Legislature moving bills to address health-care worker shortage

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention illustration

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

In the final days of the 2022 legislative session, three bills to address Kentucky's healthcare workforce shortages are moving. One addresses the nursing shortage directly, one works toward recruitment and retention more broadly, and one addresses Medicaid payments for community health workers. 

Senate Bill 10 addresses the nursing shortage with both short-term and long-term solutions, Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, said in presenting the bill to the House Wednesday, March 23. 

Moser said the key components of SB 10 would streamline the process for out-of-state and foreign trained nurses to practice in Kentucky without compromising the standards of care; would improve access to nursing education by removing "arbitrary" enrollment limits without compromising the quality of the programs; and add term limits and geographic requirements for the Board of Nursing. 

The Kentucky Nurses Association says Kentucky will need as many as 16,000 more nurses by 2024.

Rep. Kim Moser

Asked how many new nurses these provisions would produce, Moser said that the effort is just "a piece of the puzzle" to increase the health-care workforce in Kentucky. "While I don't have hard and fast numbers, I do think that this will certainly help," she said. 

SB 10, sponsored by Sen. Robbie Mills, R-Henderson and Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, passed out the House 93-1. It awaits Senate concurrence with some minor changes related to the nursing board. UPDATE, March 29: The Senate concurred, giving the bill final passage.

Another bill, sponsored by Moser, would impact the health-care workforce more broadly by establishing a Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for qualifying health-care workers.

"House Bill 573 establishes a much needed recruitment and retention tool for addressing healthcare worker shortage, especially in rural and underserved areas of Kentucky," Moser said in presenting the bill to the House March 23. "It provides financial incentives to attract and retain health-care providers."

The loan program would be aligned with the Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program and administered by the University of Kentucky's Center of Excellence in Rural Health. 

The program would be set up as a trust fund in the state treasury that would consist of state general fund appropriations, gifts and grants from public and private sources and federal funds. 

Moser said this program would supplement federal funding, which requires a state match for scholarships and loan forgiveness; would expand the list of  health-care workers eligible to participate; and require recipients to work in under-served areas of Kentucky. 

The bill's House committee substitute calls for the loan relied fund to get $2 million a year, and adds ophthalmologists, optometrists and audiologist to the list of eligible recipients. 

The House passed HB 573 91-3, but at week's end, it had not received any of its three required readings in the Senate or been assigned to a committee. UPDATE, March 30: HB 573 has been placed in the Senate Appropriations & Revenue Committee and has received two readings. 

Moser's HB 525, which would allow Medicaid to pay certified community health workers, passed the Senate on its March 25 consent calendar and is back to the House for concurrence with Senate changes. UPDATE, March 29: The House concurred, giving the bill final passage. 

CHWs aren't trained medically, but are trained as patient advocates who come from the communities they serve. They help their clients coordinate care, provide access to medical, social and environmental services, work to improve health literacy, and deliver education on prevention and disease self-management.

HB 525 would require the state Department for Medicaid Services to seek federal approval for a state plan amendment, waiver or alternative payment model, including public-private partnerships, for services delivered by certified CHWs. It would also streamline their certification process.

Even a mild case of Covid-19 can cause long-term brain damage

Illustration from JAMA Network

Brain changes could be a lingering outcome of even mild Covid-19 cases.

Researchers at Oxford University in England reported that several months after study participants had Covid-19, they had more brain-tissue loss and more brain-size shrinkage than participants who did not have the disease. They used brain scans from the United Kingdom's Biobank—a research resource with data from half a million volunteers—that were collected from 2014 through early March 2020, and they invited hundreds of original volunteers aged 51 to 81 for a second round of scans between February and March 2021.

With nearly 800 volunteers, the new study is the largest set of Covid-19 brain-imaging analyses to date. It’s also the first to focus on patients with mostly non-severe illness and to include pre-infection data from the same people. The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

The brain scans and cognitive scores of participants who had Covid-19 showed greater changes between the two time periods than those of the participants who did not have Covid. On average, the participants who had Covid suffered from greater tissue damage and brain shrinkage, and has less ability to do complex tasks.

The study had too few cases of influenza to draw comparisons, but brain differences among 11 volunteers who developed non–Covid-19 pneumonia between imaging sessions did not substantially overlap with brain regions implicated in the Covid-19 analysis. This could indicate that the study’s findings are specific to infection by the novel coronavirus, not respiratory infection in general.

It is unclear how long the cognitive effects of Covid-19 might last. A recent report in JAMA Neurology suggests the changes in some patients might endure, particularly for those with more severe disease. However, in a written FAQ provided to news media, the study's lead author, Gwenaëlle Douaud, suggested that the damage observed in her team’s study might improve in due course: “Since the abnormal changes we see in the brain of the infected participants might be related to their loss of smell, it is possible that recovering their smell might lead to these brain abnormalities becoming less marked over time. Similarly, it is likely that the harmful effects of the virus (whether direct, or indirect via inflammation or immune reaction) decrease over time after infection.” 

How best to manage patients’ cognitive symptoms remains an area of robust study, according to Dr. S. Andrew Josephson. The current analysis, he said, “also emphasizes just how important it is to continue to work to understand the mechanisms of these neurological symptoms and whether vaccination or severity of illness modifies them.”

FDA allows several more e-cig products to remain on market; decisions pending on products of several major makers

A newly approved product

The Food and Drug Administration is allowing several more tobacco-flavored electronic cigarette products to remain on the market, it said Thursday. "The agency authorized several tobacco-flavored vape pods and e-cigarette devices made by the e-cigarette brand Logic Technology Development," PoliticoPro reports.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement, "We know that there is a demand among adult smokers to use e-cigarette products to try to switch from more harmful combusted cigarettes, but millions of youth are using these products and getting addicted to nicotine. The balance of these issues was considered by the agency's career scientists when evaluating the potential marketing of e-cigarette products."

"Logic, owned by tobacco giant Japan Tobacco Inc., holds a large share of the e-cigarette market," PolitcoPro reports. "FDA, however, denied the company's applications for flavored products. It is still deciding the fate of Logic's menthol-flavored offerings."

FDA's announcement began "what is expected to be a period of intensified activity on the contentious issue of e-cigarettes," reports Laurie McGinley of The Washington Post. "The FDA decision seems likely to presage rulings on companies with the biggest market shares, including Juul, blu, Vuse and NJoy. Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, is retiring in early April, and speculation is widespread that he wants to issue decisions on the big companies before he leaves."

Beshear says Omicron BA.2 subvariant circulating in Kentucky; public-health advice is the same: get vaccinated and boosted

Illustration by the University of California at Los Angeles

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

While the pandemic continues to wane in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear cautioned Thursday that the more contagious BA.2 subvariant of the coronavirus is circulating in the state. 

At his weekly press conference, Beshear said Omicron BA.2 had been confirmed in 29 Kentucky residents from 13 counties since the first week of February, and "Molecular sequencing is performed on only a small subset of cases, so there have likely been many more BA.2 infections that haven't been confirmed."

WLKY-TV reports that the new variant has been found in Louisville wastewater, according to Louisville Metro Health and Wellness. "Dr. Joseph Flynn of the Norton Medical Group said Thursday that this variant is 50-80% more infectious," reports Valerie Chinn of WDRB-TV.

Beshear said Kentucky's level of BA.2 is probably close to the national average of 35%, according to sequencing done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ended March 19. 

He said there is still much to learn about this variant and it is too soon to know if it will lead to excess hospitalizations or deaths, more severe disease or more resistance to either natural or vaccine-induced immunity. 

"Based on early studies, it's thought to spread faster, be more infectious and replicate more efficient than the original Omicron, which would make it one of the most contagious viruses at least in our lifetimes, if not what we know of human history," Beshear said. "But we do not necessarily have evidence that is going to harm people any more than Omicron, and we certainly hope less."

Chinn reports for WDRB, "Doctors said BA.2 is technically classified as a part of the omicron family of viruses, but genetically, this strain is very different, with about 40 mutations separating it from its cousin, BA.1. That makes it about as distinct from the original Omicron as Alpha, Beta and Delta were from each other."

Beshear said we also know that the Covid-19 vaccines and booster shots protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death, and Kentuckians can choose to wear a quality mask if they are concerned.

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday, “We’ll likely see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the U.K. Hopefully we won’t see a surge. I don’t think we will. The easiest way to prevent that is to continue to get people vaccinated . . . to continue to get them boosted.”

In Kentucky, 56% of the total population is fully vaccinated and only 44% of the eligible vaccinated population has had a booster shot, which experts say is needed for immunity to all forms of Omicron.

Beshear said, "If you haven't gotten your booster yet, please go get it. . . . Again, living with a virus is not the same as ignoring it and living as opposed to dying from a virus means taking the steps that protect you and protect your family."

That message was reiterated in an op-ed for the Lexington Herald-Leader by Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, founder of HealthWatch USA, who continues to encourage Kentuckians to remain cautious. 

"In the two weeks ending on March 19, the national total infection rate had fallen by 37%, but the percentage of BA.2 in newly infected individuals more than doubled with a 177% increase," he wrote. 

In closing, he said, "The BA.2 variant may well cause another surge. At this point, we should not let down our guard and relax mitigation strategies. We must respect others, some of whom [will] wear a mask to protect, but above all, get vaccinated along with obtaining boosters when indicated."

State Senate floor leader says medical marijuana bill is dead

The latest effort to legalize marijuana for medical use in Kentucky is “done for the year,” the majority floor leader of the state Senate told Austin Horn of the Lexington Herald-Leader Thursday.

“I have said all along I wouldn’t stand in its way if we had the votes, but we do not have the votes in the Senate,” Republican Damon Thayer of Georgetown, an opponent of House Bill 136, told the newspaper.

Generally, Republicans who have 30 of the 38 votes in the Senate will not put a bill before the full chamber unless a majority of Republicans support it. Thayer "did not offer comment on the whip count among the GOP caucus or when he came to understand that the bill was dead in the Senate," Horn reports.

In the House, just over half of the Republicans who voted on the bill voted for it, Horn notes. It passed the House 59-35. A similar medical marijuana bill passed the House in 2020 but died in the Senate.

The latest bill's sponsor, Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, did not immediately respond to a call from Kentucky Health News. He told Horn that he was “still trying to get senators to support HB 136.”

Joe Sonka of the Courier Journal reports, "Nemes was hoping to be invited to a meeting of the caucus to pitch members on his bill, but Senate President Robert Stivers told the Courier Journal that is not going to happen." Stivers also opposes medical marijuana.

After changes to appease county governments, the bill to address ambulance transfer times is raring to go for its final dispatch

Dwayne Oliver and Doug Byers of Lee County's ambulance service
refit one after a run. (Photo by Ryan C. Hermens, Lexington Herald-Leader)

UPDATE: March 29, The Senate passed HB 777 with a committee substitute 34-2. The House concurred in the Senate changes, giving the bill final passage. 

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

After yet another round of negotiations, a House bill aimed at improving ambulance transfer times nears a vote on the Senate consent calendar, used to pass bills without further discussion.

"All parties came to the table and I think we all agree," Rep. Ken Fleming, R-Louisville, the bill's sponsor, told Kentucky Health News. "We know it's not perfect. We do have a lot of work ahead of us in the task force, and then we're gonna really peel this whole issue back even further to make sure that we deliver the best quality of care for patients." 

Fleming told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee March 16 about a friend's sister who died while waiting on transport, and of organs that had barely made it to the hospital on time to save a life.

The Kentucky Association of Counties objected to parts of House Bill 777 and Chairman Ralph Alvarado asked them to go back to the negotiating table to work our their differences.

Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, R-Greensburg, was touted as being instrumental in finding consensus. He said KACo still does not support the bill, "but I sense that their opposition has now been moved to a place of neutrality." The bill is being pushed by the Kentucky Hospital Association.

Fleming said one change would require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to send a notice to all cities and counties that a hospital has proposed to establish an ambulance service. The legislative bodies of the affected cities and counties would have 30 days to respond, and lack of response will be deemed support.

Another change would "sunset" the new rules in 2026, while allowing "all actions taken by cities, counties and hospitals, exemptions from obtaining a certificate of need and any certificate of need" granted under these new rules to remain in effect on and after this date.

A certificate of need is, in effect, a license to operate a health-related service. "Kentucky and Hawaii are the only states that regulate ambulance services under a certificate-of-need provision," notes Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader. And Kentucky does that with an independent Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services, comprised of EMS personnel.

The bill would make the board an independent agency of the state government, which would investigate all complaints about ambulance services, while leaving discipline to the board, and create a task force to do a thorough review of "the need, or lack thereof, for the certificate-of-need process for ambulance services."

Fleming said that will be one of the task force's biggest assignments. "There are 48 states that do not have certificate of need when it comes to ambulances," he said, "so we've got to figure out why are we an outlier."

Rep. Ken Fleming

The task force was a way to scale back the original version of the bill by deferring action on some points. "We're going to have to roll up our sleeves," Fleming said. "It's just going to be good, healthy discussions." He said it will be important for the task force to look at EMS workforce issues because that is a challenge that keeps coming up. 

Among other things, the bill would reform the certification requirements to allow cities, counties and hospitals to transport patients under certain conditions; make it easier for patients to register complaints; and exempts organ-procurement organizations from speed limits and traffic-flow patterns while transporting a human tissue in an emergency.

Stories of ambulance delays abound.

Acquisto's story begins with the story of an emergency patient at the St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead with a ruptured blood vessel in his esophagus who waited five and a half hours for an ambulance (helicopters were not available because of rain) and was finally transported to Lexington in an ambulance from Ohio, which hospital CEO Donald Lloyd told her is "not permitted."

Acquisto reports that a survey done by the hospital association found that the average wait time for patients to be transported was seven to eight hours, with 90% of those requests to transfer a patient to a higher level of care, according to Nancy Galvagni, president of the association.

U of L says it will spend $144 million to upgrade hospital

Artists' rendering from University of Louisville Health

The University of Louisville plans to expand and renovate its 40-year-old hospital in Kentucky's largest city.

Officials say the $144 million project will include a seven-story tower with 20 new patient rooms, for a total of 360 private rooms at the hospital; four new operating rooms; a 24-bed observation unit to ease strain on the emergency department and reduce wait times; and a new lobby and waiting area, with renovations to the gift store and coffee shop.

Officials hope the expansion will be done by 2024. They said it will add 325 new jobs – nurses, clinical and nonclinical staff.

U of L Health CEO Tom Miller said Thursday the upgrades are much needed as more people seek specialty care at the region's only Level 1 trauma center. "Level 1 trauma centers provide the most comprehensive care for serious injuries that require a fast response, according to Medical News Today. They often have surgeons on staff 24 hours a day," WFPL reports.

“Every day this past year, 40 patients a day didn’t get a room in our hospitals [and] had to stay overnight in the emergency departments or in our recovery areas,” Miller said. “Today is the day to prioritize the health of this community. And I will tell you as an academic health care facility, we take that responsibility to heart.”

Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth and acting U of L President Lori Gonzalez also spoke at the news conference. Beshear praised U of L for its Covid-19 response and vaccine rollout.

“This expansion is great news for the commonwealth because you treat patients from all 120 counties,” Beshear said. “Now you’ll be able to serve even more people and hopefully we can put this pandemic behind us and then address so many challenges in health that afflict our people.”

U of L will pay for the project with its own funds, private donations and borrowing through tax-free bonds and revenue bonds, a news release said.

Bill near final passage would delay lab results of cancer or genetic markers from going on electronic health records for 72 hours

UPDATE: March 30, The House concurred with the Senate, giving the bill final passage. 
UPDATE: March 29, The Senate passed HB 529 with a committee substitute 36-0. 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The legislature is nearing final passage of a bill that would give health-care providers a chance to contact patients to go over certain laboratory results before they go on patients' electronic health records.

Rep. Killian Timoney

House Bill 529, sponsored by Killian Timoney, R-Lexington, would require pathology or radiology reports that may show a finding of malignancy, or test results that could reveal genetic markers, to not be disclosed to a patient as part of their electronic health record for 72 hours, unless the health-care provider directs their early release. 

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved the bill without dissent and put it on the chamber's consent calendar, which it uses to pass bills without further discussion.

Doctors told the committee that the bill is needed.

"As physicians, we are quite concerned that patients are receiving deadly, life-threatening diagnoses on their phones without any medical care and medical support. We have numerous accounts of patients being harmed because of that, and causing harm to themselves," said Dr. David Danhauer, chief medical information officer at Owensboro Health. "We ask that, with this bill, allow our providers time to review, contemplate a plan, and set up appropriate consultation with those patients."

Dr. Susanne Arnold, a medical oncologist and associate director of the University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center, told the committee that they believe 72 hours "is an appropriate length of time" in most situations to be able to have a face-to-face discussion with a patient about such serious diagnoses. 

Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, a physician, praised the bill. "This can be a horrible, horrible situation for patients," she said. "Imagine, honestly, opening up your telephone and seeing the report that says advanced metastatic cancer and it's 5:30 on a Friday night and you don't even have anyone to call. That's unethical."

While presenting the bill March 9 in the House floor, where it passed 84-14, Timoney said it would apply to upwards of 4 percent of all tests, and give patients access to a trained professional instead of "Dr. Google" or WebMD. He referred to the bill as the Compassionate Patient Care Act. 

The bill has an emergency clause that would make it effective immediately upon enactment.

Bill Wagner, who headed group of health clinics for disadvantaged in Louisville, wins Gil Friedell Memorial Health Policy Award

Wagner, left, with Foundation President and CEO Chandler

William Wagner, retired CEO of Family Health Centers of Louisville, is the latest winner of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's Gil Friedell Memorial Health Policy Award, for his work expanding access to care and coverage.

“Bill’s passion for bettering the health of Kentuckians is a perfect reflection of the spirit of the Gil Friedell Memorial Health Policy Award,” said Ben Chandler, the foundation's president and CEO. “Dr. Friedell was a passionate advocate for access to health care. Bill’s 40-year career is a testament to his commitment to serving others by expanding opportunities for health-care coverage and bringing medical care to underserved areas in rural and urban communities. He has made a profound impact on the health and wellness of countless Kentuckians.”

Wagner established primary-care centers focused on people who are low-income, homeless, immigrants and refugees, then expanded them to include dental, behavioral health, pharmacy services, health education, outreach and enrollment services.

He was influential in the evolution of Kentucky’s Medicaid program, helping develop the nonprofit Passport Health Plan for managed care of Medicaid patients and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, providing medical services for hundreds of thousands of children and adults in Kentucky.

He also helped shape the next generation of social workers and public-health professionals through his work with the Kent School of Social Work and the College of Public Health at the University of Louisville.

“It's an honor to receive the award,” Wagner said. “I accept it on behalf of all the health care providers who work so hard to provide medical care access in underserved areas of Kentucky – urban and rural. They’re the real heroes. I have great respect for them and working with them made my job so fulfilling.”

Wagner retired at the end of 2021, something he delayed due to the pandemic. During it, he worked with non-English-speaking communities to provide testing and education. When vaccines rolled out, Wagner was at the forefront, helping with logistics, outreach, and education, most notably with the homeless.

The Memorial Health Policy Award is named for Gil Friedell, first director of the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky and cofounder of the Kentucky Cancer Registry. He helped launch a nonprofit advocacy education organization in 2005 that later became the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation. The Foundation created the award when it united with the Friedell Committee in 2018.

Wagner and Friedell worked in the mid-1990s to create a community partnership for breast and cervical cancer screening in Louisville’s West End, which had extremely high death rates from those diseases.

The foundation makes a $5,000 grant to a Kentucky nonprofit working to improve health policy in the commonwealth in honor of the Friedell Award winner. Wagner selected Kentucky Voices for Health, a nonpartisan coalition that amplifies the voices of individuals, families, and communities in the decisions that affect the health and well-being of all Kentuckians.

Wagner said he selected KVH because of his concern that many Kentuckians could lose the Medicaid coverage to which they gained access in the pandemic. “Having health-care coverage is key to having access to medical care and living a healthier life,” he said. “I’m concerned when the emergency measures for expanded Medicaid expire, we will have many folks who aren’t sure how to recertify or apply through Kynect. KVH can help fill those gaps.”

Wagner was selected from the foundation's 2021 Healthy Kentucky Champions, Kentuckians honored for making a difference in the health of their communities or the state. Nominations for the 2022 awards are due by May 20. For more information and to nominate someone, visit Healthy-KY.org.

Almost six months after going into hospital with Covid-19, and a double-lung transplant as a last resort, patient is heading home

Staff members congratulate Victor Gonzales-Villatoro on his discharge at UK. (Photo by Hilary Brown)

By Hilary Brown

University of Kentucky

Staff at UK HealthCare gathered Wednesday to celebrate the discharge of patient Victor Gonzales-Villatoro, who was hospitalized with Covid-19 in October. The disease ravaged his lungs, Victor’s family was told he had almost no chance of survival, and they considered withdrawing life support.

As a last effort, UK doctors considered Victor a candidate for a double lung transplant and placed him on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to see if his body could recover enough to withstand the transplant surgery.

For several months, while on ECMO, Victor remained unconscious. He awoke, and with a determined spirit, worked hard to gain the strength to receive a transplant — including getting up and walking while still connected to ECMO. On March 1, after five months on ECMO, Victor, 37, got a new set of lungs. Within a week, he was off the ventilator and walking.

Victor’s fighting spirit and unwavering determination endeared him to his care providers. After almost six months in the hospital, Victor was discharged amid a chorus of cheers and applause. He will spend the next few weeks at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington, where he will work to regain his strength and endurance.

McConnell, Va. senator poke FDA about lack of action on rules to enforce two-year-old minimum age of 21 to buy tobacco products

Sens. McConnell and Kaine at the University of Louisville's
McConnell Center in 2019 (Courier-Journal photo by Pat McDonogh) 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia have complained to the Food and Drug Administration about the agency's delay in implementing the law they got passed more than two years ago to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21.

They also needled FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, who was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 15, about "the lack of communication regarding the inaction, and asking the commissioner for plans regarding the future," reports Halfwheel, blog about cigars and tobacco issues.

McConnell and Kaine sent Califf a letter March 11 "to express concern about the delays in finalizing regulations related to the Tobacco 21 legislation and the lack of transparency around the implementation and enforcement of that legislation," as they put it. Without updated regulations, "FDA is limited in its ability to punish retailers for potentially violating the new standard," Halfwheel notes.

The senators noted that the FDA's compliance checks of retailers fell off greatly in 2020, with less than half the number of inspections and a third as many warning letters as in 2019.

"Many states and local governments had already passed legislation increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 prior to December 2019 and many more have followed through since then," Halfwheel reports. "By changing state and local laws, it allows for state and local law enforcement to issue warnings and citations to those caught selling tobacco products to people under the age of 21."

McConnell and Kaine asked Califf to respond by Friday, March 25, with a timeline for issuance of the regulations, "including details on the rule’s current status in the review process and an explanation for why FDA did not meet the statutory deadline for issuing a final rule," which was June 2020.

Republicans end state of emergency by overriding veto, say Beshear can get one more month of extra food benefits from feds

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky's overwhelmingly Republican legislature has overridden Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of a resolution ending the Covid-19 state of emergency about one month early, resulting in a $100 monthly food assistance cut for 544,000 people. Legislators say he can get that money back another way. 

"It is my very clear understanding from reading the federal guidance that every governor across the state has the opportunity to extend the access to those additional benefits for a one-month period beyond the state's declaration of the end of emergency," Senate President Pro Tem David Givens of Greensburg, said during the Senate floor debate Monday.

Givens later added, "And if I'm not mistaken, I think 28 other states have ended their state of emergency and successfully received that one-month extension if they have so applied."

Beshear's office did not respond directly to questions about Givens' remarks, instead referring Kentucky Health News to Beshear's veto letter and a letter sent to every legislator Monday by S. Travis Mayo, general counsel to the governor, suggesting that they still disagree with this assertion. 

Beshear wrote in his March 16 veto message that "without the state declaration of emergency related to the Covid-19 global pandemic, the emergency SNAP Allotments will end." SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps.

The counsel's letter said the emergency allotment requires "a State declaration of an emergency related to Covid-19." The legislature has barred Beshear from declaring another Covid-19 emergency without its OK.

State Sen. Donald Douglas

Presenting Senate Joint Resolution 150 for the override, sponsor Donald Douglas of Nicholasville said that when the emergency allotments go away, benefits will return to the normal level, and to suggest otherwise is "fearmongering."

"Ask yourself, should SNAP benefits be a way of life?" Douglas asked. "Now we know it is for some; should it be a way of life for adults? Just ask yourself that question.”

The resolution will cut the current monthly benefit of $243 by about $100.

Douglas did not answer Democratic Leader Morgan McGarvey's question about what restrictions are currently in place due to the state of emergency (there are none), but said, "Ending emergency is just as important to the psychological well being of our state as it is to anything else."

Addressing the presiding officer, the normal legislative custom, Douglas said, "This is really not about what restrictions, Mr. President, this is about the commonwealth moving forward." 

McGarvey replied, "Let's not play politics with this bill. Let's not put at risk the federal dollars needed by families and kids across Kentucky in all of our districts to make this point three weeks before the decision we set and made in January of this year," referring to the legislature's decision to end the state of emergency on April 14.

The Senate overrode the veto 25-8, along party lines. Five Republicans did not vote: Sens. Matt Castlen of Owensboro, C.B. Embry of Beaver Dam, Paul Hornback of Shelbyville, Alice Forgy Kerr of Lexington, and Adrienne Southworth of Lawrenceburg.

Several Eastern Kentucky senators said they were able to vote yes on the override because of the assurance that these food benefits could be obtained by other means. The region has some of the highest rates of SNAP participation, according to an interactive map by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. 

"I would normally vote no against this, but based upon the governor having the authority to extend this and nobody losing any benefits I'm going to vote aye," said Sen. Johnnie Turner, R-Harlan.

Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, said, "I believe wholeheartedly like many other governors that have shown leadership, this governor has the full authority within his wheelhouse to extend this past another 30 days."

Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, said "This is a very simple fix that our governor could do. Our people deserve to move on from the state of emergency." 

Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, encouraged his colleagues to vote no, saying passage of the resolution would impact "the weakest among us" and that the rationale for passing it is "purely political." Douglas has a primary-election opponent who has been an outspoken foe of pandemic restrictions, but Yates said the political motive is directed at Beshear.

“It makes me sick to my stomach,” Yates said, that Republicans are hurting people “for no reason whatsoever other than to take a political shot at the governor.”

Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, said, "I would admit that this bill is largely a symbol, but it's a very important symbol; the symbolism is we're ready to move forward." 

 

Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, said, "There is no more state of emergency here. What you have is legislators that are here today, asking us to tell the federal government that we still have one so we can get more money. That amounts to lying by some people's standards. I think that's wrong. . . . I don't think we should be asking for help when we're no longer needing it." 

The House overrode the veto of SJR 150 by a 68-16 vote with no discussion. The state of emergency will end as soon as Secretary of State Michael Adams signs it.