FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Latest on Kentucky’s governor intending to call a special legislative session to deal with a pension bill (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
The Kentucky Senate’s top leader says he’s disappointed by Gov. Matt Bevin’s veto of a pension bill.
Senate President Robert Stivers said Wednesday that the measure would have provided “much needed stability” to the agencies affected by the measure.
The bill was aimed at providing pension relief for the state’s 118 quasi-governmental agencies - including rape crisis centers, public health departments and some universities.
Bevin says he will call lawmakers back for a special session to fix the bill.
Stivers says before that happens, the governor needs to “set the parameters for what he is willing to sign” into law.
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Noon
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says a pension bill that he vetoed needs some fine-tuning to fix provisions that had legal problems.
A day after his veto, the Republican governor told reporters on Wednesday that he hopes to call a special legislative session soon to fix the problems.
Bevin said the bill had provisions that violated the “inviolable contract” - the language within state law that guarantees recipients get the benefits promised when they were hired.
The governor says he thinks lawmakers could make the changes in a one-day special session.
That would require lawmakers to waive parliamentary procedures. Legislative leaders have not weighed in on how long a special session could last.
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7:25 a.m.
For the second time in months, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin intends to reconvene lawmakers for a special session to confront pension woes. The action comes after he vetoed a bill aimed at giving relief to some state-funded agencies struggling with retirement payments.
Bevin said Tuesday he’ll call lawmakers back in session prior to July 1.
Reaction to the governor’s action was mixed. The advocacy group Kentucky Government Retirees commended Bevin for nixing a bill it said exposed the Kentucky Retirement Systems to “unjustified risk.”
Kentucky House and Senate Democratic leaders said: “This is not how you govern.”
Bevin vetoed House Bill 358, which cleared the GOP-dominated legislature in late March. It would have let the state’s 118 quasi-governmental agencies - including rape crisis centers, public health departments and some universities - leave the state’s troubled pension system.
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