Governor Matt Bevin has called a special session of the General Assembly starting Friday morning to address the pension issues of the commonwealth’s quasi-agencies and universities.
The quasi-agencies include health departments, domestic violence centers such as Sanctuary, Inc. along with Kentucky’s regional universities.
Bevin had originally planned to call the session before July 1 to replace House Bill 358, a bill that would have offered relief to those agencies but Bevin said it would “violate both the moral and legal obligations” to the pensioners.
Ninth District state Representative Myron Dossett of Pembroke believes there is enough support to get a new bill passed in the special session.
He believes the final product will be very close to a bill proposed a couple months ago by the governor’s office.
Senator Whitney Westerfield of Christian County says he’s frustrated that it’s taken so long to call a special session and the proposed bill isn’t the solution he wants.
He agrees with Dossett that it has enough votes to pass—based on a session being called at all—but he is unsure if he’ll vote for it, unless his vote is required for it to pass.
The session will be at least five days long and cost tax payers around $66,000 a day.
The Kentucky General Assembly will be convened into special session Friday, July 19, at 8 am EDT to save Kentucky’s quasi-agencies and regional universities from the financial stress caused by Kentucky’s looming public pension crisis.https://t.co/R6F4JvPRa8
— Governor Matt Bevin (2015-2019) (@GovMattBevin) July 15, 2019
2.5 months ago, we publicly introduced a proposal to provide immediate fiscal relief to the state’s quasi-agencies and save critical community services. It is the only fiscally responsible plan that provides our quasi-agencies with a path to a sustainable future.
— Governor Matt Bevin (2015-2019) (@GovMattBevin) July 15, 2019