Mike Denham: Governor’s veto pen a little more active than some would have preferred

Other than constitutional amendments, which go before the voters, every bill the General Assembly passes has to clear one final hurdle before becoming law: The governor’s pen.

The governor has the authority to sign or reject bills, or to let them become law without a signature. The governor can only approve or veto bills in their entirety – except in budgetary matters, which can be line-item vetoed without affecting the rest.

Vetoes occur during most legislative sessions, but this year, the first of Governor Bevin’s administration, the ink flowed much more freely than we in the House would have thought or certainly preferred. The end result, we believe, limits educational opportunities for tens of thousands of students while ending funding guarantees for a variety of needed programs and services.

The most-recent vetoes arrived late last Wednesday, the final day the governor could act on the bills the General Assembly had sent him on April 15 before concluding the legislative session. The budget, the state’s highway plan and House Bill 626, a far-reaching bill furthering postsecondary education and workforce training that I co-sponsored, were the most prominent that were affected.

House leaders have questioned whether the vetoes themselves were done properly. As that issue is debated, it should be noted that the rejected legislation also received broad, bipartisan support in the House and Senate and represented compromise after weeks of public hearings.

House Bill 626 was well-known because it included the already popular Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program, which would have provided the “last dollar in” to cover remaining tuition costs for thousands of incoming college freshmen.

There were several criteria students had to meet to qualify. They had to attend an in-state public or independent college or university that offers two-year associate degrees, and they would have to take 15 credit hours a semester and maintain a 2.5 GPA. The scholarship amount would have been determined after factoring in other scholarship and grant money.

The General Assembly intended this program to begin in the fall, but the governor’s veto delays that by a year and will require legislators to re-adopt new guidelines.

The governor’s vetoes also change the funding source for this program and another that broadens dual-credit opportunities for high school students taking college courses. Instead of using state dollars, this veto now requires the programs to be paid with the state’s lottery proceeds, limiting access to the other need-based financial-aid programs that already have far more requests from state lottery funds than they can meet.

At the other end of the education spectrum, there will also be no expansion of preschool eligibility, which would have allowed young children within families earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to attend. The current income limit will remain at 160 percent.

The veto of House Bill 626 also erases the parameters for $100 million in bonds that would go toward the construction of workforce-training facilities. The House and Senate wanted to make sure this funding was spread more evenly across the commonwealth, but that is no longer guaranteed, and there is question whether the bonds can even be issued without the framework this bill provided.

The veto of HB 626, along with the now-approved 4.5 percent funding cut for higher education that the governor supported, will have a negative impact on our local community college, something we’re already seeing, unfortunately.

I’m also disappointed that the governor vetoed language that would have ensured the Maysville National Guard unit would be maintained at current levels over the next two years. Those based there deserve this protection for the tireless work they have done, and I will do all I can to make sure it continues serving our community as it has for years.

Another troublesome veto is the nearly $2 million taken from our conservation districts over the next two years. These organizations have played a frontline role in preserving our environment and deserve to be funded as the General Assembly intended.

There were other budget-related vetoes that took away money the House and Senate had decided should be required. Now, local and state agencies and non-profits affected by the vetoes will have less certainty within their own budgets. This will have an impact on such things as cancer screenings and the number of slots the state authorizes to help educate the next generation of veterinarians and optometrists.

One veto in particular was odd because Governor Bevin had supported the bill earlier in the legislative session. It would have brought Kentucky into compliance with a 2005 federal homeland security law that would have established a new form of driver’s licenses and personal IDs.

Obtaining them would have required more documentation, but it would have made it possible for citizens to fly within the United States without needing a much more expensive passport to clear security. Unfortunately, some have misconstrued the intent of this bill, whose chief goal is to make our airlines safer.

Although the vetoes put a damper on the legislative session, it was a productive time in many other ways. The new laws will re-dedicate efforts to strengthen the state’s public retirement systems; give the state a new economic-development tool to build major infrastructure projects; crack down on repeat DUI offenders; and establish a plan to test rape kits much more quickly. Those issues that remain unresolved – either because they didn’t pass or because they were vetoed – will undoubtedly be discussed further in the months ahead.

The legislative session may now be over, but it is never too late to let me know what you think about the new laws, the vetoes or any other issue affecting the state. My address is Room 329E, Capitol Annex, 702 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601; or you can email me at Mike.Denham@lrc.ky.gov.

To leave a message for me or for any legislator by phone, please call 800-372-7181. For those with a hearing impairment, the number is 800-896-0305.

I would like to add that this newspaper column was prepared at my direction by legislative staff. I provided information I thought was important and approved it as written.

State Rep. Mike Denham is a Democrat from Maysville and has represented House District 70 (Bracken, Fleming and Mason counties) since 2001.