmakers urging them to support Senate Bill 349. Osborne declared the question irrelevant before the state representative carrying the bill, Rep. Wade Williams, R-Madisonville, could answer. 

Stivers had previously confirmed Craft had been involved in discussions on the bill along with other stakeholders. 

Rep. Tom Smith, R-Corbin, took issue with the questions about Craft’s involvement with the bill, saying that such questions were “disrespectful.” 

“You better be thankful that our grid is being supplied by coal,” Smith said. 

Weakening power of Louisville’s air pollution control district

The Senate gave final passage to a bill Thursday morning preventing Louisville’s air pollution authority from issuing fines against industries that self-disclose violations of federal pollution regulations. 

House Bill 136 would bring the Louisville Air Pollution Control District (APCD) under a state law allowing industrial operations to avoid civil penalties for air pollution violations if they self-report such violations and rectify the issue. Air pollution is regulated by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet through that legal framework in all counties except Jefferson County, which is regulated separately by the APCD. 

The bill’s sponsor Rep. Jared Bauman, R-Louisville, has previously argued the legislation was needed to give the same “environment and audit privilege” to industry in Jefferson County that industry has elsewhere in the state. Critics including the environmental legal group Kentucky Resources Council argue the bill gives a “free pass” to industry from penalties. 

Bauman works for a chemical manufacturer that has a Louisville-based operation regulated by the APCD, which sparked questions from Democrats about a potential conflict of interest. 

Bauman received an advisory opinion from the legislature’s ethics commission stating there wasn’t a conflict of interest because the bill would affect all industry in Louisville, not just his employer. A Louisville Public Media report found that other legislative ethics experts say his employment does raise several concerns, including possible impropriety. 

Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, in voting against House Bill 136 said the bill “has less transparency in a very critical area.” 

“We should hold not only those that are polluting accountable but to make sure that we have multi-level accountability in terms of reviewing what they’re doing and what they’re not doing,” Neal said.