Beshear and GOP face off over potential state job cuts; thousands of positions at risk

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect comments by Beshear spokeswoman Crystal Staley that some of the positions in question were recently filled.

FRANKFORT — Gov. Andy Beshear says the Kentucky GOP's budget proposal would lead to massive cuts in state jobs. Republicans say that's not what they have in mind.

The GOP proposal – put forward in January as House Bill 1 and House Bill 6 – would cut up to 95% of recently vacant positions, Beshear said at a recent press conference. That would result in staff reductions just as the state is trying to incentivize people to work in critical criminal justice and social service positions by offering higher pay.

GOP leaders hit back at Beshear's assertion last week, saying the budget process had just started and it is not their intention to cut state jobs.

The GOP budget proposal could result in up to 2,759 full-time executive branch positions being eliminated, totaling $259 million per year in cuts, said Crystal Staley, communications director for Beshear. Some of those positions are currently vacant, while others have been filled recently.

The cuts would eliminate up to 257 positions in the Department of Corrections, including 203 that have been recently filled, Staley said. It would also include 271 positions in the Department of Behavioral Health, and 238 positions in the Department of Veterans Affairs, including 57 that have been recently filled, she said.

Beshear, a Democrat in the first year of his second term, said the cuts would undermine recent raises for key state employees just as those raises are starting to result in better recruitment and retention rates.

“This is just taking a hatchet and hacking at the executive branch without even looking,” Beshear said, adding the cuts could "halt significant progress."

Debate over social workers

Both the Beshear and GOP House budget proposals state they provide funding for Kentucky to hire 100 additional social workers over the next two years.

Lesa Dennis, commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, said during a Senate committee hearing last week that she welcomes that support but is concerned about potential personnel cuts.

"We are concerned by the wording in the House proposed budget that eliminates the funding for almost all of our vacancies within the department and what that may mean for our ability to hire additional staff and for our budget overall," Dennis told lawmakers. That would amount to about 160 vacant positions being eliminated.

"I certainly support increasing the number of social workers," said Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield. "But I also expect some type of return on investment and that would be reduction of our [staff] turnover number."

"What can we look for in terms of measures of success if we, in fact, fund these positions?" Meredith asked.

Currently, social workers in the department have an average caseload of about 31 to 38, Dennis added. She wants to see that number drop to about 18, the national standard.

Republican leaders push back on Beshear's claims

Beshear's claims about the potential state staffing cuts drew the ire of GOP budget leaders.

“We're not firing anybody, we’re not going to cut positions,” a visibly angry Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, said during last Thursday's debate about the "Safer Kentucky Act," a massive public safety bill. Petrie is chair of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, which handles matters pertaining to the budget and state funds.

Democratic lawmakers had used the governor’s claims about cuts to criminal justice agencies during the debate to question whether the state would be able to handle an increase in criminal cases and prison populations if the Safer Kentucky Act becomes law. The wide-ranging act, House Bill 5, creates new crimes and increases penalties for existing crimes in a number of areas if it passes.

“Public safety is important enough that we will make sure that there is funding and capacity if people make horribly bad choices and continue to break the laws of this commonwealth,” Petrie said. “The direction of this body is not to cut positions.”

Related: How the GOP budget proposal would impact schools, teacher pay in Kentucky

House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, signaled his team may soon revise its budget proposal.

“There's some updating or some numbers that have just come to us,” Osborne told reporters Thursday afternoon, adding the budget is still “in process” and the budget will move forward “when it’s ready.”

Reach Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@courier-journal.com. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Republicans face off over state job cuts