General Assembly Overrides Beshear's Vetoes of Transgender Sports Bill, Abortion Bill, Many Others

Governor Andy Beshear.

Darren Doyle, story:
The Kentucky General Assembly is now putting measures in place to override multiple vetoes from Governor Andy Beshear, two of which that are hot topic items across the nation, which are transgender sports and abortion.

Lawmakers, with a republican super-majority, voted to override 22 out of 24 of Beshear's full vetoes.

Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 83 on Friday, April 6th, which is also known as the Save Women's Sports Act, also as the "transgender sports bill." Beshear described the bill as discriminatory.

"Senate Bill 83 most likely violates the equal protection rights afforded by the United States Constitution because it discriminates against transgender children seeking to participate in girls' or women's sports," he wrote in the veto. "Moreover, Senate Bill 83 bans transgender children from participating in girls' or women's sports without presenting a single instance in Kentucky of a child gaining a competitive advantage as a result of sex reassignment."

The Governor also vetoed House Bill 3 on Friday, April 8th, dealing with abortion. The bill would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and make it more difficult for minors seeking access to the procedure. The Governor said the bill is likely unconstitutional and also noted that there were no exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

On Wednesday, the House voted to override the Governor's veto on the transgender bill 29-8 and the Senate voted the same, 72-23. They also overrode the veto of the abortion bill, 76-21 in the House and 31-6 in the Senate.

Representative Michael Meredith discussed the votes.

“We’ve been one of the most pro-life legislatures in our state’s history and have stood up for Kentucky values time after time," Meredith told the Edmonson Voice. "I think the votes to override vetoes on these bills reflect that. There were many of us who weren’t surprised by the Governor’s vetoes of HB 3 and SB 83, but rather disappointed that he is once again endearing himself to the liberals of California and New York and falling further out of step with the people he is supposed to be serving.”

We also contacted Senator Steve Meredith for comment yesterday but he had not responded at the time of publishing today.