Special Session

Kentucky’s health departments have another year to figure out if their workers will stay in the state retirement system or exit, following the passage of Gov. Matt Bevin’s pension bill on Wednesday. But the decision won’t be an easy one, and it may not even be feasible for many health departments to leave the system.

For years county health department workers got a pension — a guaranteed benefit retirement account. Employees hired since 2014 have already been moved into 401k-type plans. And now older workers are at risk of having their pension benefits frozen if the health departments they work for choose to exit the pension system under Bevin’s bill.

Gov. Matt Bevin’s pension bill narrowly passed the Kentucky House of Representatives after hours of debate Monday. It now heads to the state Senate, where it is expected to have more support.

Lawmakers are in the middle of a special legislative session to deal with a massive spike in pension costs for regional universities and small state agencies like health departments, rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters.

Republican leaders of the legislature are only considering one proposal — a bill crafted by Bevin that would all the agencies to “buy out” of the state’s ailing pension system and incentivize them to move employees into less-generous 401k-style retirement plans.

Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature has convened to consider Gov. Matt Bevin’s proposal to help regional universities and “quasi” state agencies deal with a massive spike in pension costs.

Bevin summoned lawmakers to Frankfort for the special legislative session, where only a bill that meets a 12-point list of requirements outlined by the governor in his call for the session will be allowed to pass.

Bevin has been rallying support for his proposal for months and Republican leaders of the legislature say they have enough votes to pass it.

A long-anticipated special legislative session will convene later this week in an effort to deliver relief for regional universities and quasi-governmental agencies strapped by surging pension costs, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin announced Monday.

Lawmakers will meet starting at 8 a.m. Friday at the state Capitol in Frankfort, the Republican governor's office said. An official proclamation listing the special session's agenda will be issued later this week, Bevin's office said in a news release.

It takes at least five working days for lawmakers to get a bill through the General Assembly. Lawmakers are expected to meet this Saturday and Monday through Wednesday of next week before wrapping up the session, Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer said.

When Gov. Matt Bevin vetoed the pension bill that passed out of the legislature last month, he promised to call lawmakers back to Frankfort to do it all over again in a special legislative session before July 1.

But the timing of the yet-to-be-announced session is complicated, because state universities affected by the measure say they need clarity on whether they will face massive increases in the amount they have to contribute to the pension systems when they start writing their budgets on June 1.

A little less than 48 hours after Gov. Matt Bevin summoned lawmakers to Frankfort to make changes to the state’s pension systems, the legislature voted to end the special session.

The development is a blow to the governor, who called the special session days after the state Supreme Court struck down a new pension law that Bevin signed earlier this year.

Bevin defended his decision to call the session despite the $65,000-per day cost.

After Gov. Matt Bevin called a surprise legislative session on Monday afternoon, state lawmakers traveled to Frankfort and began working on a new attempt to overhaul the state’s pension systems.

Following hours of closed-door discussion, Republican leaders of the legislature filed two different versions of a new pension bill. One is similar to legislation struck down by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the other is a new proposal brought by Gov. Matt Bevin.

Kentucky's Republican governor says a special session of the state legislature will happen after Aug. 15.

The state legislature adjourned for the year in April. But Gov. Matt Bevin has said he will call them back for a special session to overhaul the state's tax code and public pension system.

Tuesday, Bevin sent a letter to all 138 members of the General Assembly and told them he does not plan to call a special session before Aug. 15 "out of respect to our families and summer schedules."