Pub2 2021 Issue1

26 Kentucky Trucker B udget issues were the predicted and predictable hot topic for the 30-day session of the 2021 General Assembly. The outcome of the session was not that predictable. The General Fund and Road Fund budgets turned out to be somewhat routine copies of the prior year’s budget. Since Kentucky became a state in 1792, budgets covered two-year blocks of appropriations for each biennium until last year. The 2020 General Assembly broke the biennial pattern by adopting a one-year budget, thus requiring the 2021 General Assembly to enact a new budget for the second year of the current biennium. Legislation expanding the powers and the authority of the General Assembly dominated the session. A series of bills were enacted to curtail the Governor’s authority to issue emergency orders and administrative regulations. Five such bills enacted during the first week of the session in early January assigned greater authority to the General Assembly in its oversight of actions by the Governor dealing with emergencies like COVID-19 and the broader authority of the Governor to issue emergency regulations dealing with the operations of state agencies. The legislature was in recess the last three weeks of January. When the session resumed on February 2, both the House and the Senate overrode the Governor’s veto of the five bills limiting executive emergency authority. The dispute between the Governor and the General Assembly quickly went to court. An injunction enabling COVID-19 emergency orders by the Governor continues in effect while an appeal is pending on the constitutionality of the new legislation. Transportation-related legislation and bills that may affect the trucking industry passed during the 30-day session include the following: SB 1 Limits any emergency declaration by the Governor to 30 days unless extended by the General Assembly. This bill is part of litigation pending appeal to the Supreme Court on the issue of separation of powers under the Kentucky Constitution. SB 5 The House passed a revised version of SB 5 on March 30 with new language granting business owners limited immunity from acts or omissions arising from any COVID-19 claim. The Senate concurred in the House amendment, and the bill was sent to the Governor for his signature. There is a new definition of “COVID-19 claim” in the bill, which applies the limited immunity to “any claim or cause of action for an act or omission arising from COVID-19 that accrues on or after the date the emergency was declared on March 6, 2020, and until the emergency declaration is withdrawn, revoked or lapses.” This liability limitation replaces the Senate bill immunity limitation, which stated that an owner does not 2021 REGULAR LEGISLATIVE SESSION ROUNDUP By Ed O’Daniel