KENTUCKY, USA — The fate of several Kentucky bills are still in limbo as lawmakers and Gov. Andy Beshear's administration continue to argue over funding. One of those laws is Senate Bill 151, also known as the Kinship Bill, which became law a month ago but isn't being implemented.
In a interview with WHAS11, Beshear agreed with what the bill stands for but said the Cabinet for Health and Family Services needs help with the $20 million price tag.
The Kinship Bill gives children removed from an abusive home the power to give the court a list of relatives they believe could be their caregivers. It also gives those family members time to determine if they can financially support the child.
Terry Brooks, the executive director for Kentucky Youth Advocates, said it's been disappointing not seeing families under kinship care gain their benefits.
"We're talking about some 60,000 kids, so this is not just a few kids here, a few kids there, Kentucky has one of the highest rates in kinship care in the nation," Brooks said.
In the past two Interim Joint Committee on Families and Children meetings in Frankfort, legislators pressed the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services for answers on why the legislation is not being carried out.
"You can't say 'we want you to make $20 million more in payments but we're not giving you $20 million more,'" Beshear said.
The governor's office sent lawmakers multiple letters and emails referencing a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling preventing the administration from providing financial help.
"It went in front of the entire committee and they didn't put it in the budget," Beshear added. "There was an initial budget and then they came back and appropriated several hundreds of millions of dollars in the last couple of days. We put it in a direct letter to them saying we agree with this program, but you're asking us to provide more dollars to people without giving us more dollars."
Brooks said it's been difficult navigating when this bill could start helping families, and he pointed out what he heard when watching the committee meeting.
"First of all, within the bill was a mandate for the Beshear Administration to explore some federal waivers," Brooks said. "It was a little distressing to hear in the last committee meeting that [the cabinet] didn't get around to that yet. First of all, I'd question if there's even a real answer on if there is additional money available. Secondly, we know that other states use a federal funding stream called TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, we know that Kentucky has a boat load of those funds uncommitted."
The governor said he agrees with the legislation but not with how it will be funded.
"It's always been the law that you can put a program on the books and not fund it," he said. "It means the executive branch is not supposed to carry out the program. You can fund it later, you can fund it two years from now but the structure is already there. But remember there are programs from 10 years ago that aren't currently funded. This is a regular thing, that they decided not to fund that I think they should have funded and they're now looking to blame somebody else."
Brooks said he and other families are tired of the political disagreement.
"I don't want to hear about all those other projects," Brooks said. "I want an answer for those grandmothers, and grandfathers, and little boys, and little girls right now. What is so puzzling and devastating at the moment is that this is a solvable issue."
In the last committee meeting the cabinet was asked if they explored any options for federal funding. Secretary Eric Friedlander acknowledged that they did not at the moment. The cabinet is expected back in the next meeting where lawmakers hope to hear a plan on how families can soon benefit from this legislation.
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