Governor's mid-year cuts to universities were illegal, Kentucky high court says
LEXINGTON, Ky. _ The Kentucky Supreme Court dealt a decisive blow to Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's executive power Thursday, finding that he exceeded his statutory authority by cutting state universities' budgets by 2 percent this spring, after the General Assembly had already appropriated their funding.
The 5-2 ruling reverses a May 18 decision by Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate, who said the state's universities and colleges are part of the executive branch of government and that Bevin has the power to reduce budget allotments to units within that branch.
Kentucky's high court disagreed, concluding that whatever power Bevin has to reduce spending "does not extend to universities, which the legislature has made independent bodies politic with control over their own expenditures."
The ruling said Bevin's executive order "effectively intercepted the funds before they became available to the universities."
"By reducing the final quarterly allotment, the governor has essentially frustrated the overall appropriation by the General Assembly," the opinion says. "Money that the General Assembly made available to the universities through its appropriations was made unavailable by the governor's actions. Simply put, there is a difference between exercising an authority not to spend money once it has been made available and preventing the money from being made available to the entity that has the power to decide not to spend it."
Oral arguments were held last month. Attorney General Andy Beshear, who filed suit against Bevin, said the governor violated the state constitution's separation of powers by usurping legislative power over the budget, while Bevin's general counsel, Steve Pitt, said state law allows the governor to alter financial payments to state agencies through the State Budget Office.
_Lexington Herald-Leader
