LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has called state lawmakers into a special session, beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, to fight the raging coronavirus pandemic.
“The commonwealth is in a state of emergency,” said Beshear. “The delta variant is spreading at a rate never seen before, impacting businesses, shuttering schools and worse causing severe illness and death.”
The Democratic governor and leaders of the Republican-led General Assembly have been negotiating on what COVID-19 steps to consider in a special session. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled last month that Beshear must win legislative approval for his emergency orders. He is expected to propose some policies that the legislature will not accept, such as a statewide mask mandate.
At a hastily called news conference late Saturday afternoon, Beshear said the session’s agenda includes extending the state of emergency until Jan. 15 when lawmakers will be in regular annual session, renewing several agency and executive orders, requesting ability for him to implement masking mandates for indoor settings, appropriating not more than $69.2 million from the federal American Rescue Plan and giving schools more flexibility in scheduling non-traditional instruction days.
The agenda, said Beshear, also calls for extending by 30 days the emergency for the Aug. 3 flooding in Nicholas County and providing the Cabinet for Economic Development more flexibility in providing incentives with investment projects over $2 billion. He said the state has five possible projects of this size that that change would affect, particularly at a Glendale site off I-65.
Beshear said he expects the most contentious issue will be mask mandates. If lawmakers do not agree to give him authority to mandate masks, he said he hopes they at least will allow some threshold to kick in for the masks, saying they have been shown to be effective in curbing the virus.
He noted that the delta variant in the last two days has caused 89 deaths in Kentucky, one of whom was 27 years old, and more than 10,500 new cases of coronavirus.. A record number of Kentuckians — 2,365 — are in the hospital with the virus, including 661 in intensive care and 425 on ventilators.
The governor also said he expects the lawmakers will be able to complete their work in five days.
Many Republican lawmakers have been critical of Beshear’s handling of the pandemic, contending that he acted alone without legislative input.
Only the governor can call a special session and set its agenda. The cost to taxpayers for a special session is about $68,000 a day. The legislature determines how long a special session lasts. They typically last five days, but some legislators have been trying to determine if all the work could be wrapped up in one day.
The last special session was held in July 2019, called by then-Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to consider pensions.
Kentucky lawmakers have held committee meetings this week to prepare for a special session.
Those meetings have tended to focus on recruiting and retaining health care workers. Hospitals and nursing homes have asked for help in that area and others.
Tim Veno, president of the Louisville-based LeadingAge Kentucky, which represents services for the elderly, infirmed and disabled in nursing facilities, assisted living and other long-term health care, recently told lawmakers its members “have been devastated by COVID both emotionally, physically and financially.”
Legislators do not seem receptive to initiating mandates, preferring to let local leaders have the option to implement them if they so choose.
Besides the statewide mask mandate, other areas of disagreement have focused on requiring masks in schools and the number of non-traditional instructional days schools should have. They now have 10, but many have called for more flexibility.
Beshear said in his call for a special session that legislation could be considered to use alternatives to in-person instruction including NTI, temporary remote instruction and a hybrid model, which combines in-person and at-home learning.
He said during the news conference that there will be consideration of allowing a specific school or classroom to use NTI instead of requiring an entire district to use NTI days.
Other legislation considered could provide funding stability for schools in 2022-23, and reimburse schools for additional sick leave days for eligible staff members. Legislation could also determine circumstances under which retired teachers and student teachers could provide instruction, Beshear’s call for a special session said.
Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason E. Glass said of the special session call, “As the governor said, the General Assembly now bears the responsibility for the decisions they make. I hope legislators follow the public health science, as the Kentucky Board of Education has done.”
The state board approved mask mandates in schools.
Glass said state Department of Education staff are reviewing legislative proposals and will continue to advocate for additional flexibility for districts so that as many students as possible can remain safe and healthy in the classroom.
Terry Brooks, executive director of the advocacy group Kentucky Youth Advocates, said priorities for the session should include a rubric for masking in schools and more use of COVID-19 testing that will allow students exposed to the virus to stay in the classroom as long as they test negative on a daily basis.
He also said there should be more flexibility around the state’s non-traditional instruction or learning from home program.
The Kentucky Association of School Superintendents said, “We are not interested in a transition to virtual learning for all students. We simply want to have remote learning or NTI days available to ‘bridge the gap’ for a few days during extreme circumstances when COVID rates are very high and/or staff levels are uncharacteristically low due to quarantines.”
Legislative leaders had no immediate comment on Beshear’s session call.
