News

Actions

KEA Releases Statement On Governor Bevin’s Veto

Posted at 2:54 PM, Apr 09, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-09 14:54:29-04

FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) – At a press conference Monday, Governor Matt Bevin announced that he would veto both the tax bill and the budget.

Educators with the Kentucky Education Association released a statement on the veto:

We are profoundly disappointed by Governor Bevin’s announcement that he will veto the budget and revenue bills sent to him last week by the General Assembly. Sadly, this is just one more example of his blatant disrespect for Kentucky’s public employees.

The legislators who crafted those bills did not do so lightly. They worked hard and thoughtfully on them, Republicans and Democrats both, and many of them took difficult votes in the interest of forging a way forward for the people of the Commonwealth. In dismissing those bills out of hand, Governor Bevin shows that he cares as little for legislators’ work as he cares for the work of Kentucky’s other public employees—including teachers and classified school employees, law enforcement officers, firefighters, social workers and many more—who have dedicated their lives to the service of Kentucky’s children and families.

KEA President Stephanie Winkler said, “We are disappointed as well by the governor’s reference to KEA as ‘the problem.’ KEA is 45,000 women and men who serve in every community in Kentucky, supporting and training our children for the jobs they will do when they take their places in the adult world.  KEA members live, work and pay taxes in every community in this state.  If the governor wants to work with ‘job creators and taxpayers’ why does he insist on insulting so many people who do both?”

We agree with Governor Bevin about one thing: HB200 and HB366 are not perfect. But instead of sending the legislature back to square one and forcing a special session that the citizens of Kentucky should not have to pay for, the Governor should sign both bills and begin doing now what he should have been doing all along: engaging the legislature and the people of Kentucky in constructive, forward-looking, bipartisan discussions aimed at finding new solutions to the revenue challenges facing the Commonwealth.