Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, is pictured in a file photo. On Wednesday, he spoke on behalf of Senate Bill 99, which supporters say would increase accountability of two Team Kentucky relief funds.
(LRC Public Information)
FRANKFORT — The Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee approved a measure Wednesday that supporters say would shore up oversight of two Team Kentucky relief funds for victims of flooding and tornadoes.
Committee members advanced Senate Bill 99 with an 8-0 vote, and it now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, cited news reports that some people have received checks from the funds erroneously, including one individual in his district.
“He had never sustained or applied for any damage, and didn’t get a very helpful response from the Public Protection Cabinet,” Westerfield said. “But regardless of that, I think it’s fair for us to just ask questions about where the money has gone, how they made decisions about how to distribute money.
The state executive branch established both Team Kentucky relief funds under the Public Protection Cabinet. One was in response to the 2021 tornados in Western Kentucky. The other followed the flooding in Eastern Kentucky in 2022.
Those funds are different from two other relief funds that the General Assembly created after each disaster.
Westerfield said the Team Kentucky funds operate outside provisions in the state Constitution, which he said gives lawmakers authority to appropriate money in state hands.
SB 99 calls on the Public Protection Cabinet to provide an analysis of the relief funds to lawmakers by June 30. The report must include a list of expenditures and recipients along with the purpose of the assistance. It must also provide information on any guidelines used to allocate the assistance.
Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, asked when the legislation would become effective.
Westerfield said an emergency clause would allow the bill to take effect immediately if it becomes law.
Sen. Christian McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, who is chair of the committee, said the executive branch’s intention with the fund is clear, but there needs to be more accountability.
“They don’t really know where the money is right now, and they don’t know how it’s been disbursed,” he said. “I think this is the General Assembly extending a little bit of grace to them to try to clean up their accounting.”
Senate President Pro Tempore David P. Givens, R-Greensburg, said legislators agree on helping others after disasters. However, he raised concerns the Team Kentucky funds could create a precedent for other, more controversial funds in the future.
“I like what you are doing by probing this question, and I think that’s why appropriation actions belong in the hands of the General Assembly,” he told Westerfield.
No one spoke in opposition to the bill.
