Darcy Costello and Tom Loftus | Courier Journal

The special legislative session called by Gov. Matt Bevin to address pension reform ended Tuesday evening, a little more than 24 hours after it started.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m., Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne, R-Prospect, took to the House floor to express his disappointment and say the problem couldn't be solved "within the confines of a five-day session."

Osborne, who had left the governor's office only minutes before making his announcement, said Bevin did not call the session for political reasons. But the speaker railed against those who have been critical of the governor's actions, without mentioning any names.

"We came in here. We took our mission seriously. We took the consequences seriously," Osborne told his colleagues.

But he said there were differences between the proposed bill Bevin handed leaders on Monday and the bill the legislature passed last spring that most House Republicans preferred — and had been expecting.

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Discussions on the differences were made more complicated, he said, by "an increasing sentiment that perhaps we need to revisit many of the things that were taken off the table in the negotiations."

Earlier Tuesday, Osborne took part in a five-hour closed-door meeting of the majority House Republicans, but no consensus on a bill could be reached.

Cheers erupted in the House gallery from teachers and other opponents of the Republican reform approach as Osborne gave the word that the session was over.

See also: House may revert to the original pension bill passed last spring

House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, a Sandy Hook Democrat who is running for governor, was clearly a chief target of Osborne's criticism. Afterward, Adkins said, "I think the speaker is misinformed. There's a difference of opinion. ... We happen to believe as a House caucus that the reforms that were made in a bipartisan way in 2013 are working."

Bevin took reporters' questions at 8 p.m., shortly after Osborne stopped speaking.

"It honestly makes me sad when I hear people celebrate and dance upon their own financial graves," he said. "People cheer the fact that the system is now in worse condition than it ever was, and that the only effort that has been made in recent years to truly stop the future bleeding, the only significant effort, has been struck down and there wasn't enough intestinal fortitude to carry it forward."

Bevin didn't blame legislative leadership.

"They came up short. It happens. It's nobody's fault," he said. "It's just the reality. The votes are there or the votes are not there."

Kentucky's public retirement plans carry a combined debt of nearly $43 billion — making them among the worst-funded pension systems in America.

The saga of the ill-fated special session began on Thursday when the Kentucky Supreme Court issued a 7-0 opinion striking down the pension reform measure passed earlier this year — Senate Bill 151.

The high court did not rule on the legality of the contents of the bill, but said it was invalid because of the process — the rapid passing of the bill in a matter of hours after it was introduced violated a part of the state constitution that lawmakers must have time to consider a bill.

Monday afternoon, Bevin issued a stunning response to the higher court — he said that the defeat of the bill had caused concern among agencies that rate Kentucky's bonds and that he was calling a special session to begin in a matter of hours to re-examine pension reform.

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Matt Bevin pension special session: Teachers protest Tuesday

The bills that Bevin offered lawmakers after they scrambled to Frankfort were similar to the bill the high court struck down. The main provision was the same — new teachers hired starting next year would no longer be put into the traditional pension plan, but instead into a cash balance plan similar to a 401(k) retirement plan.

But there were differences. Modest cuts in certain benefits within SB 151 were gone, as was a provision that would change how the state and other government employers fund the pension plans.

Osborne told reporters Tuesday night that House Republicans ran for re-election this year explaining and defending their support for SB 151 as a way to protect the pensions in the future.

"It caused a great deal of consternation to come in here yesterday, to see the bills last night when we finally got to see them, to see that they were not what they expected," Osborne said.

Discussions to work out the differences dragged on, and Osborne said it became clear that the House could not quickly come to an agreement.

Legislative leaders badly wanted to wrap the session up in five days — the minimum number required to get a bill through the legislative process. A special session costs taxpayers an estimated $65,500 per day.

Beyond the cost, the calendar was an impediment. Lawmakers are not allowed to convene on Sundays or state holidays. And Monday and Tuesday are both state government holidays.

Now, on Jan. 8, the General Assembly will be reconvening to begin the regular 2019 session. But while Republicans will still hold super majorities in each chamber, many new members will be in the legislature as a result of the November elections.

Osborne said he did not know how the new legislature will address the pension problem. "But we're going to continue to work as diligently as we possibly can to find some answers," he said.