Republicans looking to sprint ahead on budget, tax cuts

Gov. Andy Beshear used his bully pulpit last week to make his case for directing billions of dollars in surplus toward public education and other areas to reshape Kentucky's economic future.

Republican leaders heard that message but appear ready to move on their own path, expected to quickly advance their own budget bill so they can move on to the main event — tax cuts.

The General Assembly also moved forward on legislation related to tornado relief and remote learning days for schools, while the governor unsheathed his veto pen for two of Republicans' redistricting bills.

GOP takes the budget wheel

Beshear's budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly was followed quickly by GOP legislative leaders figuratively rolling their eyes and turning the page.

With supermajorities up their sleeves, Republican House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers indicated their own budget bill would move to passage imminently — spending far less than Beshear's proposal and setting up legislation to cut taxes later in the session.

In fact, House Bill 1 — the GOP budget bill — will be up for passage in committee today, and could pass out of the full House by the end of the week.

Here are our five big takeaways from the governor's budget address and where the legislature goes from here on passing a two-year budget.

Redistricting bills get split decision

Beshear signed two redistricting bills into law Tuesday, but decided to veto two other bills Wednesday night

The governor approved the new districts for the Kentucky Supreme Court and a new legal process for redistricting challenges, but issued a veto for the more contentious bills redistricting the state House and six congressional seats, calling them "unconstitutional political gerrymandering."

Beshear still has until midnight to decide whether to veto Senate Bill 2, which redistricts that chamber.

The GOP is expected to easily override these vetoes later this week, with a potential Democratic lawsuit to block the new state House map from going into effect on the horizon.

Also in Frankfort

Here's some of the other legislation the General Assembly was up to over the past week:

• Senate Bill 25 was passed and signed by Beshear, adding 10 remote learning days for public K-12 schools amid another spike in COVID-19 cases.

• The governor signed into law a bill creating a $200 million tornado relief fund, as well as a joint resolution extending the state of emergency he declared for the December tornadoes through April 14.

• Sen. Danny Carroll has once again filed a bill to shield personal information about a wide range of "public officers" and their families from public view — letting them sue journalists who do so and drawing the ire of the Kentucky Press Association, which calls it an unconstitutional "broadside attack on the First Amendment."

• Columnist Joe Gerth wrote that Republicans claimed credit during Kentucky's COVID downturn, so they must now it must take responsibility as it rises again.

• Another reminder for all: When you are on Zoom, make ABSOLUTELY sure you are on mute when you are supposed to be on mute. There but for the grace of God go I, as they say.

Bevin pardons, revisited

Former Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned Patrick Baker in his final days in office in 2019, freeing him from the 19-year sentence of his conviction in the killing of Donald Mills.

Turns out, that did not go too well for him, as a judge sentenced him Tuesday to serve 40 years on his new federal murder conviction for the same crime.

In other Bevin pardon news, an attorney for Micah Schoettle — convicted of raping a 9-year old girl, before being freed by Bevin — sought to have his conviction expunged this week, before later withdrawing that request.

In case you missed it

• Gerth profiled the amazing John Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor who went on to be a civil rights leader in the South and a legendary advocate in Eastern Kentucky.

• Gerth also wrote the obituary for Larry Forgy, the notable and ever-quotable Republican candidate who put his mark on Kentucky politics for decades. (Stay for the Leonard Lawson quote)

• A month after tornadoes destroyed much of the tiny Western Kentucky town, Olivia Krauth was there when Dawson Springs students returned to school this week.

• Kentucky is getting $438 million for bridge repairs, thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress — which only Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Yarmuth voted for among the state's delegation.

• Sarah Ladd and Debby Yetter look back and forward on Kentucky hitting the remarkable 1 million mark for COVID-19 cases.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today at the top of this page.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Republicans looking to sprint ahead on budget, tax cuts