The Republican-led General Assembly on Wednesday dove into the work of overriding Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes of roughly two dozen different bills, with less than 48 hours remaining in its 2022 session.

Lawmakers started by reinstating two high-profile bills affecting youths.

▪ Senate Bill 1 gives Kentucky school superintendents more authority over the selection of curriculum and the hiring of principals, shifting power away from parents and teachers who sit on site-based decision making councils.

The bill also includes the text of Senate Bill 138, a controversial measure setting limits on how Kentucky schools can teach about American history as well as racism, equality and economic opportunity. Under the bill, school districts are required to incorporate 24 specific writings and speeches into history classes at age-appropriate levels.

The nonprofit Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence discovered that Class A misdemeanor criminal penalties were tied into this part of the bill. The sponsor, Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, on Wednesday called this “a drafting error” and said it will be corrected shortly with passage of another measure, House Bill 44.

▪ Senate Bill 83 bans transgender girls and women in Kentucky from competing in girls’ and women’s sports from sixth grade through college. The bill establishes that school sports designated for females won’t be open to students who were born biologically as male.

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association already has a policy requiring students to participate in sports based on the gender on their birth certificates unless their gender legally has been reassigned, as demonstrated through certified medical records, a driver’s license, a passport or other formal documents.

The NCAA announced in January that it supports a sport-by-sport approach to participation by transgender athletes that defers to the national governing body for each sport. It requires schools to submit proof of athletes’ hormone suppression, as well as lab results showing athletes’ testosterone levels.

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Other bills on which lawmakers acted Wednesday include:

▪ House Bill 9 creates a funding mechanism for public charter schools in Kentucky. Beshear called the bill unconstitutional in his veto message because public taxpayer dollars can only go to public schools. Advocates for public charter schools say that they provide needed options for parents in school districts that may currently lack educational options. The bill initially passed on a razor-thin 51-47 margin in the House, where exactly 51 votes are needed to override a veto. In the House’s override, it picked up another supporter in Michael ‘Sarge’ Pollock, R-Campbellsville, to gain a 52-46 advantage.

▪ House Bill 8 sets Kentucky on a path to completely eliminate the state personal income tax. In his veto message, Beshear said it would “threaten Kentucky’s future economic security.” The bill would radically alter Kentucky’s tax structure, as it envisions eliminating the source of 40% of the state’s tax revenue. Advocates say the shift is much-needed and will encourage investment and population growth in Kentucky. Fiscal analysis from the state on sponsor Sen. Chris McDaniel’s latest version of House Bill 8 indicated that the legislation will create a negative impact of over $800 million to state coffers in lost tax revenue. The House overrode Beshear’s veto of House Bill 8 72-25, with only two Republicans voting against it.

▪ House Bill 7 puts stricter eligibility rules on Kentucky’s public benefits for the poor, chiefly food stamps and Medicaid. The bill’s initially proposed restrictions were somewhat watered down in the legislative process through amendments and committee substitutes. House leadership said they agreed to drop several parts of the bill that were controversial and, in some cases, potentially expensive, because they would have required additional record-processing staff to be hired at the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The bill was easily overridden on the House floor.

This article will be updated.

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