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Bill Targeting Attorney General Fails To Pass
By: Associated Press
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Republican lawmakers failed to strip some powers from Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general on the final day of the legislative session.
Thursday, the state Senate voted 26-12 to make the state’s Republican governor, not the attorney general, the state’s official voice in amicus briefs. The House had until midnight to approve the bill, but Republican leaders did not call it for a vote.
Attorney General Andy Beshear had warned that the bill would violate U.S. Supreme Court rules that automatically accept briefs filed by state attorneys general but not governors. Beshear said that means Kentucky would have been voiceless before the court on some of the most important issues it faces.
The proposal came as a bitter feud plays out across state government between Beshear and Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.