Noting the legislation it was about to take up passed the House and Senate in the 2021 session only to be vetoed by Gov. Andy Beshear, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, had Sen. Danny Carroll discuss his Senate Bill 63.
This legislation isn’t unfamiliar. In sessions prior to 2021, it had been introduced but the first time, Senator Carroll was surprised by the backlash and withdrew the bill the day after introducing it.
While he made some changes even to the original SB63 introduced this session, the bill still drew opposition from KPA, the Kentucky Broadcasters Coalition, ACLU, the Bluegrass Institute and the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. KPA’s general counsel Rick Adams testified before the committee as well as two TV news directors representing the broadcasters group.
After the presentation by Sen. Carroll and the rebuttal by the media groups, the committee voted 9-2, along party lines.
Senate Bill 63 is now headed to the full Senate and could be voted on early next week. It will then head to House where the process starts over again. But like the Senate in 2021, the House gave approval to the bill sending it on to the governor’s desk. The legislature’s action came so late in the ’21 session that it was unable to override the governor’s veto.
If he vetoes the bill again this year, the General Assembly will have plenty of time to override that action.
Here is the archive link of Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee. You can move the timeline at the bottom to about 48 minutes (48:00:00) and watch as Senator Westerfield calls the bill for consideration. Click the link and scroll down to Senate Judiciary Committee.
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