Rep. Thomas, Rep. Petrie support Bevin pension bill

A special session of the Kentucky General Assembly will begin Friday to provide relief to quasi-governmental agencies seeing a spike in their required pension contribution rate and two more local lawmakers say they support legislation proposed by Governor Matt Bevin.

Representative Jason Petrie of Elkton expects the bill to begin in the House and for lawmakers to work Friday and Saturday before voting and getting it to the Senate Monday.

He says some quasi-governmental agencies in Kentucky will have to close their doors without action soon.

Representative Walker Thomas of Hopkinsville says Governor Bevin wouldn’t have called the special session without support to pass his legislation and Thomas intends to vote for it.

Quasi-governmental agencies include local health departments, regional universities and domestic violence shelters and Thomas says leaders of local agencies have expressed their support of freezing the contribution rate for another year to allow them to explore options for the future.

The General Assembly passed legislation to provide relief to the agencies during the regular session, but Governor Bevin vetoed it after finding several issues he found to be deal breakers.