UPDATE: Stumbo sues Bevin over budget vetoes

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – The Latest on Democratic Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo’s lawsuit against Republican Gov. Matt Bevin (all times local):

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2:45 p.m.

Kentucky Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo is asking a judge to throw out Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s vetoes of the state’s $68 billion operating budget.

Stumbo says Bevin improperly filed the vetoes with the House clerk last month. He said the state constitution requires the governor to deliver legislative vetoes to the Secretary of State’s office when the legislature is not in session.

If successful, Bevin’s vetoes of portions of the state budget would be overturned. That means high school graduates would have $9.4 million for community college tuition in the fall and more parents could send their children to public preschool programs.

Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She has previously said Bevin’s vetoes are valid.

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Noon

The Democratic speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives has called a news conference to discuss “new litigation,” his spokesman said.

Greg Stumbo says he will talk to the media at 2 p.m. in his office at the state Capitol. Stumbo told the Lexington Herald-Leader last month he was considering suing Republican Gov. Matt Bevin about the validity of his vetoes on portions of the state budget.

Stumbo spokesman Brian Wilkerson would not confirm Stumbo’s specific plans and declined to say more than that the speaker would discuss “new litigation” at the news conference.

Bevin is already facing a lawsuit from Kentucky’s Democratic Attorney General over his decision to cut the budgets of public colleges and universities without the approval of the state legislature. That case is still pending.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.