House OK’s Senate Medicaid bill; Gov. Beshear vetoes most of it
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Monday, March 28, 2011 — In a rather surprising bipartisan move, the House last Thursday approved the Senate’s plan to fix the state’s Medicaid budget in an 86-2 vote — and then promptly adjourned sine die, closing their part of the 2011 special session. The vote came after Gov. Steve Behsear promised he would veto provisions of the bill that mandated cuts to the state budget — including education.
On Friday, the governor did what he promised — he gutted the mandated cuts and a host of other provisions in the bill added by the Senate. The Senate will reconvene on April 6, but without the House, there will no chance of overriding any of Beshear’s veto of HB 1.
Senate President David Williams expressed his outrage over the vetoes, and suggested the House will reconvene to consider some portions of HB 1 Beshear vetoed. House Speaker Greg Stumbo indicated he had no plans to call the House back to consider vetoes.
POLITICAL FALLOUT? How this special session ends — and who gets the blame for the cost — is still in question. Beshear vetoed legislation that would have prohibited paying lawmakers during the 12-day waiting period for the final “veto days.” Beshear said that provision of the Senate’s bill was in conflict with the Kentucky Constitution. Speaker Stumbo suggested Williams reconvene the Senate and adjourn to conclude the session. Legislators are paid during those 12 days, unless the session is ended.
The 2011 Extraordinary Session will undoubtedly become a political football in the upcoming election season. Williams, who presents himself as a fiscal conservative, will likely find himself tarred and feathered with blame for this special session. You can expect Phil Moffett, Williams’ Tea Party opponent to aggressively go after Williams’ record as Senate president.
Will the House reconvene to override some of Beshear’s vetoes? We should know more in the next week, but given the governor’s party is the majority party, political watchers probably need not hold their collective breath.
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