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Friday, August 01, 2008
Courts - Kentucky judge rules highway bill is invalid
I haven't had a chance to look into this matter facing our sister state to the south, but it does appear interesting - Tom Loftus reports today in the LCJ in a story that begins:
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The General Assembly's 2008 highway construction bill is invalid because it was not delivered to the governor on time, a judge ruled yesterday.Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said the bill was not delivered to Gov. Steve Beshear until April 16 -- one day after the General Assembly was required by the Kentucky Constitution to adjourn -- and was therefore "null and void."
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by Senate President David Williams, challenging the validity of Beshear's veto of the bill and the governor's subsequent decision to devise his own road plan, one that had not been passed by the legislature.
Williams' suit claims that Beshear missed by one day the constitutional deadline to veto the legislature's plan, House Bill 79. And even if the veto was valid, the suit contends, state funds can be spent only under a road plan adopted by the General Assembly.
Both sides in the case agreed to first resolve the question of whether Beshear had vetoed the bill in time. But in a surprising order, Shepherd ruled that the question is "moot" because the General Assembly missed its deadline to get the bill to Beshear.
At the same time, the judge acknowledged that he was ruling on an issue on which the two sides had not submitted written briefs. Because of that, he said he would allow the parties to file arguments asking him to reconsider.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 1, 2008 10:16 AM
Posted to Courts in general