Kentucky Political News Headlines

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

KY Gov. Beshear Calls Special Session


Good afternoon,

 

Earlier today Gov. Beshear announced his call for the convening of a Special Session of the Kentucky General Assembly to address relief from the recent Eastern KY flooding. The session will begin no earlier than noon ET on Wednesday, August 24. However, both House and Senate leaders have announced they will convene at 3:00pm ET. The Special Session is expected to adjourn on Friday, August 26.

 

You can find a PDF of the proclamation here.

 

The Special Session's focus will be narrow, only addressing the following items per the Governor's call:

 

• Establishes, appropriates funding to, and provides for the administration of the Eastern Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (EKSAFE) fund;

• Amends the statute relating to the West Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (WKSAFE) fund, in particular by extending the date of the fund through June 30, 2026; and

• Provides relief to Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the flooding emergency, in particular by relaxing requirements relating to the number of student attendance days, leave for teachers, and remote instruction, and provides relief to Western and Eastern Kentucky school districts impacted by the tornado and flooding emergencies by setting forth new requirements relating to average daily attendance for SEEK funding.


In order to get the legislation to the Governor by Friday, we expect the legislature to use an expedited legislative process where bills with mirroring language will simultaneously proceed through both the House and Senate before culminating in a single bill. 

 

You can watch the proceedings live on KET at www.ket.org/legislature.

 

We will continue to provide updates throughout the session.