General Assembly Recap 2024 - It's Veto Time, Actions to Take
We have now completed day 58 of the 60-day legislative session. Lawmakers only have 2 more legislative days after the Governor’s veto period where he has ten days to address bills. And then after the veto period, lawmakers will come back for two more legislative days where they may vote to override the Governor’s veto.
The Veto List— Here are the bills we are asking you to ask the Governor to Veto:
The Governor has 10 days to sign, veto or let the legislation become law without his signature. The governor can also implement line-item vetoes in the budget. [but note: some of the bills listed below were sent to the Governor days ago, so don’t delay in sending your request to veto these bills!!] Lawmakers will return to act on the Governor’s vetoes on Friday, April 12th, 10AM
Senate Bill 16: (KCC Oppose) “Ag Gag” bill that prohibits the operation of unmanned aircraft, video or audio recording devices, or photography equipment on or above a concentrated animal feeding operation or commercial food manufacturing or processing facility without written consent of the owner or authorized representative of the facility.
Senate Bill 349: (KCC Oppose) The “coal protection bill” that will prevent or restrict the retirement, decommissioning, or demolition of fossil fuel-fired electric generating resources by creating a new agency to study the broad spectrum of electric generation and transmission resource and supply issues with specific emphasis upon the continued operation. Abandons “least cost” for generation.
House Bill 1: Ask the Governor to line-item remove funding for the EPIC commission that would support implementation of the coal protection bill, SB 349.
House Bill 5: (KCC Oppose) The “Safer Kentucky Act” which criminalizes street camping among its provisions.
House Bill 29: (KCC Oppose) Allowing racing events on state-maintained highways subject to approval of the Transportation Cabinet.
House Bill 44: (KCC Oppose) Voter registration bill requires the courts to send a monthly list of all persons who were excused from jury duty for not being a U.S. citizen to the Attorney General, U. S. Attorney, and State Board of Elections; prevents ranked-choice voting for federal, state, and local elections in Kentucky.
House Bill 136: (KCC Oppose) Environmental Audits bill, allows companies to be exempt from Clean Air Act violations if it provides a voluntary audit of its unlawful emissions.
House Bill 388: (KCC Oppose) Local Government bill which makes Louisville elections non-partisan; puts a one year moratorium on Louisville zoning regulation changes related to afforable, attainable, and missing middle housing.
House Bill 478: (KCC Oppose) Demolition Waste bill. Allows for an increase in disposal of demolition waste, doubling a C&D landfill size but has much weaker monitoring standards.
House Bill 581: (KCC Oppose) Allowing retail filling stations anywhere where an EV charging station is allowed.
Senate Bill 215: Prohibits the Transportation Cabinet or any other state agency or political subdivision from adopting or enforcing emissions standards on new motor vehicles that are identical to the standards established by the State of California pursuant to the Clean Air Act.
Do not delay- email the Governor at this link! You can also call the Governor’s office at 502-564-2611.
Coal Protection Bill, Senate Bill 349, Passes
Despite a massive effort to stop it, Senate Bill 349 passed during the last hours of the legislative day on Thursday, by a vote of 57-37 in the House.
The massive effort to stop this “coal protection” bill, in addition to the opposition from environmental groups, included opposition of the bill from more unlikely allies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, plus The United Way, Consumer Action for a Strong Kentucky, Costco, and many other advocacy and consumer groups.
The intent of Senate Bill 349 is to prevent or restrict the retirement, decommissioning, or demolition of fossil fuel-fired electric generating resources. It creates a new agency with two bodies: an 18-member Commission Board and a 5-member Executive Committee that creates an additional bureaucracy that impedes the work of the Public Service Commission.
We ask that you THANK the following list of bipartisan lawmakers below for their stand to stop this bill. We want to particularly thank Reps. Lindsey Burke (D), and Kim Banta (R), who carried bill amendments in an attempt to repair the most damaging parts of this bill.
Voting to stop Senate Bill 349 were: Reps. Chad Aull (D), Kim Banta (R), Jared Bauman (R), Tina Bojanowski (D), Kevin Bratcher (R), George Brown (D), Lindsey Burke (D), Emily Callaway (R), Josh Callaway (R), Adrielle Camuel (D), Beverly Chester-Burton (D), Mike Clines (R), Stephanie Dietz (R), Steve Doan (R), Ken Fleming (R), Al Gentry (D), Courtney Gilbert (R), Derrick Graham (D), Daniel Grossberg (D), Mark Hart (R), Keturah Herron (D), Kevin Jackson (R), Nima Kulkarni (D), Kimberly Moser (R), Jason Nemes (R), Ruth Ann Palumbo (D), Marianne Proctor (R), Steve Rawlings (R), Josie Raymond (R), Rachel Rorax (D), Rachel Roberts (D), Sarah Stalker (D), Cherlynn Stevenson (D), Pamela Stevenson (D), Lisa Willner (D), and Susan Witten (R).
Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Issues - The Good and the Bad
KCC was trying to address several issues this session involving electric and hybrid vehicles, with additional help from our friends at the Evolve Kentucky and Tesla Owners Group of Kentucky. And with the help of Representative Huff, who filed House Bill 398, we were hoping to have removed the $.03/kwh tax on public chargers which impacted “adopt-a-charger” style programs to provide public chargers that are adopted by small businesses as an economic development and public benefit initiative. At this point in time, the surtax is still being charged to all EV chargers. During the previous biennial budget, lawmakers imposed a flat “road usage” fee to be an equivalent to the gas tax for electric vehicles ($120), but also imposed a fee on hybrid vehicles as well ($60). The $120 annual fee still applies to all electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles. However, the $60 annual fee for hybrids imposed during the previous budget session has now been eliminated. This was spurred from legislation filed by Rep. Doan (HB531) and Rep. Palumbo (HB582).
The Good News (Yes, there is some good news)
House Bill 1 gave us the one bright spot this session by successfully restoring $2 million of the $18 million in funds that were swept during previous budgets from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund. Those who follow KCC know that the effort to find funding for this program has been a perennial campaign for us. And while this does not address the bigger issue of declining funding sources for the KHLCF, we are hopeful that this $2 million from one-time funding will at least provide some temporary support while we continue to search for new sources of core funding for land conservation.
IMPORTANT: We ask that you THANK Senator Matthew Deneen (R), who worked on the budget request for this important funding for land conservation.
Other one-time funding of note in House Bill 1 included in part:
$75,000,000 in each fiscal year ($150m total) to support the Kentucky WWATERS program (Water and Wastewater Assistance for Troubled or Economically Restrained Systems Fund).
$850,000 for restoration work on Perryfield Battlefield
$1,000,000 for the Elizabethtown Parks and Trails Conservancy
$2,000,000 in each fiscal year ($4m total) to the Louisville Botanical Gardens
$20,000,000 in each fiscal year ($40M total) as an endowment to the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research in support of the Nuclear Energy Development Authority and the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission (EPIC).
$100,000 to the “Dream Big Burnside” authority to support a feasibility study for the development of a lodge and related amenities at General Burnside Island State Park
We are still going through other budget-related items so watch for updates!
Other news from the Executive Branch this week:
Earlier this week the Governor announced several projects focused on decarbonization and sustainability, including:
Century Aluminum Co. plans to potentially build the first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in 45 years in Northeastern Kentucky. The green aluminum smelter could be the largest investment on record in Eastern Kentucky and may bring 5,500 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.
KCC is a coalition partner with the Sustainable Aluminum Network who is excited about this Century Aluminum project and wants to help it secure its green energy source. See KCC’s op ed from this week’s Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.
Wieland North America Recycling intends to expand its U.S. recycling capacity and capabilities through significant investments into advanced, state-of-the-art copper scrap metal processing technology in Shelbyville. The project could be the largest investment in Shelby County’s history and is expected to create as many as 200 permanent jobs.
Diageo Americas Supply Inc., would fund a project aiming to install heat batteries for deep decarbonization of the Bulleit facility in Shelbyville, which could bring construction jobs and community benefits to Kentucky.
Rye Development, plans to build a first-of-its-kind $1.3 billion coal-to-pumped storage hydropower facility in Bell County that will create about 1,500 high-quality construction jobs and 30 operations jobs.