Gov. Andy Beshear addresses a crowd commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Freedom March on Frankfort, March 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear told a crowd gathered to commemorate a historic civil rights march that he has vetoed a bill that would preempt local anti-discrimination ordinances.?

It’s the governor’s first veto of this legislative session. Critics have warned the bill would preempt local ordinances in Kentucky’s largest cities prohibiting discrimination against tenants based on their source of income.?

Beshear said he vetoed House Bill 18 because it “would have made it harder in Lexington and Louisville for people to have a roof over their head.”

He was speaking Tuesday to a crowd gathered outside the Capitol to reenact and commemorate the March on Frankfort that took place 60 years earlier on March 5, 1964.?

“I vetoed House Bill 18 because the governments of Louisville and Lexington came together, and they said landlords had to take Section 8 vouchers to make sure that everyone can have stable and affordable housing,” Beshear said.

HB 18, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, would prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing ordinances requiring landlords to accept federal housing assistance vouchers from tenants for rent. Such assistance includes low-income housing assistance vouchers known as “Section 8” vouchers and vouchers that help homeless veterans.?

Critics of the legislation have said HB 18 would preempt source-of-income discrimination ban ordinances, one passed by Louisville in 2020 and another passed last month by Lexington, prohibiting landlords from rejecting a potential tenant exclusively on their source of income, including the use of housing assistance vouchers.?

Republicans supporting HB 18 say it would protect landlords’ property rights by preventing them from being forced to accept housing vouchers from tenants. Housing advocates have said source-of-income discrimination bans do not mandate landlords to accept such vouchers, only that they can’t reject a prospective tenant solely on the use of vouchers to pay their rent.

Dave Sevigny, a member of Lexington’s Urban County Council, applauded Beshear’s veto.

“As a sponsor of the well-vetted ordinance in Lexington that was recently passed with overwhelming support and is now in effect to eliminate certain forms of housing discrimination, I applaud the common sense veto by Gov. Beshear, who seems to clearly recognize that each part of government has its role and should stay in its lane,” Sevigny said in a statement.?

The GOP-dominated legislature can easily override Beshear’s veto. Only a majority of each legislative chamber would have to approve the veto override, and HB 18 passed each chamber by large majorities.?

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, speaking Tuesday at a Louisville radio station said the Kentucky Senate would override Beshear’s veto.?

House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, in a statement said Beshear’s veto came as “no surprise.”?

“With today’s veto, he strikes out at the right of a property owner to make a decision about how his or her property will be used,” Osborne said. “Members will consider an override, as they have with almost every other policy vetoed by the governor.”