AG pursues suit against Governor in court Wednesday

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – In a hearing on Wednesday, a judge said Governor Matt Bevin is second guessing the state legislature by trying to cut funding to higher education for the rest of this fiscal year.  That same judge, however, hasn’t decided yet if those cuts are legal.

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear is suing the Republican governor saying Bevin’s executive action is unconstitutional.  Bevin’s attorney, on the other hand, argues that the governor does have the power to make these types of cuts.  He says the governor needs to be the gatekeeper of the state’s money.

If the governor’s cuts are found to be legal, that money, an estimated 18-million dollars, would go into the state’s general fund and the legislature would decide how to spend it during the next budget negotiation in two years.

Governor Bevin wants to use it to help pay down the state’s multi-billion dollar pension debt.

The judge expects to have his decision in a week or two, but says this case will likely end up before the state supreme court.