It's hard to argue with the idea that the worst thing the Kentucky General Assembly did in the 2009 regular session was tucked into page two of a House Committee Substitute of HB 143. It allowed:
"... the Governor to direct a one-time transfer of up to $50,000,000 from the Public Employee Health Insurance Trust Fund's surplus to the General Fund."
The Health Fund raid comes in addition to the public employee benefits mess whose underfunding was nearly $30 billion last June before the bottom fell out of the stock market.
Senate President David Williams seemed to recognize as recently as last summer that continuing to treat the benefits plans like a bottomless piggy bank was not a good idea. Former Speaker of the House Jody Richards' rambling justification for inaction at the time will only look worse as time goes on.
Gov. Beshear should do the right thing and repudiate the Health Fund raid.
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