Kentucky lawmakers override two of Governor Bevin's vetoes
- by Shelly Sherman
- in People
- — Apr 14, 2018
The House voted 66-28 to override the budget veto, while the Senate voted 26-12. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans.
Bevin said the bill would require the state to finance the agencies' exits with no interest, eventually costing taxpayers up to $2 billion dollars. It includes a 6 percent sales tax on a variety of services, including auto and home repairs, to pay for higher classroom spending. But Gov. Matt Bevin vetoed the funding and sales debts, calling the latter "sloppy" and "non-transparent". Republican legislative leaders disagreed.
They did it with nearly no help from Democrats while thousands of teachers once again descended upon the capitol to call for more money for education and protest changes to their pension system. Crosby Stills, Nash and Young's hit "Teach Your Children" bellowed from the loud speakers.
Stephanie Ikanovic, who has been a teacher for 21 years, said earlier in the day she did not want to be out of her classroom, but said she felt compelled to come to Frankfort to advocate for her students.
Bevin said a tax increase would not be enough to cover the the state's new spending plan, which increased public school budgets.
The override of that bill led to a second override of Bevin's veto of the budget. "I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didn't have enough money to take care of them".
The increase is possible because of the $480 million tax increase.
But the vote was closer in the Senate which secured the minimum number necessary - overriding the tax and revenue bill veto 20-18.
"You can stand here all day and act like you are all for (education) until it comes time to pay for it".
Republicans - with an eye toward the gallery filled with red-clad teachers - said Democrats were hypocritical because they champion education while voting against the revenue bill and budget which funds increases to education.
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"With that reasoning we would never have any vacation or breaks in school, and who knows what would happen in the summer", he said. "This is coming from a governor when he can only get three or four Republicans to support his veto".
Bevin followed the debate closely, responding to lawmakers' speeches with tweets.
"It's awesome that even when Republicans control both chambers of state government as well as the Governor's Mansion that they can't even agree on the direction to take Kentucky".
"All I've got to say is, I listened to this governor a year ago for months, upon months, upon months say he would call a special session to deal with the pension issue and tax reform".
"The only reason we did not have a special session previous year is because Jeff Hoover, a married man, was sexually involved with a very young, single member of his staff and was paying hush money to hide his actions", Bevin responded on Twitter.
Similar protests have occurred across the nation, with teachers rallying in Oklahoma and Arizona over low funding and pay.
In Arizona, after weeks of teacher protests and walkout threats across the state, Governor Doug Ducey promised a net 20 percent raise by 2020.
In Oklahoma, teachers ended two weeks of walkouts on Thursday, shifting their focus to electing pro-education candidates in November. Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation raising teacher salaries by about $6,100 and providing millions in new education funding, but many say schools need more money.
Teachers from across the state are expected to rally in Frankfort Friday to protest the budget cuts being made by the state legislature.
Friday's teacher rally did result in the closure of at least 30 Kentucky school districts, including Erlanger-Elsemere Schools and Bellevue Independent Schools. They are instead focused on education funding and a battle over their pensions.
