A judge has struck down changes made to Kentucky’s pension systems earlier this year. The ruling states that lawmakers violated the state constitution by rushing the bill to passage in a matter of hours.
The challenge is the latest in a series of legal disputes between Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear and Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.
Beshear called the ruling a “win for open, honest government.”
“An 11-page sewer bill should never turn into a 290-page pension bill and passed in six hours. Legislation should always pass in a way that’s transparent that the public can participate,” he says.
In order to pass the bill quickly, lawmakers gutted a bill dealing with sewage that had already passed out of one legislative chamber and filled it with pension language.
Lawmakers passed the bill in just six hours, though the constitution requires bills to be presented on three separate days before they can receive a vote.
Republican leaders of the legislature and Bevin said that changing retirement benefits for employees was necessary in order to address the state’s ailing pension systems.
