Gov. Beshear has vetoed several bills. Don’t expect many to hold.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes face long odds of holding.

In his first four years, the Republican-dominated legislature has overridden more than 85% of Beshear’s vetoes. With an even more politically red legislature than he had in his first sessions, it appears unlikely the pattern will change.

Only a majority vote in both chambers is required — 51 in the House and 20 in Senate — to override a veto, which is tied for the lowest threshold of any state in the nation.

Still, the governor vetoed a raft of bills on the final day of the designated “veto break” period, ending with 21 bills completely vetoed and six different bills with line-item vetoes.

The full vetoes include a bill that would make it harder for utility companies to retire coal plants, even when those companies say doing so would help them keep rates low; another radically changing how horse industry oversight is governed; multiple taking certain powers away from the governor; and several more.

Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said that his plan for now is to override all the vetoes.

“I suspect we will move forward, as per usual, with the intent to override all the governor’s vetoes. Right now, I’m for overriding all vetoes. I’ve looked at the bills and I see no reason why we should not override every veto,” Thayer said.

He expressed particular disappointment at Beshear’s veto of House Bill 299, the one that reshapes regulation of the horse industry and gambling in Kentucky through the formation of a public corporation.

In the House, GOP Floor Leader Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, said he anticipates most of the vetoes will be overridden with some exceptions on drafting mistakes made in the final days and the potential for bills with “unintended consequences” to fizzle out.

He said he knows what will happen with one of his own bills that was vetoed on the House floor, though. House Bill 622 would take the governor out of the process of replacing a U.S. Senate vacancy and making it a pure special election process.

“My official statement on House Bill 622 is this: ‘I move final passage of House Bill 622, the veto of the governor notwithstanding,’” Rudy said.

What did he veto and why?

Beshear vetoed two priority pieces of legislation that had differing levels of Republican support in the legislature. House Bill 7, legalizing and regulating self-driving cars in Kentucky, saw the tightest vote of all bills that passed in the Senate with a margin of 20-18. It can’t afford to lose a single vote of support if the Senate plans to override it.

House Bill 5, the GOP’s marquee “anti-crime” bill adding penalties for various crimes and creating new crimes related to homelessness, got near-unanimous support among the statehouse GOP, which controls about 80% of the legislature.

The line-item vetoes include Beshear deleting the language sending $200 million for a federal grant matching program to the Department of Agriculture, a mistake made by the legislature in the final hours of pre-veto break session.

It also includes a veto of the section of House Bill 8 that would exempt gold and silver from the state’s 6% sales tax.

“If you own gold, you can afford to pay sales tax,” Beshear wrote.

Thayer claimed that Beshear can’t line-item veto that kind of provision because the exemption is not technically an appropriation.

Beshear vetoed several parts of the state’s Executive Branch budget, highlighted by his rejection of a section putting limits on emergency spending without extra legislative appropriation.

In the Transportation Cabinet budget, Beshear line-item vetoed a provision explicitly barring state funds from being allocated toward projects involving the Mountain Parkway in Eastern Kentucky, the I-69 Ohio River Crossing near Henderson, or the Hal Rogers Parkway in Southeast Kentucky “unless those projects first acquire a federal grant.”

The governor said that provision could hurt the state’s ability to get federal grants for those large projects.

Other bills vetoed:

• Senate Bill 16, or the so-called “ag gag” bill that makes it a crime to record a concentrated animal feeding operation or commercial food manufacturing or processing facility without the facility’s owner.

• Senate Bill 349, which would increase regulatory hurdles for utility companies looking to retire fossil fuel-fired power plants; the bill has been advocated for by the state’s rural electric cooperatives as well as coal industry interests. The bill was passed easily in the Senate, with a somewhat closer vote margin (57-37) in the House.

• Senate Bill 198 would create the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority. Beshear said he supported some of the aims of focusing on including nuclear in Kentucky’s energy mix, but that the board’s composition leaning towards private industry which he argues violates the state constitution.

• House Bill 136, which limits environmental audits that Jefferson County can carry out, was vetoed as “another attack by the General Assembly on Jefferson County.”

• House Bill 388 would make all Louisville Metro Government elections nonpartisan, among other things. Beshear called it “antidemocratic” to make such a local change without approval of Jefferson County voters.

• House Bill 513 would require legislative approval for the removal or installation of statues and art in the Capitol rotunda. Beshear vetoed it as an encroachment on the Executive Branch, and pointed out that under the bill the Historic Properties Advisory Commission would have had no authority to remove the statue of former president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis as they did in 2020.

• House Bill 723 would set up a commission with some power over a large federal grant program, with a slight majority of it being appointed by the other statewide constitutional officers, who are Republicans. Beshear alleged that it was unconstitutional, as the governor did appoint a majority of the board.

• Beshear vetoed House Bill 804, which critics have said allows groups to strategically avoid Franklin Circuit Court, because he claims it is unconstitutional like similar efforts have been found in the past.