FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky House created an impeachment committee Monday, responding to a petition to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear filed last week by four citizens who say the governor’s coronavirus orders violate the constitution.

House Speaker David Osborne says the House is obligated to consider it.

“We’re just following the process that we believe is prescribed for us,” Osborne said.

Beshear says he understands Osborne’s stance on the petition, but it has no grounds because the Kentucky Supreme Court already ruled his orders were constitutional.

“We don’t need it, shouldn’t go anywhere, don’t anticipate it’ll go anywhere,” Beshear said. “And I think that’s one where everybody will rise above and put our democracy here in the state above four individuals who are upset.”

Osborne declined to comment on whether he supports the impeachment effort.

“I think that it’s important to understand that the entire body will be— could in fact be— placed in a position to be in the jury,” Osborne said. “And I think it would be inappropriate for anybody on either side to comment prior to hearing the facts that are presented.”

It’s not clear yet when that new impeachment committee will meet and whether or not anything will come of it.

The Kentucky House passed a budget Monday, but it’s not one lawmakers take seriously.

“Today, fortunately or unfortunately, is not a completed statement of what our priorities are regarding the judicial budget or any other budget we’ve considered,” said Rep. Jason Petrie (R-Elkton).

The series of budget bills leave spending largely where it was at last year, but House lawmakers expect the Senate to make changes, which will eventually trigger a joint committee to work on it.

Several Democrats called for Republicans to consider some of Beshear’s spending proposals.

“I want us to walk out of here this spring with a moral document-budget that says we believe in Kentucky and we believe in Kentucky’s future,” House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins said.

Petrie, the House budget committee chairman, said nothing is off the table.

“We’re not even close to having anything off the table,” Petrie said. “We’re in the phase right now of making sure, this week we finalize, hopefully, having all the issues in front of us and know how many objects there are in the universe we have to deal with.”

The House budget committee was also scheduled to take up House Bill 191 on Monday, which represents a $220 million fund for small businesses that Beshear requested in his budget address, but Petrie said it wasn’t ready because of a technical issue.

“(HB) 191 is still a live bill in the House,” Petrie said.

Louisville Democrats are pushing for police reform in bills filed at the state Capitol.  

Reps. Lisa Willner and Attica Scott have proposed three bills. One would ban law enforcement from receiving surplus military equipment, like armored vehicles and drones, while mostly banning the use of tear gas and rubber bullets and the practice of kettling protesters.

It would also require de-escalation training for police departments.

Willner says the bills are a direct response to how police acted during protests in Louisville this summer, including Scott’s experience of being arrested for rioting and charged with a felony before those charges were eventually dropped.

“Some of the stories were pretty shocking, of people’s arrests, of people being battered with police batons, people being corralled so that there was no point of exit and then being arrested for not dispersing when there was no where to disperse to,” Willner said. “So that’s what these bills seek to address: people having high-grade military weaponry and tactics used against them when they were just there, again, to express their First Amendment rights.”

The other bills would make it clear that recording a police officer is legal and add more clarity to the state’s laws against rioting or unlawful assemblies.

Willner says she expects push back from police groups, but she’s hopeful Republicans will at least be willing to work on the bills.