Forward Kentucky: GOP-run legislature passes six bills in five days – four to limit governor’s powers in the middle of a pandemic
In addition, they said they would form a committee to explore impeaching the Governor.
In rare Saturday meetings, the Kentucky General Assembly’s Republican supermajorities passed six of their priority bills, four aimed at limiting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s powers and two to further regulate abortion, and sent them to Beshear, who is expected to veto them and then be overridden.
Written by Melissa Patrick of Kentucky Health News
The bills passed in five days, the minimum under the state constitution. The legislature did likewise after Republicans took control of the House in 2017, allowing members of the party to pass several pieces of legislation that Democrats had bottled up in the House for years or decades.
In this case, Republicans were acting largely out of their unhappiness with Beshear’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his lack of consultation with them. Beshear and legislative Democrats said his actions had saved lives and some of the bills would make Kentuckians less safe.