Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told state lawmakers in a letter Thursday that he will not be able to implement nearly a dozen bills they passed into law in the 2025 session, as the legislature did not provide any appropriations for his administration to do so.

Some of the bills cited by Beshear, a Democrat, make significant changes and were hotly debated, such as one mandating the creation of a work requirement to be eligible for Medicaid and others that lower regulations on worker safety and environmental protections.

Members of the Republican supermajority have strongly criticized the claims made in Beshear’s letter, saying they are legally incorrect and an abdication of his duty to enforce the laws that the General Assembly passes.

Beshear made a similar argument to GOP lawmakers in last year’s session, providing them with a list of bills that state agencies would not be able to implement or enforce unless they passed legislation to appropriate money specifically for that purpose.

The governor’s newest letter to lawmakers provided a list of 11 bills that he acted on this week by either signing into law, vetoing or allowing them to become law without his signature. He wrote that unless they added appropriations before the 2025 session concludes Friday, his administration would “lack the resources needed to implement them.”

“The estimated costs of these policies and programs were known and communicated, and there is still time in this legislative session to add appropriations in the last two legislative days to rectify the omissions,” Beshear wrote.

All but two of the bills listed by Beshear do not have a fiscal note attached to them. Legislative staff create these notes to estimate legislation’s potential impact on state revenue and expenses. The governor’s letter detailed his office’s own estimates for what would have to be appropriated in order for the bills to be implemented, which altogether totaled roughly $8 million to $12 million.

The governor went on to cite a decades-old Kentucky Supreme Court decision and a recent federal court ruling to argue his case that “if the legislature creates a policy or program but does not provide funding, it does not intend for the executive branch to perform those services over the biennium.”

“The omission of an appropriation is the same as its elimination,” Beshear wrote. “The budget for each agency is put together in great detail combining the costs of current service requirements plus identified additions for certain purposes. If a bill includes new expenditure requirements, it is expected that an appropriation will be provided for its implementation.”

As the House began their votes to override the governor’s vetoes of nearly 30 bills on Thursday, Rep. David Meade, a member of GOP leadership from Stanford, referenced Beshear’s letter to dispute the governor’s legal reasoning for why he could not implement the bills.

“Let me be very clear, it is the legislature that budgets, not him,” Meade said. “When we budget, we don't line-item everything, and when we don't line-item something specifically or pass certain bills without direct appropriation, it is because we feel you have the adequate funds to implement and follow the law.”

Meade also referenced Beshear in recent years implementing new plans and programs on his own that did not have specific appropriations. He argued that Beshear said he didn’t receive the funding to implement a kinship care program bill last year, “yet he used $50 million to expand Medicaid, to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates in certain areas. He doesn't even follow his own guidance.”

Meade also warned Beshear that Republicans may handle appropriations very differently next year in a manner he takes issue with, as they will create a two-year state budget in the 2026 session.

“Don't worry, because next year when we do the budget, we're going to make it abundantly clear what you can and cannot spend money on,” he said.

GOP Senate President Robert Stivers of Manchester, who has frequently criticized Beshear for not communicating enough with the legislature, said he is skeptical of the logic behind Beshear’s dollar amounts.

“We give him directives, and he has a budget, and within that budget, he can find dollars to do the things he wants to do that he does not have legislative authority to,” Stivers said. “But things that he is mandated by the legislature to do, he is choosing not to.”

Stivers said the legislature holds the power of the purse and the power to set policy, and Beshear should focus solely on executing those faithfully. If he doesn’t, Stivers gave him an ultimatum: make the budget work as is or see discretionary funding disappear in the next budget cycle.

“He won't hire anybody, he won't travel. He won't do anything unless he gets authority from the legislature,” Stiver said. “Because everybody knows, by the Constitution the power of the purse is ours.”

The letter noted several of the most high-profile bills of the session that Beshear had already vetoed, before the legislature overrode his attempt. Senate Bill 89 would remove the ability of the state to regulate certain water sources, which environmental advocates warn could lead to polluted ground and well water.

Beshear told lawmakers in his letter that the bill would require new investigations and site visits for certain permit renewals because the agency needs to determine if they still count as a regulated water source under the new definition. He said that would cost the department $1.8 million per year to implement with 8,000 currently permitted sites. Beshear said he also expects a decrease in revenue because fewer permits will be needed — an additional $600,000 shortfall.

Beshear also said he will not be able to implement House Bill 495 without fresh funding, legislation that blocks Kentuckians on Medicaid from accessing gender-affirming hormone therapies. Beshear said the bill is likely to cost the state $540,000 to $1.95 million in state funding — and even more including federal dollars — because of the accompanying increase in mental health services and increased risk of suicide attempts among transgender Kentuckians now denied the hormone therapies.

The governor also argued House Bill 398, which stops enforcement of all state-specific regulations for worker protection, has an indeterminable cost. One element of the bill would allow the circuit court to award court costs and attorney’s fees against the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Beshear says the legislature put no more towards helping the department pay for those awards, whatever they may be.

House Bill 695 mandates that the governor create a work requirement for able-bodied Kentuckians to be eligible for Medicaid coverage, which Beshear said would necessitate spending nearly $2 million on procuring new managed care contracts and studies.

The letter did not specifically spell out whether the Beshear administration would not be able to implement only certain parts of each bill, or the entire bill.

State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.