FRANKFORT —
Lawmakers had sought to limit the salary of Hayes whose salary, by statute, is set by the Economic Development Partnership Board. Hayes currently makes $250,000 and the budget would have limited him to roughly $127,000 a year.
None of the vetoes in the executive branch budget affect the bottom line of the $17.3 billion budget. Most, according to Deputy Budget Director John Hicks, simply preserve flexibility for Beshear by removing restrictive language about where cuts can be made to make the budget balance should revenues fall short. For instance, language which would have earmarked money for an urban trauma center and for preventive services through local health departments in the Medicaid budget was vetoed. Hicks said that doesn’t mean those programs and services won’t be funded – it just means they don’t have to be funded while others are reduced.
“My administration must have maximum flexibility to manage state government through these extremely difficult times, while continuing to provide essential services to our people,” Beshear said in a news release. He said the budget passed in the just concluded special session wasn’t the one he wanted but “it is better than having to shut down state government.”
Other vetoes included removal of earmarks for tree nurseries in Morgan and Marshall counties; $1 million for the Allen County Industrial Authority to assist the J.M. Smucker Company and language to study and expand Medicaid managed care programs.
Lawmakers also attempted to protect some mental health and local health departments from future budget reductions – something Hicks said was “unprecedented” – and Beshear vetoed that language as well as language that would protect constitutional offices, KET, commonwealth attorneys and public defenders from future cuts.
Beshear also vetoed an earmark for the Kentucky Music Trail from coal severance money set aside for tourism so the Tourism Cabinet can maintain “maximum flexibility to make the best decisions on the use of the limited amount of funds available.”
He vetoed language which would have set specific targets for reductions in hiring non-merit employees and payment for contract services and removed language the Senate wanted which specified some types of health insurance plans for state employees. That veto doesn’t alter the savings the state must manage in premium costs but will allow the Personnel Board flexibility to purchase the best plans it can.
Most of the line-item vetoes in the road plan also reflected Beshear’s desire to resist specific directions from the lawmaker and, according to Hicks, preserve flexibility to manage limited resources. One keeps the funding mechanism ($2.5 million from both the road fund and the contingency fund) for the Kentucky Pride Program as it is.
He vetoed two projects: maintenance and salt storage facility in
Beshear waited until nearly 5 p.m. Friday to release his vetoes. That left little time for reaction, according to House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.
“Given the late hour in which these vetoes were received, I will have to reserve comment on the specifics until staff has had time to review these changes,” he said.
RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in
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