© 2024 WUKY
background_fid.jpg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bevin Vows Appeal On Pension Ruling, Dismisses Beshear 2019 Run

AP Photo/Adam Beam

Republican Governor Matt Bevin and members of his party are promising a fight on the state’s embattled pension reforms.

The reform bill, which proved a magnet for large-scale protests at the state Capitol, was struck down by a Franklin Circuit judge on procedural grounds. Wednesday Bevin told local media an appeal remains in the works.

"I've got so many cases going on right now, I've got a limited amount of bandwidth on the part of general counsel and his team," the governor said, "but it's coming."

At least one lawmaker is pledging to ressurect the bill, should this round of pension reforms fail to emerge intact from the courts. Louisville Republican Rep. Jerry Miller, who co-chairs the General Assembly’s Public Pension Oversight Board, told WVXU, “If we need to, we’ll come back.”

The pension measure passed during this year’s session moves future teachers out of traditional pension plans and into hybrid cash-balance packages, while current teachers would be barred from accumulating new sick days to use toward retirement after December 31.

Meanwhile, Bevin had few words about his possible Democratic challenger in 2019 when asked to weigh in.

Taking questions in Frankfort, the first-term governor dismissed Attorney General Andy Beshear’s gubernatorial campaign announcement as barely worthy of comment.

"It hasn't much been worth the response, which is why you haven't gotten one from me," he said. "He's a terrible attorney general. I can't even imagine how anyone would think he would be a good governor."

Bevin is staying mum on whether he plans to run for re-election, telling reporters he’ll make a decision and announcement sometime between now and January.

In his announcement earlier this month, Beshear pledged to restore “honesty, decency, and transparency to state government.”

The two officials have tangled frequently in court since taking office, with Beshear challenging Bevin’s cuts to universities, board reorganizations, and most recently, the state’s pension reform bill.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.