On August 10th Kentucky’s Democrat Governor Andy Beshear issued an Executive Order requiring all public schools to mandate masks for students, on August 23rd following a devastating unanimous ruling from the Kentucky Supreme Court the Governor was forced to rescind the unconstitutional order. And the landmark ruling has paved the road for the GOP-led legislature to curtail the Governor’s powers to “deal with emergencies”.
Simply put, the Supreme Court annihilated Beshear’s claim to “inherent” powers of the Governorship and established that the Governor is absolutely subordinate to the Legislature with respect to creating regulations. The court wrote,
“In fact, we expressly held that the General Assembly could limit the Governor’s
statutorily-derived emergency powers should it wish to. Id. at 812–13. That
noted, as we have discussed, the Governor’s emergency powers derive from the
statutes enacted by the General Assembly, not from our Constitution and not
from his “inherent” powers. “
Kentucky Governor Hopes For Legislative Mask Mandate: GOP House & Senate… Not So Much
According to Kentucky.com, Beshear is pushing for the legislature to “have the courage to do the hard thing” and claims he is having “good conversations” with GOP leaders.
“In a Monday afternoon telephone news conference, Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said legislative leaders’ discussions with Beshear’s office have been preliminary but “not much.”
He said there has been no discussion of a statewide mask mandate but that “a blanket mask mandate” might be difficult to win legislative approval, even with Democrats. He said it might be easier to approve if it were limited, such as being applied to the health industry.”
The Senate and House of the Kentucky Assembly on Thursday evening Sept. 9th overrode Gov. Beshear’s vetoes on Senate Bills 1 and 2 striking down the state mask mandates.
The Lexington Herald-Leader wrote,
“Senate Bill 1 would nullify emergency regulations mandating masks at public schools and daycare centers, leaving that decision to local officials and business owners. Senate Bill 2 bans any type of statewide mask mandate until June 2023.”
The votes weren’t even close, both bills passed by massive margins, on SB 1 the Senate voted 21-6 and the House voted 69-24, on SB 2 the vote was 23-5, and the House vote was 69-22. The people of Kentucky have spoken, and they’ve chosen freedom not authoritarianism.
The Senate has voted to override the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 2. SB 2 now heads to the House for override consideration. You can find more info on SB 2 here: https://t.co/adTvntIeGc #kyga21 pic.twitter.com/huWOvYHz1U
— KY Senate Majority (@KYSenateGOP) September 10, 2021
