The Kentucky House and Senate have passed a resolution that, upon becoming law, would immediately end Kentucky’s COVID-19 state of emergency. It would also require the governor to ask for the General Assembly’s approval before declaring another COVID-19 emergency.
The Kentucky House of Representatives adopted Senate Joint Resolution 150 on Thursday by a 75-20 vote. The Kentucky Senate adopted the measure on Feb. 24 by a 28-8 vote.
It could now be signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear. If he vetoes the measure, the Kentucky General Assembly could still vote to override his decision.
The primary sponsor, Sen. Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville), filed the resolution on Feb. 18 with the intention of it taking effect on March 7.
Rep. Thomas Huff (R-Shepherdsville) presented SJR 150 on the House floor on behalf of Douglas. Huff said the resolution is “long overdue.”
“The question we really need to ask ourselves is, are we really in a state of emergency?” Huff said. “Are the hospitals overflowing? Are the deaths skyrocketing? Are the numbers climbing? That is the question we need to ask, not whether we can squeak by another month on free federal money.”
During debate, a couple of lawmakers expressed concerns about the impact the resolution might have on federal funding and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP.
Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson (D-Lexington) said the federal COVID-19-related funds are helping hospitals retain staff and helping keep local economies afloat.
“We have a shortage of nurses, and a lot of the federal dollars that have come in are helping with the fact that we have travel nurses that claim a lot of dollars per hour to be here,” Stevenson said. “… The SNAP benefits that are coming as a result of this emergency, it was about $52 million a month.
Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser (R-Taylor Mill) and Rep. Norma Kirk-McCormick (R-Inez) said the research they’ve done on the SNAP program shows that ending the state of emergency will not take away benefits from those who truly need it and qualify for the program, with or without the state of emergency.
