Deborah Yetter

Louisville Courier Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A judge has upheld Gov. Matt Bevin's right to cut higher education in the current budget year, ruling that under Kentucky law the governor has the authority to reduce spending within state government.

"The governor has not stolen the power of the purse," wrote Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate in the opinion and order released Wednesday. Rather, he said, "the governor has used his executive discretion for spending appropriated funds within the permissible limits of his power."

Wingate's order rejects arguments in the high-profile lawsuit filed April 11 by Attorney General Andy Beshear, arguing that Bevin had exceeded his authority by ordering cuts of 4.5 percent to the state's public colleges and universities this year. Bevin later reduced the cuts to 2 percent and exempted Kentucky State University, the state's smallest and only historically black public college.

But acknowledging the matter is likely to be appealed, Wingate directed the state to continue to keep the money cut from higher education – about $18 million – in reserve until the matter is finally resolved.

Beshear promptly announced he would appeal Wingate's decision even as the Bevin administration claimed victory.

"While we respect Judge Wingate, his opinion is inconsistent with numerous decisions by the Supreme Court of Kentucky and confers dangerous levels of power on the governor," Beshear said in a statement. He said he would seek to have the matter put directly before the Supreme Court, bypassing the state Court of Appeals to speed a decision.

Bevin, in a statement, said he was grateful for Wingate's decision that confirms the governor's ability to manage the state in "a fiscally responsible manner."

"While others focus on politically motivated attacks, we continue to focus on strengthening Kentucky's fiscal foundation," he said.

Bevin's comment referenced an increasingly contentious political feud between him and the family of former Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, whom Bevin, a Republican, succeeded.

Bevin and the elder Beshear have clashed over health care, alleged political corruption in each other's administrations and other matters.

Bevin's cuts to higher education escalated the dispute after Andy Beshear, a Democrat and the son of the former governor who was elected attorney general in December, announced his lawsuit challenging the governor's authority to enact such cuts.

Beshear argued in the lawsuit that only the legislature, which authorizes spending through the state budget, has the power to make cuts in the midst of a budget year.

Wingate found otherwise, citing specific provisions in state law that give the governor the power to revise "allotments," or disbursements of funds. While the law bars the governor from exceeding an allotment, it does not prevent him from reducing it, Wingate said.

The law "does not confer unlimited power on the governor," Wingate wrote. But it "permits a small amount of breathing room to perform his executive function, the administration of government."

To insist that all available funds be spent, he wrote, "is both an irresponsible one and an unsustainable one for government to take."

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at (502) 582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.