In a last-minute committee substitute on an unrelated bill, GOP Rep. Jason Petrie, the chairman of House Appropriations and Revenue, advanced a bill to begin addressing the recent disaster that swept through eastern Kentucky last month, causing widespread flooding, landslides and wind damage.
The newly minted House Bill 544 wouldn’t appropriate any new money. It creates the new fund and lays out parameters for doling out funding. It also allows Gov. Andy Beshear to move funds from two disaster funds created in 2022 — the Western Kentucky Risk Assistance Fund and the EKSAFE fund — into the new pot.
“This will be a bill to start the conversation of addressing flood relief in the eastern Kentucky, with the most recent flooding event for which there was a presidential declaration,” Petrie said.
Petrie, from Elkton, is referencing President Donald Trump’s expedited major disaster declaration for the state, which includes 14 counties. As of Thursday, 24 Kentuckians were killed due to the flooding and freezing temperatures.
In a statement, the governor’s spokesperson Crystal Staley said a previous version of the bill provided to committee members would have allowed the administration to transfer another $100 million from existing budget allocations starting in the new fiscal year. A different version excluding that provision passed out of the committee.
Staley said there would be up to $45 million available to transfer from the two prior emergency funds in the current year. The administration expects that amount of funding to be “insufficient to provide needed assistance,” she said.
State agencies, local governments, nonprofits, public utilities and school districts would be eligible to receive money from the new “SAFE 4860 fund” to fix public buildings damaged in the disaster, as reimbursement for disaster and recovery responses, planning efforts for rebuilding and more. Financial support is specifically prohibited for new construction within 100 year floodplain areas.
In previous Kentucky disasters, many local governments lacked the cash on hand to deal with disaster emergencies, which created issues under the Federal Emergency Management Association’s Local Governments Reimbursement program. In an effort to provide some flexibility to strapped countries and organizations, the SAFE 4860 fund can also be advanced while waiting for federal reimbursements. The money would then be returned to the fund once federal aid comes through.
“There may also be impact to revenue that they would receive by virtue of the disaster,” Petrie said, “and this would assist them with their strained physical liquidity in the short run.”
Petrie said in the hearing that there would be up to $48 million allowed to transfer from the two prior emergency funds in the current year.
Beshear has previously requested the legislature remove a cap on emergency spending that the Republican-controlled legislature imposed on his administration in the budget bill last year.
In the two-year budget passed last year, the General Assembly included a $25 million limit per fiscal year for Kentucky National Guard operations when the governor declares an emergency, and a $50 million limit on spending by the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs to match federal disaster funding if the president declares an emergency.
Democrats on the committee questioned in the bill Tuesday provided enough funding to appropriately deal with the emergency and if the legislature might be required to return to appropriate more. Petrie said the administration is still working to get estimates.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the legislation.
This story has been updated to include passage in the House and a statement from Gov. Andy Beshear.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Publ.ic Broadcasting.
