Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles is filing a lawsuit against Governor Beshear’s Administration to declare several executive orders to be violations of the processes outlined by Kentucky’s Administrative Practices Act and the state constitution.
The lawsuit will be filed in Scott County Circuit Court alongside the Evans Orchard and Cider Mill, LLC in Georgetown and the complaint contends the orders from the Beshear Administration violated Kentucky law because they do not follow the procedures required by the Administrative Practices Act. The orchard contends that they were not allowed to have more than 10 people on the property, which is around 96,000 square feet.
Commissioner Quarles says the regulations against the orchard, and other similar facilities, are unfair against those businesses while allowing others to reopen with less restrictions.
The complaint further contends a local public health official waited five days before responding to an inquiry about reopening to the public—Evans Orchard has reportedly experienced major financial losses.
Jenny Evans says they filed a plan to safely reopen with a one percent capacity to the state, but it was denied—she says they just want the reopening plan to be fair for all.
The filing in the Scott Circuit Court also argues that the actions taken by the Governor in a state of emergency violate Sections 2, 27, 28, and 29 of the Kentucky Constitution. Commissioner Quarles argues that Governor Beshear also made decisions without taking input from other state officials or the Kentucky legislature.