Kentucky Supreme Court rules Senate Bill 151 constitutionally invalid

Kentucky's "Pension Bill" ruled invalid because it did not comply with a state requirement that bills be read three times.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – In a decision rendered Thursday, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared a state pension reform bill, Senate Bill 151, constitutionally invalid because it did not comply with a state requirement that bills be read three times.

The bill started out as an 11-page wastewater bill and was passed during the 2018 legislative session. The original form of the bill was titled “AN ACT relating to the local provision of wastewater services” with text that addressed the acquisition of local wastewater facilities.

The bill was later modified by a committee substitute that stripped all of the language about wastewater and replaced it with 291 pages of pertaining to pension reform.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear fought the bill’s passage in court pitting him against Gov. Matt Bevin.

“When the Committee Substitute was introduced, SB 151 had already received three readings on different days in the Senate and two readings in the House. All the readings of the bill, however, in both substance and title, were in its form as a bill pertaining to local wastewater services,” the ruling reads.

After the vote, the bill title was changed to reflect the content.

“In deference to the General Assembly, we necessarily stop short of providing a complete and precise definition of what must occur to qualify as a reading of the bill, but we are well-settled in the conviction that what occurred here falls far short of the requirements of (Section) 46” of the Kentucky Constitution.

Both Bevin and Beshear held press conferences Thursday morning.

“Today’s unanimous (7-0) ruling is a landmark win for every teacher, police officer, firefighter, social worker, EMS and all our hardworking public servants. It fully and finally voids the illegal cuts to their retirement, and clearly states that the governor and General Assembly violated the Constitution,” Bevin said a in written statement. “Because of today’s ruling, an 11-page sewer bill can never again be turned into a 291-page pension bill and passed in just six hours. It is my hope that moving forward the governor and General Assembly will start honoring the oath each elected official takes to support and follow the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

In his press conference Bevin referred to the court ruling as a “sad day for Kentucky.”

He acknowledged that SB 151 would not have fixed the pension system but would have “stopped the bleeding” of the worst funded pension system in the country.

“I’d like to see a bill that will save the pension system,” he said.