Kentucky Gov. Slams Supreme Court Ruling On Pension Reform Law's Passage

Kentucky's attorney general is victorious in his lawsuit against the pension law.

(Frankfort, Ky.) - Governor Matt Bevin is blasting the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Bevin said the court's unanimous decision Thursday to strike down a controversial pension law is an unprecedented power grab by activist judges.

“By striking down SB 151 based on process, rather than merit, the Kentucky Supreme Court has chosen to take for itself the law-making power that the constitution grants to the legislature,” Bevin said in a statement.

The state is billions of dollars short of the needed funding to pay benefits in the coming years. The governor signed a law earlier this year making changes to the pension system.

Those changes were met by teacher protests across the state. In addition, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear sued on behalf of city, county and state employees against the law which was passed earlier this year. 

“The greatest financial threat to the Commonwealth has now been made worse by Andy Beshear’s self-serving, political lawsuit, and it placed the retirement security of tens of thousands of our teachers and public employees at greater risk of failure,” Bevin said.

Beshear, who has announced a run for governor in 2019, hailed the court decision over what he has dubbed the “sewer bill.”

“Today’s decision is a landmark win for all of our Kentucky families because it makes our government treat them with dignity and respect,” Beshear said.

Beshear called the ruling a win for transparency, saying the 291-page pension bill passed in just six hours during the 2018 legislative session.

Kentucky Retirement Systems is in crisis with unfunded liabilities of more than $40 billion. As the state seeks a solution for its massively underfunded public employee pension system, Bevin said all options remain on the table to solve the crisis.

Official statement from Gov. Bevin regarding today's Supreme Court Ruling on SB 151.

Tune in LIVE on Facebook at 12:30 pm EST for a press conference; https://t.co/fMiLGA3xRa pic.twitter.com/9VVUksj9rp

— Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) December 13, 2018

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