Gov. Andy Beshear says he won’t have enough leeway to respond to Kentucky natural disasters or other states of emergency under the proposed state budget that lawmakers sent to him last week.
During his weekly update Thursday, Beshear decried the $128 billion two-year budget plan in House Bill 6 for setting a proposed $25 million annual limit on so-called “necessary government expenses” typically set aside for governor-ordered states of emergency like the one Beshear declared this week. Emergency response from the Kentucky National Guard and other agencies would fall under that limit.
“We would have exceeded the cap that they are setting in the first three to four months of this fiscal year,” he said. “In just three to four months we would be out of money we’re allowed to spend to respond to a natural disaster.”
The governor said this would be the first Kentucky state budget to limit executive branch access to natural disaster funding. It would also impose an additional annual limit of $4 million for state emergency wildfire response.
“People are not going to be happy if this goes into effect and the limit is hit and they have to wait for the General Assembly to go to Frankfort and pass a bill to get the help they need, probably days, weeks or months after they need it,” Beshear said Thursday.
Beshear—who has only issued a handful of vetoes so far this legislative session—had not issued any vetoes to HB 6 as of midday Thursday. If he does, the General Assembly Republican majority is expected to have the votes to override (cancel out) any vetoes it doesn’t like.
That would allow the proposed limits on the administration to take effect in the new fiscal year.
Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) reportedly told LINK’s media partner Kentucky Lantern in an emailed statement that Beshear has access to $100 million in spending for states of emergency, although the Lantern said no details on the funding were provided. Stivers also said Beshear can call a special legislative session if more funding is needed, the Lantern reported.
A special session is not the answer, Beshear said Thursday.
“Think about how long that takes, how long it takes a bill to pass. Those are precious moments, minutes, hours and days that we need to be responding immediately,” he said. “If the legislature wants to be a part of responding to a natural disaster – of course that’s challenging, there are so many of them and we’ve got to respond so quickly – certainly there are other ways to do it other than to hamstring an administration.”
Recurrent flooding and tornadoes in Kentucky – including a tornado confirmed in Trimble and Carroll counties last month – were all cited by Beshear as emergencies that require “flexibility to spend the dollars that are needed after a natural disaster or an emergency.”
“We were able to do that after the tornadoes in the west and the floods in the east, after the tornado in Trimble County and Carroll County and the wind damage in Gallatin County. We were able to do that after this one (this week) as well,” he said.
Damage from tornadoes, straight-line winds (sometimes called downbursts), rain, and more have been reported in more than 20 counties statewide from this week’s storms, the governor’s office reported Wednesday.
Eleven tornadoes across several Kentucky counties during Monday’s and Tuesday’s storms have been confirmed so far by the National Weather Service. None of those tornadoes had been confirmed in Northern Kentucky, although the region was impacted by the storms.
After a tornado was confirmed in Trimble County last month, the governor ordered General Butler State Resort Park to temporarily accommodate individuals who were displaced from the storm. The governor issued a state of emergency to offer assistance.
“We need to be able to open our state parks and not worry that we’re going to have to charge people,” the governor said Thursday.
More generous state budget provisions are in HB 6 for presidentially declared disasters or emergencies, eligible for a funding match from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA. In those situations, HB 6 would allow the state to request disaster or emergency aid of up to $75 million this year and up to $50 million in each of the next two years as a match for federal aid.
None of that money, however, could be used for “immediate” emergency response, the governor said.
At the federal level, it is uncertain if Kentucky will meet the threshold for federal individual disaster assistance from the FEMA as a result of this week’s storms. Public assistance needs from FEMA (for public buildings and other property) is still being assessed, Beshear said Thursday.
“What we need is for everyone to take photographs before they clean up, anyone who’s had damage as well as on the public side – roads, and county and city buildings that may have been impacted,” he said. “If we meet the threshold it’s going to be out of 30 plus counties,” he said.
Information on FEMA disaster assistance for individuals, governments and nonprofit agencies can be found here.